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Wrexham (. It is the administrative centre of the County Borough of Wrexham and lies within the Traditional Borders of Denbighshire . The town itself has a population of 43,000 and the surrounding county borough has a population of 129,300. HISTORY Prehistoric and Roman times There is evidence of prehistoric activity in the Wrexham area, in the discovery of the remains of a Bronze Age burial in Brymbo, near Wrexham, known as "Brymbo Man". Evidence of occupation during Roman times was found during the construction of the Plas Coch Retail Park outside the town centre. Middle Ages Wrexham is not mentioned in the Domesday Book ; the first mention of it comes in 1161 by which time there was a Norman Motte And Bailey castle at 'Wristlesham', however there has probably been a settlement there since Saxon Times . The town was on the side of the Royalists during the English Civil War , as most Welsh gentry supported the king, even though local landowner Sir Thomas Myddelton, owner of Chirk castle gave his support to Parliament . Wrexham became the main town in the area and grew wealthy with its markets. Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Wrexham was formerly one of the most . Many people were caught in a Negative Equity trap. PRESENT DAY In the called the A483 bypassing Wrexham and connecting it with Chester and Shrewsbury , which in turn had connections with other big Cities ;, like Manchester and Liverpool . It also funded Shop s and reclaimed areas environmentally damaged by the coal industry. BHS , McDonalds , Game , Burger King , HMV , KFC and other major Retail Chain s came to Wrexham, improving the area's employment prospects. The biggest breakthrough was the Wrexham Industrial Estate , home to many Manufacturing businesses including Kellogg's , JCB, Duracell, and Pirelli. There are also a number of other large industrial estates with companies such as Sharp, Brother and Flexsys. The dual carriageway was extended halfway to the Estate in 2003 , and is expected to reach it by 2011 . One of the industries to survive the economic down-turn was the local Brewery producing Wrexham Lager , an iconic drink in north Wales despite its rather low strength. However the brewery closed down in 2002, and was demolished in 2004. The high land prices in the town mean that apartments and flats within the town centre have been built. This is leading to large apartment blocks being built in and around the town centre. In June 2003 , the Caia Park Estate in Wrexham was hit by Riot s, when local youths attacked several Iraq i Kurd s living in the area, under the misconception that they had been given preferential treatment due to their status as Asylum Seeker s. Police were brought in to the estate, and Petrol Bomb s and other missiles were hurled at them, causing a major riot. Another recent, but less dangerous conflict was the opposition to the sale of the Nine Acre Field, a small Playing Field being sold by the local council to boost Education funds. City Status Wrexham is now the largest settlement in north Wales and has been nominated for city status several times, most recently in 2002 as part of the celebrations for the Golden Jubilee Of Elizabeth II , along with Aberystwyth , Machynlleth , Newtown , Newport and St Asaph . In the end Wrexham lost out to Newport. Wrexham county borough is among the smallest local authorities in north Wales. Although several attempts have been made to enlarge the local authority, other towns, such as Llangollen have rejected it, as there is a lot of "town rivalry" with neighbouring towns and cities, particularly Chester . CULTURE Arts Wrexham hosted the National Eisteddfod in 1888 , 1912 , 1933 and 1977 , as well as an unofficial National Eisteddfod event in 1876 . Wrexham has several theatres, including the Grove Park Theatre, and the Hippodrome, though the latter has now closed. There is a multi-screen Odeon cinema in the Plas Coch retail park, just outside the town centre. Media Wrexham's s MFM 103.4 and Classic Gold Marcher serve the town. The BBC and ITV Wales also have bureaux in the town for their regional news services. Religion Wrexham's main Anglican Church , dedicated to St Giles , includes a colourful Ceiling of flying musical Angel s, two early Eagle Lectern s, a Burne-Jones Window , the Royal Welch Fusiliers Chapel and the Tomb of Elihu Yale , after whom Yale College Wrexham is named, and benefactor of Connecticut 's Yale University . It's tower is one of the ' Seven Wonders Of Wales ', and the tower of Yale university reflects it's design. The Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady of Sorrows is the main church of the Diocese Of Wrexham , which extends over all of North Wales.Wrexham also has a number of non-denominational chapels and Churches scattered about the town. The main Methodist church is in Brynyffynon Regents Street. Up until the 1970's the town was full of Welsh Non denominational Chapels and the attendance of these was far in excess of that of the Anglican Church in the town. Shopping There are a number of retail areas, both in the town centre, such as Henblas Square and Island Green, and in out-of-town retail parks. BHS , Marks & Spencer , Game , Burger King , HMV , KFC and other major Retail Chain s all have stores in the town, and further retail development is planned in the future. Sport The town has a League two Football team, Wrexham A.F.C. , which competes in the Football League . However the