On February 24th 1894 the Wrexham Advertiser, always alert to stories of local interest, ran a small article on what it called the “first annual match of the newly-formed Brymbo District Ploughing Society“, which had recently taken place at Penrhos Farm. As the industrial past of our area is usually emphasised, it is easy to forget the agriculture that not only long preceded it, but continued very successfully alongside Brymbo’s most intense period of industrial development. Although ploughing matches still take place in Wales – you can attend the 57th All Wales Championship next September – I certainly imagine that little ploughing of any kind has taken place in Brymbo since the 1940s, after which most of the area’s farms went over to dairying. More recently many of them have, sadly, had to cease even that. However, there was little hint of this future in the inaugural Brymbo ploughing match, whose patrons (including J. R. Burton of Minera Hall, R H V Kyrke, Alfred Darby, Henry Beyer Robertson and even Sir Watkin Williams-Wynne himself) encompassed all the main landowners and industrialists of the district.

The Society, the Advertiser noted, was chaired by Jesse Roberts of Higher Berse farm, John James Parry of Brymbo Hall farm acting as the vice-chairman, while Richard Davies of Penrhos acted as treasurer. The secretary was W. Griffiths of Penrhos – I assume that this was Penrhos Fach, better known at this point as the Red Lion, of which William Griffiths was the landlord. There were separate judges for the turn-outs (Thomas Lewis of Brynyorkin, Richard Parry of Tyddyn Tlydion in Llandegla, and Brynmally Hall’s bailiff, Mr Roberts) and for the ploughing itself. For the latter the Society had obtained the services of some experienced men, judging by the distance they had travelled: Henry Davies, all the way from Tyfyos (perhaps Tyfos farm?) near Llandderfel; E. Hughes of Berth near Ruthin, and the relatively local Humphrey Morris junior of Plas Cadwgan. Jesse Roberts proposed a vote of thanks to everyone who had assisted, and to the ploughmen.

The field chosen for the event was a westward sloping one, and a frost the previous night delayed the start somewhat: no doubt one of those hard early spring frosts that still linger on the cold slopes facing Minera Mountain, although the topsoil has not seen a plough for many decades. However, by the time the match finally got underway, a large group of colliers and ironworkers had gathered to watch and (as the Advertiser noted) to criticise “with that intelligence which can only come with practical acquaintance with the difficulties of an art rather despised by some superior, but ignorant persons“. How many of us could watch a ploughing match with “intelligence” now, I wonder. The heavy clay soils of Brymbo must have made the plough teams’ difficulties even sharper.

One particularly interesting bit of the Advertiser‘s article is that it tells us the maker of the plough used by each entrant: this seems to be a standard feature of newspaper reporting of ploughing matches. Although by this time agricultural machinery was big business, in this area at least the local ploughwrights were still favoured. The products of Edwards of Llanypwll seemed very popular, but a good number of Brymbo’s farmers used ploughs made by Corfield of Bwlchgwyn. This was, I assume, Thomas Corfield, who appears in a number of directories of the period as a blacksmith (and grocer). The Edwards family of Llanypwll, where the smithy once stood opposite the Gredington Arms, produced a number of smiths throughout the 19th century.

Would you like to know who won? Of course you would. The first prize of £1 10s for the neatest and best turn-out was won by the team of Jesse Roberts, Higher Berse (ploughman: Robert Davies); the second (£1) went to Mr Parry of Brymbo Hall Farm (John Humphreys) and the third to the Broughton Farming Company team (George Warburton). We should spare a thought for Edward Roberts of Middle Sontley, whose team was judged the best, but was disqualified for being “just out of the district”. On to the ploughing, which the Advertiser tells us took a long time to judge. This was organised in two classes, the ‘First Class’ (an open competition, attracting entries from Llanarmon and Nercwys), and ‘Second’, for the local men. In the first class, T. W. Dunn of Tygwyn, Rhos, took the handsome first prize of £3, with John Roberts of Bryntalog, Llanarmon coming second; Thomas Roberts of Cefnycoed, Llanarmon, coming third, and fourth going to John E. Davies of Brynyffynnon, Nercwys. The only local ploughman to compete amongst the big guns of the ‘First Class’, John Lloyd of Penrhos, failed to place but salvaged some local pride by receiving 7s 6d for “best ridge”. In the locals-only ‘Second Class’, John Jackson of Plas Mostyn Bach took first place (and £3), followed by George Warburton of Broughton, John Roberts of Sontley, and David Blower of Glascoed Hall, with a fifth prize of 5s going to John Humphreys of Brymbo Hall. Robert Davies, Higher Berse, won a pair of gaiters. It must have been a long, albeit successful day, and I really hope that William Griffiths opened up the Red Lion for some well-deserved beers after all that.