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Old 9th June 2018, 22.30:05   #533-0 (permalink)
eastsussexred
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Default Re: The sad case of a founding members and player of Wrexham Football Club (Massive history thread!)

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Originally Posted by eastsussexred View Post
As confirmed by W. Alister Williams in The Encyclopaedia of Wrexham (2010) Crispin Lane took its name from a property which was recorded in early Latin documentation as ‘Crispianus’ later known as Crispin Farm.
The farm was situated on the town side of the lane, directly opposite the corner of the kop, in an area, which was historically known as Lower Crispin (see attachment). In the mid to late 19th Century, the field on which Crispin Farm was situated, was still known as Crispin field, although the name ‘Crispianus’ seems to suggest that the farm may have been a substantial property in the distant past, as was indicated on Ogilby’s Road map of 1675 (previously posted) which shows a substantial house in the location that Crispin Farm occupied. In front of Crispin Farm, on The Racecourse side of the lane, near to the car park for the current club shop, was a field known as Crispin Croft, and at the top end of the Racecourse (between Plas Coch and Mold Road, there was an area which was still known as ‘The Crispin’ in the late 19th Century. This area was used occasionally as an assembly point for military parades in the mid to late 19th Century, although The Crispin seems likely to have previously been the location of a garrison, which was established in the area, during The English Civil War (In his book ‘ Stansty- a story of the land and its people, Quentin Dodd had also recorded that a large number of musket balls were found embedded in a number of walls in the area, most likely due to target practice).
Opposite The Crispin, at the base of Stansty Park (where the road splits between Summerhill Road and Mold Road) there had previously been a blacksmiths, known as Crispin Smithy, and in the 19th Century there was also a house, known as Crispin Lodge, which was built at the base of Crispin Meadow, in the apex where the two roads used to meet; this was the family home of the borough surveyor- John Strachan.
Further along Mold Road, on the Stansty Park side, there was a public house, known as The Crispin Inn, which, according to the 19th Century historian- Alfred Neobard Palmer, had previously been one of the houses that had been owned by the Edwards family of Stansty (The Crispin Inn was also recorded on Ogilby’s Road Map of 1675). The Edwardses are believed to have occupied the area from 1317, when their ancestor- David ap Meilir is thought to have bought, at least part of the manor of Stansty. The manor consisted of two parts- Stansty Ucha (upper Stansty) and Stansty Issa- lower Stansty, the latter of which had been gifted to the monks of Valle Crucis Abbey by The Prince of Northern Powys in 1254. But after the dissolution of the monasteries in the mid 16th Century, the two parts were reunited as one manor, and while the church retained some of the tithe rights of the land, the Edwards family continued as tenants and formed the estate, which would come to be known as Stansty Park in the latter half of the 16th Century.
According to Alfred Palmer, the name ‘Crispin’ seems to have derived from St Crispin- the patron saint of leathermaking and shoemakers, and may have been associated with an ancient guild of shoemakers, dating at least as far back as a medieval shoemaker and weaver, called John ap John of Stansty, although no guild of shoemakers was ever recorded. Moreover, as I have previously posted, the St Crispin link could possibly have been related to the leathermaking activities of the white monks of Valle Crucis Abbey and the lay farmers who became the tenants of the Abbey’s lands in Stansty. Whatever the origin of the name, it seems to be related to leathermaking and/or shoemaking in the area around The Racecourse and much of Stansty, sometime very far back in history.
As for the house called ‘Crispianus’ it seems to have been a substantial dwelling, at least into the 17th Century, and appears to have had its own fishpond, fed by a spring; hence the name ‘Springfield’, which still persists to this day. (The tradition of building and using fishponds began in the Medieval Period and were usually built by the wealthy sectors of society, including monastic institutions. They were frequently built close to castles, manors and monastic buildings, due to the risks from poaching, which was controlled by harsh laws).
Crispianus, later known as Crispin Farm, was also the end point of a trackway, which would come to be known as Crispin Lane. The trackway, which ran along the top of the western side of the ditch of Wat’s Dyke, was still visible in the 19th Century, when it was shown on maps to run from Crispin Farm all the way to Felin Puleston Corn Mill, which was built in 1582. The track was described as a 4-foot-wide footpath, which in itself indicates that in the past it had been used as a Medieval trackway for small carts, but also, as the distance between the corn mill and Crispin Farm was more than 1.5 miles, then the trackway would appear to have been an ancient right of way, as it would not have been possible to just build a trackway without obtaining a right of way from all of the different owners of the lands along the route.
The fact that the trackway stretched from Crispin Farm to Felin Puleston Corn Mill also has historical significance, as the inhabitants of the Stansty were required, by law, to mill their flour at The Kings Mill, which had been in operation since the 14th Century, and as the name suggests, was owned by the crown. The mill at Felin Puleston therefore provided an alternative, without the additional fees as determined by the crown, and so the ancient trackway is likely to have been used by the inhabitants of Stansty in order to avoid using The Kings Mill.
While the trackway ended at Crispin Farm (highlighted in yellow on the attachment) there was also an ancient right of way (highlighted in blue on the attachment) which ran from Mold Road to Plas Coch and then along the boundary of The Racecourse, down to Crispin Farm, and which divided the lands owned by the Foulkes family and the Wynn family estates. This right of way was stopped by means of a court order issued in the 1840’s, despite a petition which had been raised by the inhabitants of Stansty.

