The massive Wrexham AFC history thread (The sad case of a founding members and player of Wrexham...)

[eastsussex]

Originally Posted by Bobo99

It's a great pity schools didn't teach us much about local history. All I recall is spending far too long learning about the outcome of WW1 and the league of Nations.
Something i've noticed when reading your excellent research is the verbal similarity of the words "Crispin Lane" and "Crydd Pler Lane", is their any possibility they are the same place and Crispen Lane is anglicised?

Yes, they are Bobo, and I will add a bit further on the post directly after this one.
I first came across the name ‘Crid Pler Lane’ a few years ago on the 1844 map published in one of Palmers books, but I noticed that Palmer had not mentioned the name anywhere else in the book and my research showed that the name had not been recorded in any other literature. I also noted that Palmer had written 3 pages of corrections, including spelling corrections, at the end of the book ‘A History of The Town of Wrexham’ 1893, which he blamed on the copyist, although the map itself was taken from an actual 1844 town map, and Palmer did not seek to correct the spelling of the name, which therefore makes me think that the name was the actual name of the original muddy pathway Crid/Crydd- Pler/Bler meaning messy ‘muddy’ shoemakers lane. I had posted my understanding of this a few pages back, but will add more on my reply to Inside Left in the following post.

[eastsussex]

Originally Posted by Inside Left

We have the late Arthur Clarke* and a few local councillors to thank for saving the line of the dyke from New Rd through to Pandy. Developers were ready to build over it. I recall attending the site visit.

At that time in the 1970's those people also highlighted the line of the dyke alongside the railway from Stansty rail bridge through to Bersham Road.

Whilst there is little to no berm to see - the line of the dyke still needs to be retained and marked. Railway clearance has probably done damage as it seems to be done without heritage supervision.

* Arthur was a teacher at St Davids School and he lived in a house backing on to the dyke.

Thanks IL.
I agree that the line of Wat’s Dyke has been recorded on maps and in literature for centuries, but no one has previously, specifically identified that the original muddy shoemakers lane (Crid Pler Lane/Crispin Lane) was actually the silted up ditch of Wat’s Dyke, and I feel that this is an important distinction to make as it furthers our knowledge of the area. Moreover, no one has previously even acknowledged the name ‘Crid Pler Lane’ and have therefore not been able to question the origins of the name. It may have been a print error, but also seems to be a corrupted Welsh translation of 'Crydd- shoemaker and Pler/Bler- untidy/messy'.

Plenty of historians have written about Wat’s Dyke in the area, but have not made a clear distinction between the road that we now know as Crispin Lane and the original muddy thoroughfare, which gave the current lane its name.
The present Crispin Lane is located immediately to the west of the original ditch, which was the original lane (Crid Pler Lane) and a number of historians have made a broad reference to the fact that Wat’s Dyke follows the line of Crispin Lane, or that the railway boundary fence follows the line of Wat’s Dyke, but have not specified that there were in fact two lanes- the modern day Crispin Lane, which seems to have originated as a cart track that first came to notice in the first half of the 19th Century, and the other, original lane (crid pler lane), which appears to have evolved as a footpath on the silted up ditch of the dyke. Although we know that the two were distinct from each other as a newspaper article from the 1850’s reported the latter as a ‘lovers lane’ that was bounded with high hedges, while maps from the same period also show us that the current Crispin Lane was already in existence at that time. Additionally, the photo posted earlier from the late 1880’s shows the original ‘lovers lane’ i.e. Crid Pler Lane/Crispin Lane with a white picket gate at its entrance at the bottom of the Turf Tavern Gardens, while the modern day Crispin Lane was out of camera shot as it had been diverted closer to The Racecourse, leaving the bottom section of the Turf Tavern Gardens on the railway side of the modern day Crispin Lane.
The two lanes coexisted until the late 19th century, with the original Crid Pler Lane serving as a kind of a pedestrian thoroughfare that was bounded with high hedges that separated the lane from the road and provided the seclusion of a lovers lane, and while these little details may seem pedantic, I still believe that the distinctions should be made, as it is these little details that provides us all with a much deeper understanding of the history of the area.

