As has been mentioned before, Brymbo township lacked any substantial villages until the 19th century. The agricultural labourers of preceding centuries might have lodged in the homes of the yeoman-farmers who employed them, or lived in small cottages on the edge of the farmland. With the growth of mining and quarrying after 1700, those who worked in the new industries no doubt followed the same pattern as seen elsewhere in Wales, and constructed small houses for themselves on the old common land at Harwood and around Bwlchgwyn. But it was not until well after 1800 that modern, planned settlements for the miners and other industrial workers of the area appeared. One of the earlier ones was Vron, a few rows of miner’s houses on Offa’s Dyke, almost directly south of Brymbo Hall.
Even more so than the land around Harwood, Vron was entirely agricultural until well into the 19th century, the only older ‘settlement’ of any kind nearby being the little hamlet of Pentre’r-fron, which is mentioned in 17th century documents. The tithe map of the 1830s, for example, shows only Ty Cerrig, the croft later known as Caellewelyn, and the Vron Farm lying between Brymbo Hall and the Gwenfro. The present site of Tanyfron village, a short distance to the east, is occupied by another farm of about 30 acres then known as the College Farm, or simply as the College.
Alfred Palmer records only a little about the College and its ownership over the years has proved difficult to establish. During the 19th century and part of the 18th it was owned by the Murrall-Griffith or Murhall-Griffith family, who also owned the small farmstead at Penrhos now called Rhos-y-Coed (the latter was also a pub, the Red Lion, for a time). They must have bought the College in 1777, when the London Chronicle carried an advertisment for its sale by auction. It was then in the occupation of Francis Isaac, and interestingly the advertisment mentioned that there was a pending application for a lease to raise coals on its land. Perhaps this could have been the beginning of the coal works that later became the Vron Colliery. At the end of the century a John Isaac is recorded as the tenant: perhaps he was related to Francis. Later on, in the 19th century, a family with the surname Manuel farmed there, and were followed by a Mr William Griffith.
In his History of the Parish Church of Wrexham, Palmer speculates on the College’s rather curious name. He takes it as possible evidence that it was part of an endowment for St Giles’ church at a time, during the 16th century, when the latter was being turned into a collegiate church. There is not much evidence that this actually came about, as Henry VIII’s activities soon put an end to collegiate churches in general.
By the 1850s, and the development of the colliery at Vron under the management of William Low, there was an increased demand for housing in the area. A couple of small rows of cottages were built next to the colliery, and in 1857 land was purchased in the Vron for a small Methodist chapel – usually a sign of a community’s growth. An article by A H Williams in Bathafarn, 1947, states that the chapel’s founders were Boaz Jones, William Jones (“y gaffer“), Charles Johnson, Dafydd Prydderch, and William Lewis, while its most important figure in the early years was Isaac Jones, born in Flintshire, who had come to the Vron in 1857. The other important building of the Welsh industrial village – the pub – was represented by the City Arms, at the south end of the houses, and the Four Crosses towards the north. The railway even reached Vron from Brymbo, and within a few years the landscape of the tithe maps was barely recognisable.
The College lasted until the closing years of the 19th century, when the ever-increasing need for housing finally erased it from the map. It changed hands in 1892, and in 1893 another newspaper advertisment detailed the “sale of valuable freehold building sites, on the College Farm estate, Brymbo“, to be conducted by Messrs. Bevan and Phennah. The auction was to be held on the farmland itself, or in the farm buildings if the weather was wet. “Several proposed new roads […] will place the lots in most desirable and convenient situations for the adjoining works, either at Vron, Plaspower, New Broughton, Gatewen, or Brymbo“, ran the advert; here we can see the very beginning of the village now known as Tanyfron, essentially a planned miner’s settlement. The solicitors dealing with the sale were Messrs. Poyser and Shutter of Regent Street, Wrexham, and I wonder if this was the reason a short stretch of road in Tanyfron is still named “Poyser Street”. By the end of the century new houses had spread down the hill and across the fields of the College Farm, along the banks of a small brook which once ran to join the Gwenfro at this point. Even the congregation of the Vron Methodist chapel was to move down the hill within a few years, building a new and larger chapel, Mynydd Seion, on Park Road, Tanyfron, in 1896.
Despite the new building, Vron continued to be considered a separate village down to the present day. The colliery and old chapel are long gone and even the last pub closed a few years back, but in the fields all about you can still find obvious signs of the industry that brought the village into being: spoil and waste heaps, now mostly covered by trees. Close by, the street name “College Hill” is the last reminder of the previous centuries’ history.