club's future is far from assured, partly due to the club's £1m+ debt to the Inland Revenue , and because of the desire of property owner Alex Hamilton, owner of the club, to knock down the club's Racecourse ground and replace it with a shopping development. Things have recently improved for Wrexham FC after Judges ruled Hamilton must return ownership of the ground to the club itself. The ground also serves as the secondary home of the Llanelli Scarlets , one of the four Welsh professional Rugby sides that compete in the Celtic League . They play, on average, two games per season there. EDUCATION Wrexham has a number of primary and secondary schools. Recently, three of the largest secondary schools, St David's School, Ysgol Bryn Offa and The Groves High School were merged, somewhat controversially, to create two larger "superschools", Ysgol Clywedog and Rhosnesni High. Wrexham will also be home to the first shared faith school in Wales in the form St Joseph's. Yale College is the main post-16 education facility. Wrexham is also home to the newest University Of Wales college, NEWI . POLITICS Wrexham County Borough Council elects a Mayor who serves for one year. The current mayor of Wrexham is Councillor Michael Edwards. Wrexham Council's Website , is one of the leading council websites in the country; people who live under the jurisdiction of Wrexham County Borough Council are able to pay Taxes , Debts and other fees through the Website . They can also access many other services, such as reporting Crimes , submitting planning applications and applying for Permit s. The Constituency Of Wrexham , which covers the town, is represented in the Parliament Of The United Kingdom . It has long been a Safe Seat for the Labour Party . The current MP is Ian Lucas . Wrexham County Borough is a split constituency with Clwyd South. This has been seen as a political manoeuvre to even out voters, but is disputed. The Welsh Assembly Constituency Of Wrexham covers the town. As member for Wrexham, John Marek AM has represented the town since 1999 in Cardiff and in the Assembly he is also Deputy Presiding Officer. Before this he was the Wrexham MP since 1983. He was forced to leave the Labour Party in 2003 when he was deselected as their candidate while still in office. He has however proved he has strong personal support by increasing his majority as an independent in the last Assembly elections. John Marek founded Forward Wales (''Cymru Ymlaen'') after his win and has attracted disenchanted members from New Labour . Forward Wales stood candidates in the UK Elections In 2005 , but did rather badly especially considering their promising showing in the local elections in 2004. TRANSPORT Wrexham has various links to the transport network, with two railway stations and a large bus station with bus routes serving places as far away as Barmouth regularly. The two railway stations, Wrexham General and Wrexham Central gives Wrexham direct transport links to Merseyside , Chester , Shrewsbury , and much more recently, Cardiff , thanks to a Welsh Assembly Government funded high speed rail link from Holyhead to Cardiff. A recent focus on road transport by the council has improved the bus travel in the Wrexham area, with most buses being low-floor, and slightly elevated bus stops to allow people easier access to buses. A new bus terminal in Wrexham has been built, and is the largest in North Wales, featuring indoor shops and ambient music, along with a staffed information booth. FUTURE PLANS Wrexham has many major plans for the future. These include the building of the Central Retail park, a retail park build on the site of the old Wrexham Lager brewery. This will include such shops as SCS Furniture, Dunelm Mill and PC World (retailer) . As of January 20th 2006, the site is nearing completion and is due to be completed by the end of February. The WDA (Welsh Development Agency) has earmarked Wrexham as a potential transport hub. On December 9th, 2005, a new high speed rail link to Cardiff will open, making a journey time of two hours between Wrexham and Cardiff . The UK capital of culture for 2008 , Liverpool , has also donated £100,000 to a study of electrification of the Wrexham to Bidston line, and a possible rail link to the North Wales coast line. This will open new rail links to the East and the urban area of Liverpool . With house prices rising rapidly in this area, the council has made many plans for massive suburban housing estates to be built, one near Ysgol Clywedog, which will include a small shopping centre and another primary school. The other major one is planned for the ex-steel mill community of Brymbo, which will include many more houses, a new community centre, and a small suburban shopping centre. New plans for a large scale dry ski slope have been accepted on a £7 million budget. The site will be on the old Gresford mine site. The plans were accepted in late 2005 and they include the UK's first Ski jump. On the 30th Janurary 2006, it was announced that a new railway company, named the Wrexham Shropshire And Marylebone Railway (WSMR), had been formed. It plans to run a high speed rail link from Wrexham, through Shrewsbury to London's Marylebone station. The announcement made it unclear as to whether it will use locomotive hauled trains or high speed DMU trains, but it was mentioned that the line to Shrewsbury may need infrastructural upgrades to handle high speed trains. EXTERNAL LINKS |
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