[WasanActonlad]

Originally Posted by Bobo99

As you mentioned earlier, i'm also glad someone else can recall the areas features from bygones. I can vaguely recall this bonfire mid 60's and sometimes being set alight prior to Guy Fawkes by neighbouring tribes, there was also a Bonfire by the old Acton hall foundations. Oh what fun health-n-safety would have these days.
I've found the map of Acton showing the Quarry, but don't know how to attach a URL HTTP image from my PC. If the map was a bit more northerly it would show detail of the farm land between Neville Crescent and the 4 dogs entrance.

Lived in area since 63...dont recall bonfire on site of old acton hall (ie were skips were)...though do recall
Bonfire in in field between skips and back gate to acton hall..
There was early 70s omme big FIRE near the back gates of school but it wasnt on Nov 5th

[Bobo99]

Originally Posted by eastsussex

Thanks IL.
I agree that the line of Wat’s Dyke has been recorded on maps and in literature for centuries, but no one has previously, specifically identified that the original muddy shoemakers lane (Crid Pler Lane/Crispin Lane) was actually the silted up ditch of Wat’s Dyke, and I feel that this is an important distinction to make as it furthers our knowledge of the area. Moreover, no one has previously even acknowledged the name ‘Crid Pler Lane’ and have therefore not been able to question the origins of the name. It may have been a print error, but also seems to be a corrupted Welsh translation of 'Crydd- shoemaker and Pler/Bler- untidy/messy'.

Plenty of historians have written about Wat’s Dyke in the area, but have not made a clear distinction between the road that we now know as Crispin Lane and the original muddy thoroughfare, which gave the current lane its name.
The present Crispin Lane is located immediately to the west of the original ditch, which was the original lane (Crid Pler Lane) and a number of historians have made a broad reference to the fact that Wat’s Dyke follows the line of Crispin Lane, or that the railway boundary fence follows the line of Wat’s Dyke, but have not specified that there were in fact two lanes- the modern day Crispin Lane, which seems to have originated as a cart track that first came to notice in the first half of the 19th Century, and the other, original lane (crid pler lane), which appears to have evolved as a footpath on the silted up ditch of the dyke. Although we know that the two were distinct from each other as a newspaper article from the 1850’s reported the latter as a ‘lovers lane’ that was bounded with high hedges, while maps from the same period also show us that the current Crispin Lane was already in existence at that time. Additionally, the photo posted earlier from the late 1880’s shows the original ‘lovers lane’ i.e. Crid Pler Lane/Crispin Lane with a white picket gate at its entrance at the bottom of the Turf Tavern Gardens, while the modern day Crispin Lane was out of camera shot as it had been diverted closer to The Racecourse, leaving the bottom section of the Turf Tavern Gardens on the railway side of the modern day Crispin Lane.
The two lanes coexisted until the late 19th century, with the original Crid Pler Lane serving as a kind of a pedestrian thoroughfare that was bounded with high hedges that separated the lane from the road and provided the seclusion of a lovers lane, and while these little details may seem pedantic, I still believe that the distinctions should be made, as it is these little details that provides us all with a much deeper understanding of the history of the area.

