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

[EnglishRed]

Originally Posted by eastsussexred

I agree ER. Zooming in, the medal looks like it is set in a seven sided mount which is connected to the ribbon by a two sided link, and then possibly has the Crimean clasps near the base of the ribbon. I am not knowledgable on military medals, but have done a bit of searching around and cannot find anything matching that profile. Could the mount and link be bespoke, perhaps added by Thomas Heath, in the same way that some people might mount a football medal, for example? I'm not sure if this was done in the past, but I cannot find anything online that matches that particular medal

I think you might be right. I actually think that it looks a bit more like the Turkish Crimea medal rather than the Crimea medal, which was issued by the Ottoman empire to Allied troops who fought in the war. This came with a single ring suspension but according to a medal website I found:

"The original suspension was by means of a small silver and larger steel ring fit through a pierced hole in the disc, but this is very often replaced with a Queen's Crimea medal suspender, or some other more robust form of suspension.

Whatever medal he has he was a war hero and looks like a solid bloke, do you know what position he played? Wouldn't like to have been on the receiving end of a tackle from him!

[eastsussexred]

Originally Posted by EnglishRed

I think you might be right. I actually think that it looks a bit more like the Turkish Crimea medal rather than the Crimea medal, which was issued by the Ottoman empire to Allied troops who fought in the war. This came with a single ring suspension but according to a medal website I found:

"The original suspension was by means of a small silver and larger steel ring fit through a pierced hole in the disc, but this is very often replaced with a Queen's Crimea medal suspender, or some other more robust form of suspension.

Whatever medal he has he was a war hero and looks like a solid bloke, do you know what position he played? Wouldn't like to have been on the receiving end of a tackle from him!

I felt the same thing when I first saw the photo ER. He certainly doesn't look like he was a man who would suffer fools gladly, or that he was a man who would have taken many prisoners, so to speak. Perhaps a blown up image of him over the entrance to the pitch in the players tunnel would be apt.
I dont have any ideas about what position he, or any of those mentioned in the first ever game would have played. It is something I will look into at a later date, to see if there are any clues in the newspapers about those founding players who stayed in the team, such as C.E. Kershaw, for example, but the only reference to Thomas Heath relates to that first game against The Prince of Wales Fire Brigade. However, it is known that he had been a member of the cricket club beforehand, as he was listed in an earlier event at The Turf Tavern with other members of the cricket team, but all of the other newspaper articles in which is mentioned, relate to The Denbighshire Militia, and particularly for winning rifle shooting competitions.
I understand that some medals were sent to The Royal mint by soldiers, in order to get their name officially embossed on the medal, so perhaps that is where the medal was mounted, or, as you say, by means of 'the queens medal suspender' although I am trying to get access to his military records, which might give more clues as to what campaign the medal relates to.

[EnglishRed]

Fascinating stuff esr. Keep up the good work!

[eastsussexred]

