Pentre’r-fron

Old farm buildings on the Pentre'r-fron road.

The south-western corner of the old township of Brymbo, between the site of Plas Mostyn and the Gwenfro, is quiet and mostly unsignposted. However, a look at an Ordnance Survey map of the area shows it has a name of its own: Pentre’r-fron.

Pentre’r-fron is translated by Palmer, reasonably enough, as “hamlet of the brow”. He also states its name was originally “Pentre Fram” (sic), noting it was still being written this way in the rate books in the early 19th century: the latter, however, may be a variation dating from the early mining era. That the other form of the name is rather older than this is shown by a line in Archdeacon Mostyn’s will of 1668, which mentions some land purchased from William and Elizabeth Sontley “in Pentre yr Fron”. Moreover, Palmer does not explain why a name which makes good sense in Welsh (Pentre Fron) should have developed from a name which makes no sense at all (Pentre Fram).