I stumbled across some info on Watt's dyke in the Archaeologia Cambrensis Journals on the National Library of Wales website, the attached link is a page that shows the Watt's Dyke section adjacent to the Race Course. Not sure if this has been seen before. Edit: The link to the site didn't appear to work as an attached pic, so try the this link. https://journals.library.wales/view/...78%2C526%2C809

[eastsussex]

Originally Posted by Bobo99

I stumbled across some info on Watt's dyke in the Archaeologia Cambrensis Journals on the National Library of Wales website, the attached link is a page that shows the Watt's Dyke section adjacent to the Race Course. Not sure if this has been seen before. Edit: The link to the site didn't appear to work as an attached pic, so try the this link. https://journals.library.wales/view/...78%2C526%2C809

Thanks Bobo, those are fantastic maps, which I had not seen before. If I have read correctly, then they are OS maps from the first few decades of the 20th Century, that were published in Cambrensis in 1934, with the line of the remains of Wat’s Dyke drawn onto the map in ink, after a field study that was carried out between 1931 and 1933.
The varying dimensions of thickness in the line of the dyke relates to the remnants of the bank on the railway side of Crispin Lane at points 285 and 272 on the map, with the ditch suspected to be under the current Crispin Lane at these points, at that time, although I believe that those two points were the location of the original ditch/footpath ‘Crid Pler Lane’ until the railway company widened the lane in 1866.
The road section of Crispin Lane (probably just a track) had been in existence since at the very least 1838, when it was recorded on a map as a lane/road, while the opposite side of Mold Road is shown as the dyke (attached). On later maps, the opposite side of Mold Road is shown as a 4ft footpath where the dyke is located. The 1795 (attached) map just shows the lane as a continuation of the dyke, although it is not possible at that resolution to make out a road or footpath. The 1844 map (previously attached) was also prior to any extensive railway work, and this too shows Crispin Lane as a straight line side by side with the dyke until the diversion works of 1866.

At a Vestry meeting in Stansty in 1855, it was reported that ‘Crispin lane, that famed lovers' promenade, has now a nice gravel walk, where true love at last has a chance presented it of running smooth if it ever means to do so’.

https://newspapers.library.wales/vie...79/4585582/11/


The WM&CQ Railway was opened in 1866 and the main entrance to the line was via a footpath at the ‘then’ junction between Crispin Lane and Mold Road.

https://newspapers.library.wales/vie...64/4579469/26/

At that time, a resident attended a meeting after complaining about the railway encroaching on the footpath- ‘The company have also encroached upon the public thoroughfare in Crispin Lane in two or three places by setting up palings so as to narrow the footpath. I have more than once called your Surveyor's attention to the company's proceedings, and he lives near the spot, but no interference seems to be taken with the matter, and I therefore deem it necessary to trouble the board and to ask its immediate attention to the case’.
The surveyor responded by saying that 'the road was now wider than it was before it was diverted.

https://newspapers.library.wales/vie...01/4579506/27/




At a meeting of the Highways Board in 1877, Mr Smith called attention to the immense hedges in Crispin Lane, and hoped they would be cut down as that of the railway company was being done (indicating that the lane had hedges at either side at that time). — The Surveyor remarked that some parties liked the high hedges to walk under- (laughter) but they should all be cut if the board wished it.

https://newspapers.library.wales/vie...09/4583815/39/

In 1882 a member of The Cambrian Archaeological Society complained that long strips of the dyke had been levelled in Crispin Lane in quite recent years. (most likely referring to the 1866 diversions in the road.

https://newspapers.library.wales/vie...36/4589542/36/




The railway was extended with a bridge over Mold Road in 1887/88.

https://newspapers.library.wales/vie...14/4592419/30/

The top section of Crispin Lane was then diverted through The Turf Tavern Garden, as per the photo from the late 1880’s, as previously posted.

https://newspapers.library.wales/vie...87/4592392/31/

[eastsussex]