14 comments
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April 25, 2012 at 9:07 pm
caroline jones
heol my name is caroline jones ,i live in vron tanyfron in the old chirch i can not find photos off the chirch can you please help me. address is 15 heol offa vron tanyfron wrexham.thank you
May 2, 2012 at 11:44 pm
thefireonthehill
Hi,
I have not seen any photographs of the chapel myself so far (though there are a few of its replacement, Mynydd Seion). Your best bet would be to ask if there are any photographs of Vron in the Wrexham archives – a link to the Palmer Centre is on this site. Apart from being very helpful they do have an extremely large collection of photographs and postcards of the area (in particular, the photographs of the Brymbo area collected by Graham Rogers) not all of which are fully catalogued yet, so something may well turn up. I would ask particularly about photographs of Vron Colliery, as the chapel is quite likely to be in the background (the Flintshire archives may also have photographs of the colliery).
Good luck and I’ll let you know if I see any myself.
July 8, 2012 at 9:37 pm
Steph
I am looking for my great grand mother’s family. She was born in Vron in 1880 her name was Margaret Eve Rogers and she married an Englishman in 1912 in Wrexham. She was in service in 1911 in Cheshire. Does anyone have any information on the Rogers of Vron?
December 15, 2012 at 11:54 am
colin cornes
I am working on the Murhall- Griffith family,descendants of Thos Murhall Griffith of Acton House near Wrexham 1809-64
He was the only son of Thos Griffith of Acton House who changed his name in 1813,having married Mary Eliz(daughter Rev Jos Dickinson Nicklin) whose mother Mary was the daughter of Wm Murhall
Grateful for any information
Regards
December 15, 2012 at 1:00 pm
thefireonthehill
Hi, the history of the family prior to 1800 is outlined in a couple of Alfred Palmer’s books: his History of the town of Wrexham and The 13 Country Townships. Not sure if you’ve seen these yet, but I’ll dig out my copies in the week and let you know what’s in there.
December 19, 2012 at 10:34 pm
thefireonthehill
Hi,
Having checked Palmer he traces the family back to Joseph Griffith, of Sontley, who was buried on August 10th 1744 at Marchwiel. His son was Robert Griffith, those third son was Thomas Griffith (later Murhall-Griffith). Palmer also mentions that the family tomb in Marchwiel describes them as descended from the Griffith family of Old Marton and Dinthill, though without more details.
September 16, 2013 at 1:07 pm
Carol
Hello Colin
I am a direct descendant of Thomas Murhall Griffith and Mary Elizabeth, through their only son Thomas. I’ve traced this family back many generations and forwards down through the life of Thomas who died in Ash Magna in 1864. He was my ggg grandfather. Let me know if you want more information.
December 13, 2018 at 3:18 pm
Philip Edwards
Hi, I am tracing my family tree and have come across a relationship on my ggrandmother to a farm called The College Farm Bersham, and a grave with the name of Edward Hughes of College Farm Bersham, who was one of the founder members of the religious revival in Bersham and Rhostyllan area I was trying to find out were College Farm was and couldn’t find any information on it,so this could be the one?ea
December 13, 2018 at 10:00 pm
thefireonthehill
Hi Philip,
There is more than one College Farm in the area but Alfred Palmer in his book “History of the Country Townships of Wrexham” does mention the College Farm, Bersham. He describes it as off the Bersham Road from Wrexham, down a lane opposite another lane leading to “Essless Mills”. By the time he was writing about it (late 19th century) he says it was divided into cottages, but had previously been part of the Chirk Castle estate. I’ll see if I can get a link to a map.
December 13, 2018 at 10:18 pm
Philip Edwards
Hi, Thank you for reply, on the 1871 Census I can see my ggrandfather and his wife living in 66 College Row Bersham and mr Edward Hughes his father in law living at 68 College Row, there is no trace of this College Farm now and I wasn’t sure were it was, I didn’t know that there were other College Farms in the area so Thanks again Phil
December 13, 2018 at 10:07 pm
thefireonthehill
Just checked and the tithe map of Bersham has the College Farm on it with the occupier listed as Edward Hughes. Here’s the actual page of the apportionment: https://places.library.wales/viewer/4558034#?cv=7&h=79&c=0&m=0&s=0&xywh=82%2C673%2C710%2C368
December 13, 2018 at 10:17 pm
thefireonthehill
…and the building itself was located on what is now Homestead Lane (off the A525), approximately on the bend opposite the Ysgol Clywedog sports fields. Hopefully this will link to a map which you can overlay the tithe map on:
https://places.library.wales/browse/53.042/-3.014/18?page=1&alt=
December 13, 2018 at 10:35 pm
Philip Edwards
Yes, I can see were it was its being occupied by a traveller family now. I’ve been past that place many times and you could see that it was an old farm building or hay shed in the past . do you think it belongs to the Plastic power estate now. Phil.
December 13, 2018 at 10:50 pm
thefireonthehill
Yes, my guess is that it would have been bought by the Fitzhugh family at Plas Power, they bought up most of the farms in the Bersham area eventually.