Wrexham Special Do You Know Part 2

Wrexham Special Do You Know Part 2

Here are some little known facts about Wrexham town and county. How many did you know?

1. Len Randles from Marford came sixth in the 1925 Senior TT Race on the Isle of Man.
2. John Godfrey Parry-Jones from Rhosddu broke the land-speed record of 170mph on 28th April 1926 at Pendine Sands in Wales. Unfortunately, he died a year later trying to reclaim the record from Malcolm Campbell.
3. Wrexham Industrial Estate is the second largest in the UK behind Trafford Park in Manchester.
4. HM Prison Berwyn is now fully operational and has a capacity of 2,106 (latest population figure is 1,301 – July 2019) prisoners. Consequently, making it the largest prison in the UK by far.
5. Back around 1912, the local council once discussed transforming The Racecourse Ground into a municipal airport.
6. There was an RAF base in Wrexham until 1945. Surprisingly, the authorities added a hardened nuclear bunker in 1962. The structure is still standing and is now a recording studio.
7. Five designated ‘Piper Cubstrips’ appeared in Wrexham during WWII. These were short airstrips suitable for a US Army Piper Cub to land on. There were two at the RAF base in Borras, two in Acton and one opposite the Gresford Colliery entrance gates.
8. Gresford Colliery was part of the North Wales Coalfield, which was not heavily exploited until the 18th century. By 1900, however, more than 12,500 miners were producing three million tonnes a year!
9. When the Gresford mining disaster happened in 1934, the mine owners docked the men half a day’s pay as they had not completed a full day’s shift.
10. Wrexham Lager used the Pant-y-Golfen spring in Maesgwyn because it was similar to the water in the lager-producing area of Pilsen.
11. Our LL postcode comes from our post town which is Llandudno.
12. The largest-ever attendance at the Racecourse was 34,445 for an FA Cup fourth-round tie against Manchester United in 1957.
13. Peculiarly, it wasn’t the ‘red’ that gave rise to Wrexham’s previous nickname ‘The Robins’. It came in the first half of the 20th century from club secretary Ted Robinson. Ted was also the manager at the time hence ‘Robin’s Team’. Wrexham took on the ‘Red Dragons’ tag at the start of the 2001/2002 campaign.
    

    Ray Milland pictured with Joan Collins, circa 1955

14. The Charlatans recorded ‘The Only One I Know’ at the Winding Studios in Wrexham in 1990.
15. Major Walter Clopton Wingfield, born 1883 in Ruabon, invented the game of tennis. He used the old Welsh game of Cerrig y Drudion as his inspiration.
16. Ibrox Park Stadium, home of Glasgow Rangers, was built from Ruabon brick.
17. Wrexham forward Ambrose Brown saw red after only 20 seconds when playing away at Hull City on Boxing Day, 1936.
18. Famous science fiction author HG Wells, who wrote The Time Machine and War of the Worlds, was a teacher at Holt Academy.
19. Controversial Tory MP Enoch Powell was the nephew of former Wrexham mayor Ethel Claire Breeze.
20. Oscar-winning movie legend Ray Milland of The Man With X-Ray Eyes fame attended Wrexham’s Victoria School. He won an Academy Award for The Lost Weekend and appeared in Hitchcock’s Dial M For Murder.

We hope you enjoyed “Wrexham Special Do You Know Part 2”. For the others, please click here.