Originally Posted by eastsussex

Thanks Bobo, those are fantastic maps, which I had not seen before. If I have read correctly, then they are OS maps from the first few decades of the 20th Century, that were published in Cambrensis in 1934, with the line of the remains of Wat’s Dyke drawn onto the map in ink, after a field study that was carried out between 1931 and 1933.
The varying dimensions of thickness in the line of the dyke relates to the remnants of the bank on the railway side of Crispin Lane at points 285 and 272 on the map, with the ditch suspected to be under the current Crispin Lane at these points, at that time, although I believe that those two points were the location of the original ditch/footpath ‘Crid Pler Lane’ until the railway company widened the lane in 1866.
The road section of Crispin Lane (probably just a track) had been in existence since at the very least 1838, when it was recorded on a map as a lane/road, while the opposite side of Mold Road is shown as the dyke (attached). On later maps, the opposite side of Mold Road is shown as a 4ft footpath where the dyke is located. The 1795 (attached) map just shows the lane as a continuation of the dyke, although it is not possible at that resolution to make out a road or footpath. The 1844 map (previously attached) was also prior to any extensive railway work, and this too shows Crispin Lane as a straight line side by side with the dyke until the diversion works of 1866.

At a Vestry meeting in Stansty in 1855, it was reported that ‘Crispin lane, that famed lovers' promenade, has now a nice gravel walk, where true love at last has a chance presented it of running smooth if it ever means to do so’.

https://newspapers.library.wales/vie...79/4585582/11/


The WM&CQ Railway was opened in 1866 and the main entrance to the line was via a footpath at the ‘then’ junction between Crispin Lane and Mold Road.

https://newspapers.library.wales/vie...64/4579469/26/

At that time, a resident attended a meeting after complaining about the railway encroaching on the footpath- ‘The company have also encroached upon the public thoroughfare in Crispin Lane in two or three places by setting up palings so as to narrow the footpath. I have more than once called your Surveyor's attention to the company's proceedings, and he lives near the spot, but no interference seems to be taken with the matter, and I therefore deem it necessary to trouble the board and to ask its immediate attention to the case’.
The surveyor responded by saying that 'the road was now wider than it was before it was diverted.

https://newspapers.library.wales/vie...01/4579506/27/




At a meeting of the Highways Board in 1877, Mr Smith called attention to the immense hedges in Crispin Lane, and hoped they would be cut down as that of the railway company was being done (indicating that the lane had hedges at either side at that time). — The Surveyor remarked that some parties liked the high hedges to walk under- (laughter) but they should all be cut if the board wished it.

https://newspapers.library.wales/vie...09/4583815/39/

In 1882 a member of The Cambrian Archaeological Society complained that long strips of the dyke had been levelled in Crispin Lane in quite recent years. (most likely referring to the 1866 diversions in the road.

https://newspapers.library.wales/vie...36/4589542/36/




The railway was extended with a bridge over Mold Road in 1887/88.

https://newspapers.library.wales/vie...14/4592419/30/

The top section of Crispin Lane was then diverted through The Turf Tavern Garden, as per the photo from the late 1880’s, as previously posted.

https://newspapers.library.wales/vie...87/4592392/31/

I should also have added that prior to the introduction of the WM&CQ railway in the mid 1860’s, the dyke and ditch had not been affected in any way by the railway lines on this section of Crispin Lane.
The first line in this area was The North Wales Mineral Line, which first started to emerge at the end of 1830’s, due to an idea that the local iron and mineral works could be connected with the canal, although the company was later amalgamated with the Shrewsbury, Oswestry and Chester Railway Company to build a line between Chester and Wrexham in 1844, and extend the line to Ruabon in 1845. This track was located on the opposite side of the station, where the line to Chester is now located https://www.google.co.uk/books/editi...sec=frontcover