The property known as Crispianus eventually lost its influence and became known as Crispin Farm, which was gradually demolished over the years, until the mid-19th Century when all that remained was a cottage with a cow house, stables and outbuildings, and which was briefly occupied by the stationmaster of the new Wrexham, Mold and Connah’s Quay Railway from 1866, until the latter stages of the 19th Century, when the remainder of the property was also demolished.
It seems almost certain that the land that The Racecourse was built on, had bore the name of Crispin, at some point in the very distant past.
In his work- The Thirteen Country Townships of The Old Parish of Wrexham (1903) Alfred Neobard Palmer reported that Crispin Farm was called ‘Crispianus’ in Latin documentation dated 1699 and 1700, and ‘Crispin Anna’ in 1731 and 1777. The farm had belonged to The Ambrose-Lewis family of Wrexham from at least 1704 until 1810, when it was bought by Thomas Durack of Wrexham. Durack changed the name to ‘Bryn y llyn’ and the pond in front of the house (previously mentioned) which in earlier times was known as ‘Witches pond’ was thenceforth known as ‘Durack’s pool’.
Robert Williams, brother of the first Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, lived at ‘The Crispin Anna’ for a number of years in the 1730’s.
Later described as a genteel cottage with outbuildings, plantations and land measuring seven acres and thirty three perches, Bryn y llyn was advertised for sale in The Chester Chonicle in August 1828, along with around 17 acres of adjoining land. The property was located on the embankment of Wat’s Dyke, on the town side of Crispin Lane, opposite the far end of the kop, although some of the outbuildings were demolished when navvies first cut the embankment for railway lines from the 1840’s, with the cottage and stables finally being knocked down, sometime after 1867. The field in which the property stood, was at different times, known as Crispin’s field and another field on the north side of The Racecourse, was called ‘Crispin’s Meadow’.
The earliest reference to a substantial house in the immediate area of The Crispin, that I have found, is shown on Ogilby’s Road map (previously posted) which was surveyed sometime prior to 1675.
Crispin cottages was also the collective name given to a cul-de-sac of 44 small cottages that occupied Ashfield Road, Nelson Terrace and Windsor Road, which faced onto Crispin Lane between The Racecourse and Ashfield House. Built in the early to mid 19th Century, the cottages were demolished in the mid to late 19th Century.
Another property that was briefly known as Crispin Cottage was found next to The Crispin Smithy, in the apex of the triangle at the base of Stansty Park, where Summerhill Road used to meet Mold Road, prior to the construction of the current Mold Road interchange. This property, which was the family residence of district surveyor- John Strachan, was enlarged in the 1870’s and renamed ‘Crispin Lodge’. The field in which this lodge was sited, was known as ‘Crispin Meadow’ and directly opposite, on the Plas Coch side of Mold Road, was another grassland, known as ‘Crispin Field’. This area was generally known as ‘The Crispin’ at the end of the 19th Century.
Further along Mold Road, opposite Stansty Chain Road was a tavern called ‘The Crispin Inn’, which was recorded on Ogilby’s Road map (published 1675) and subsequent 17th Century road maps, as well as early 18th Century documents. According to Palmer, the tavern had previously been a farmhouse that belonged to the Edwards family, called ‘Plas Ucha’ (1620) and he suggested that the name ‘Crispin Inn’ was a corruption of the Latin ‘Crispiniene’ as recorded in the Stansty Parish register of 1695. However, Ogiby’s road map was produced in English, so even if the parish register entry had been corrupted; the same could not also be applied to Ogilby’s survey. Palmer further suggested that the Crispin connection may have been derived from John ap John of Stansty, who was recorded in 1615 as a weaver, and in 1619, as a shoemaker. He added that John ap John may have been related to the Edwards’s and as St Crispin was the patron saint of shoemakers, he might have provided the Crispin link to the area, although he also stated ‘I cannot prove this conjecture, for conjecture only it is, to be true, but it is the only explanation I can offer.’

Last edited by eastsussexred; 9th June 2018 at 22.37:38..
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