Pentre Broughton

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Pentre Broughton
Denbighshire

The Castle Inn
Location
Grid reference: SJ306530
Location: 53°4’8"N, 3°2’13"W
Data
Post town: Wrexham
Postcode: LL11
Dialling code: 01978
Local Government
Council: Wrexham
Parliamentary
constituency:
Clwyd South

Pentre Broughton is a small, formerly industrial village in Denbighshire, close to New Broughton and of Wrexham. It is effectively contiguous with its neighbouring villages, Moss and Brynteg.

The village's name is taken from that of the wider township of Broughton, with the addition of the Welsh word pentre ("village"). The original Broughton village which gave a name to the township is now known as Brymbo. The name "Broughton" is English in origin, and appears in the Domesday Book of 1086. It is a common place-name throughout Great Britain, and in this case it probably means "brook town".[1]

Much of the village dates from the later 19th century, after industrial expansion in the area, but it appears on the 1873 Ordnance Survey of Denbighshire as "Pentre" and "Pentre isaf" ("lower village"). These place names, rather than "Pentre Broughton", appear on maps until the second half of the 20th century, and the village is still often referred to simply as "Pentre" by local residents.

Parish church

Pentre Broughton's church, St Paul's, was built in 1888-89, though it was not consecrated until 1909, shortly before Broughton was made a parish in its own right.[2] The church was designed by the architect Howel Davies of Wrexham.[3]

Mines and miners

Many of the villages' residents worked in coal mining, or in the Brymbo Steelworks which until its closure in 1990 dominated the view to the north of the village. The Cross Foxes on Pentre High Street was formerly the meeting place for the area's mineworkers' unions; at one 19th century meeting, over 6,000 people gathered there for a demonstration.[4]

References

  1. Palmer, A. N. and Owen, E. A History of Ancient Tenures of Land in North Wales and the Marches, 2nd ed, 1910, p.245
  2. Information on Broughton, St Paul  from GENUKI
  3. St Paul's, Broughton, Church Plans Online
  4. Cross Foxes, North Wales Miners Association Trust