At this time, the dyke/ditch served as an access road/pathway, from both directions, to the house known as The Crispin, and beyond, as can be seen in this later map from 1872 (attached).
The map shows the original location of the main house and garden, which had been dissected by the WM&CQ railway line and therefore demolished, back in the 1860’s, although the outbuildings, stables and cottage, which faced onto Crispin Lane, remained intact until the end of the century, and it was this side of The Crispin, where the ditch had served as a trackway that gave access from Mold Road to the house and beyond.
In 1855, the trackway was given a gravel surface, which was paid for by local landowner Mr Foulkes, as the track didnt just serve the Crispin, but also served as a thoroughfare that connected Mold Road with Rhosddu.
The introduction of the WM&CQ railway led to a deep cutting being excavated for the railway track, and the batter/bank of that cutting took out different sections of the dyke and original footpath/trackway, as the railway company re-configured Crispin Lane in 1866, which was the origin of the complaint made by the resident in my previous post.
Prior to 1866, this section of the dyke/ditch/lane had not been affected by the railway, and so its original route had not been changed, but the survey of 1931 to 33 identified the changes that had been made after the WM&CQ railway had been built- when the route of the original Crispin Lane had been reconfigured.

[Bobo99]

Originally Posted by eastsussex

I should also have added that prior to the introduction of the WM&CQ railway in the mid 1860’s, the dyke and ditch had not been affected in any way by the railway lines on this section of Crispin Lane.
The first line in this area was The North Wales Mineral Line, which first started to emerge at the end of 1830’s, due to an idea that the local iron and mineral works could be connected with the canal, although the company was later amalgamated with the Shrewsbury, Oswestry and Chester Railway Company to build a line between Chester and Wrexham in 1844, and extend the line to Ruabon in 1845. This track was located on the opposite side of the station, where the line to Chester is now located https://www.google.co.uk/books/editi...sec=frontcover



At this time, the dyke/ditch served as an access road/pathway, from both directions, to the house known as The Crispin, and beyond, as can be seen in this later map from 1872 (attached).
The map shows the original location of the main house and garden, which had been dissected by the WM&CQ railway line and therefore demolished, back in the 1860’s, although the outbuildings, stables and cottage, which faced onto Crispin Lane, remained intact until the end of the century, and it was this side of The Crispin, where the ditch had served as a trackway that gave access from Mold Road to the house and beyond.
In 1855, the trackway was given a gravel surface, which was paid for by local landowner Mr Foulkes, as the track didnt just serve the Crispin, but also served as a thoroughfare that connected Mold Road with Rhosddu.
The introduction of the WM&CQ railway led to a deep cutting being excavated for the railway track, and the batter/bank of that cutting took out different sections of the dyke and original footpath/trackway, as the railway company re-configured Crispin Lane in 1866, which was the origin of the complaint made by the resident in my previous post.
Prior to 1866, this section of the dyke/ditch/lane had not been affected by the railway, and so its original route had not been changed, but the survey of 1931 to 33 identified the changes that had been made after the WM&CQ railway had been built- when the route of the original Crispin Lane had been reconfigured.

Thanks East Sussex your research is great reading. Interesting information is out there, it just needs to be found and told by story tellers like yourself.

[dragonspark]

he is amazing isnt he, his research is absolutely phenomenal

[eastsussex]

When looking into the history of Crispin Lane, then it would seem logical to ask-‘what was its purpose?’ Because, if the lane didn’t serve a purpose, then it would never have evolved in the first place. Therefore, in order to clarify the history, I think that it is necessary to distinguish between the footpath in the ditch ‘a muddy shoemakers lane’ and the thoroughfare for horse-drawn carriages that later evolved into the highway that we now know as ‘Crispin Lane’. Nowadays there is no distinction between the two, because only the highway exists, but I believe that in earlier times, the two were distinct from each other and each served a different purpose until they were merged into a single highway in the 19th Century.


We know that Stansty had been gifted to Valle Crucis Abbey in the thirteenth century (as per earlier posts in this thread) and we also know that the section of Wat’s Dyke behind The Racecourse traditionally served as a municipal boundary. But we also know that most of the area surrounding Stansty was open to public access in earlier times (the common fields) whereas; the land where the current stadium and Crispin Lane is located was not open to public access. Instead, this land had been farmed by the ‘unfree’ tenants who lived on the land under the strict governance of abbots’ who also lived at the Cistercian Grange and tithe barns in Stansty (as previously posted).
Henry VIII then confiscated all of the land, during The Dissolution of the Monasteries in the early to mid 16th Century, and the land was later sold to a branch of the Meredith family who built their family seat at Plas Coch in the late 1590’s, with the estate extending as far as the boundary of Watt’s Dyke. The Plas Coch estate was then sold to Sir John Wynn in 1697 and inherited by the Williams Wynn family.

John Ogilby’s road map informs us that the house known as The Crispin was already in existence on the opposite side of the Wat’s Dyke/ town boundary in 1675, and later maps would indicate that there was a 4ft pathway on the western side of the dyke, where the ditch was located, which served as an access route to the rear of The Crispin, where the cottage, outbuildings and stables were located. This footpath, I believe, was the original muddy shoemakers lane ‘Crid- Crydd Pler-Bler Lane’ that had been referred to on the 1844 map of the area that I attached to an earlier post.

In 1828, The Crispin and its estate of 24 acres (then known as the Bryn y Llyn estate) was advertised for sale as a freehold estate consisting of twenty four acres, but the advertisement also specified that ‘the estate did not have a footpath passing through any part of it’.
The first details of the highway (rather than the footpath) that would come to be known as Crispin Lane was provided on a map from 1819 (attached) which shows a carriageway that served both The Racecourse and the rear of The Crispin, and a so it would appear that the highway itself evolved as an access route for visitors to The Racecourse, as there was also a letter sent to the local newspapers in 1858, which recalled the earlier days of horse racing, when lines of carriages were parked from Plas Coch down to the railings on Crispin Lane.
https://newspapers.library.wales/vie...69/4586272/14/

The area where those carriages parked in the early days later became a footpath on the northern boundary of the Racecourse, which was four hundred and forty eight yards long and ran from The Crispin Cottage to Plas Coch, separating the lands owned by Sir W.W. Wynn and those of John Foulkes.
In 1848, Sir Watkin petitioned the authorities to pass an order to close the footpath and local magistrates passed the order in June of that year. At that time, there were no other properties on Crispin Lane, but in 1869, the owner of The Crispin- John Hughes died and his estate was put up for sale.
https://newspapers.library.wales/vie...599/4583600/1/

John Hughes (born Denbigh 1789) died on 10th February 1869, aged 79, and his estate, including The Crispin and fishpond field/Crispin field were put up for sale in June 1870, along with 22 other plots that ran along the boundary on the opposite (Racecourse side) of Crispin Lane, between the land owned by John Foulkes and that of The Racecourse, which was owned by Sir W.W. Wynn.

https://newspapers.library.wales/vie...48/4582952/21/


In the 1840’s tithe records, Mary Hughes owned the main house known as The Crispin, as well as a part of Crispin Field, while her brother- John Hughes also held a part of the house and three plots on Crispin Field, as well as Crispin Cottage, outbuildings and stables. Additionally, he owned a large section of land on the opposite (Racecourse) side of Crispin Lane, including a plot, called ‘Corner Croft’ as well as 21 larger adjoining plots (as attached map).
This joint ownership would suggest that their parents had bought the 24 acres of The Crispin/Bryn y Llyn estate when it was put up for sale in 1828 and then passed the estate on to their children when they died.
When John Hughes died, the entire estate was sold at auction.


Most of the land was bought at the auction by a former bankrupt, by the name of Henry Nelson Hughes, including a part of The Crispin Field that would later be known as ‘Spring Gardens’ as well as all of the plots on the opposite (Racecourse side) of Crispin Lane, and so the lower section of the footpath on the northern boundary of The Racecourse (just mentioned) was temporarily re-opened to give access to the plots that Hughes had bought, in order for him and his son- Charles Hughes to build new houses on the boundary of Crispin Lane.
Their first project was a cul-de-sac of 48 cottages, comprised of Ashfield Road, Nelson Terrace and Windsor Terrace, which were collectively known as The Crispin Cottages (Ashfield Road occupied its present location and Windsor Terrace fronted Crispin Lane). Construction started in 1877 and was completed in 1878, when the cottages were offered for rent at 3s. 9d. per week.
Charles Hughes was the architect and surveyor for the build, and he also built offices and erected a builders yard nearby, which he advertised for sale, along with adjoining land on Crispin Lane in 1881. He was living at 6 Nelson Terrace at that time.
In 1885, a plot of freehold building land was advertised for sale with a frontage of 90 yards to the railway lines, with applications to be made at 6 Nelson Terrace; and in 1893, Charles Hughes of 24 Nelson Terrace was again selling plots of land in Crispin Lane, while on 30th May 1894, Charles Hughes of Nelson Terrace held an auction for 9 plots of freehold land on Crispin Lane. These plots are now the 9 houses on Crispin Lane next to West Street.

Much of the remaining land on the western side of Crispin Lane, up to the junction of Mold Road, was a strip of waste land behind The Racecourse (the land behind the kop) and in 1869 (the same time when the football club disappeared from the records for two years) Sir W.W. Wynn held talks with local military regiments who had stopped using The Racecourse for military purposes, some years earlier, in favour of land in Denbigh. In response to these talks, Sir Watkin grubbed out a number of hedges on The Racecourse to make the land more suitable for military purposes and an armoury and Sergeants residence was built on the strip of wasteland behind The Racecourse, on its boundary with Crispin Lane, in 1870. At that time, there was a boundary hedge, which separated The Racecourse from the strip of wasteland that bordered Crispin Lane (the current boundary line of the stadium) and we know that the hedge was in place at that time, because a horse was reported to have been racing down the straight, past The Turf Hotel during the 1871 Wrexham Races, but failed to turn into the sharp corner and leaped over the hedge into Crispin Lane instead.
https://newspapers.library.wales/vie...70/3306573/22/

The armoury, which also served as the headquarters of The Volunteer Force of Royal Welsh Fusiliers, was demolished when the railway bridge was built and Crispin Lane was diverted through the Turf Tavern Gardens to form a new junction with Mold Road in 1887. After the bridge had been built, a number of plots of land that had been used by the railway company for storage and offices were put up for sale at auction and bought by the railway engineer and industrialist- Benjamin Piercy. When he died, most of his estate was sold, including two plots of land on the junction between Mold Road and Crispin Lane, which were bought at auction by a Mr Little of Liverpool, in 1892.
https://newspapers.library.wales/vie...24/4593529/33/
These two plots occupied the land where the charity shop/Nevs Garage used to stand.

The Volunteer Force of Royal Welsh Fusileers later moved to their new headquarters at the white house behind the kop which had been built sometime around 1898 and demolished in the late 1950’s early 60’s.

The remaining land owned by the Williams Wynn family on the western side of Crispin Lane, between The Racecourse and the row of 9 houses next to West Street was given over to allotments during the war, and either sold or donated for the use of a technical college, after the war.
In 1949, the Governors of Denbighshire Technical College announced that they were about to make use of all of their land on Crispin Lane for the purpose of a new technical college, and recommended that six months notice be given to the allotment holders in Crispin Lane (reported in the Western Mail on 30th August 1949). A state school was established on the land in 1950 and a new technical college was built in 1965 (Yale) although the land is now owned by Glyndwr University.

The student blocks, next to the kop were built in 2009/10.


I believe that Crispin Lane may have originally evolved on the silted up ditch of Wat’s Dyke- the muddy shoemakers lane, which traditionally served as a kind of public footpath, enclosed within hedgerows on either side, that gave rights of access within the boundary of the dyke, while the carriageway followed later, when The Racecourse was revamped at the end of the 18th Century/beginning of the 19th Century; similar to the details from the 1931-33 survey of the dyke at Preeshenlle and Old Oswestry (attached).