In addition to the boundary hedge alignment between Crispin Field and Crispin Meadow, which was dissected by an ancient track or road that would later become Mold Road, there is also a boundary hedge alignment between Crispin Croft and Coopers Field, just beyond the northeast boundary of The Racecourse (see attachment).
Again, the hedges of these two fields follow the same alignment, but are also dissected by Crispin Lane. I have no dates at to when the lane was built, but there is a map which seems to show that the lane was in existence in the 17th Century, though would likely have been much older.
It is possible that after the lane was built, the town-side of the field was sold off to a barrel-maker;- hence Coopers Field, but next to this field is another field called Crispin Field, and the building of Crispin Lane would also have separated this field from the rest of the field, which is now known as The Racecourse. Moreover, if The Racecourse was once a part of a field, named after Crispin, then this field itself was further dissected by another road- Plas Coch Lane, when Plas Coch Hall was built, sometime around the 1580’s or 90’s. On the tithe map (attached) I have highlighted these three roads in yellow, and you can see that there is just one other boundary hedge (in purple) which separates these fields from the other fields named Crispin Field and Crispin Meadow. This suggests to me that the hedge in purple ‘may’ have been added as a field boundary when Plas Coch was built, but otherwise all of the fields named ‘Crispin’ were joined in the very distant past.
The land at the lower ‘Racecourse end’ on the map was gifted to Valle Crucis Abbey at the beginning of the 13th Century, when the Prince of northern Powys relocated the inhabitants of Llangwestl, near Llangollen, to Stansty, prior to building the Abbey. Documents show that the Abbey held a grange in this area, which was a house for monks who administered the tithes due on the land, and the tithes were collected, in the form of crops, which were stored in barns that were attached to the grange. Early documents state that the grange was located near to a stone monument and the name ‘Stansty’ is thought to have been derived from the Anglo-Saxon word ‘stan’ meaning ‘stone’ and sti or sty, relating to a path, road or enclosure, or possibly from the Germanic word stipig, relating to the farming of pigs.
The only known monument in the immediate area was Wat’s Dyke, and so it may have been that the dyke in this area had the addition of some stone re-enforcement built into the embankment, although, no stone has ever been found.
While lower Stansty belonged to the Abbey, upper Stansty (Stansty Park) was sold or leased to David ap Meilir in 1317, although this land too would be incorporated into a manor under the jurisdiction of the Abbey. Meillir’s family continued to live on the land in upper Stansty and after Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1535, his descendants built the family seat ‘Plas Issa’ in 1577. Another descendant- a farmer by the name of John ap David ap Edward, then adopted the surname ‘Edwards’ in the 16th Century and Plas Issa, would later become known as Stansty Farm. Soon after, Sir William Meredith (a cousin to the Edwards’s) built Plas Coch Hall, most likely around the 1580’/90’s and Plas Coch stayed in the family until Sir William Meredith of Kent sold the land and its estate to Sir John Wynn in 1703.
Much of Stansty farm was destroyed by fire in the latter part of the 19th Century.

It would seem that building activity in the form of roads and houses, had dissected an area associated with Crispin over many years, most likely with Mold Road first cutting off Crispin Meadow from Crispin Field in ancient times and possibly followed by Crispin Lane separating the other end of Crispin Field from the land that we now know as The Racecourse, also at some unknown date in the very distant past, before a road built for access to Plas Coch Hall completely separated the two sides of Crispin Field, at the end of the 16th Century.
The Crispin Inn, off Mold Road, appears to have been in existence until the late 18th Century (possibly into the very early 19th Century)
Crispin Lane is now the only physical reminder of a time when the whole area would have been known due to an association with Crispin, which I believe may have been derived from the activity of the 13th Century inhabitants who made leather and shoes on the farms that were under the Jurisdiction of the Cistercians of Valle Crucis Abbey.

Originally Posted by eastsussexred

The attached ‘Tithe map 1’ shows the northern edge of the original racecourse in the early 1830’s, with Crispin Lane highlighted in red. At that time, The Racecourse was much bigger than the current stadium and the course was oval in shape, running in a South to North direction, out toward the plastic pitch behind the student flats, where two small, un-named, ploughed fields (numbered 127 and 120 on the map) bordered the edge of the course. John Tench was the tenant of plot 127, paying a tithe to W.W. Wynn, and the other field was under the direct ownership of W.W. Wynn, so there was no tithe to pay. As mentioned in the last post, John Tench was also the tenant of The Racecourse, paying tithes to both the vicar of Wrexham and the owner of the course- W.W. Wynn. Beyond these two fields was a plot listed as Crispin Croft (numbered 121 on the map) with a tenant paying a tithe, solely to a Mr John Foulkes, while on the town side of Crispin Lane, plot 48 is listed as Crispin Field, with another tenant paying a tithe, only to John Foulkes.
On the second attachment (Tithe map2) I have zoomed out to show a wider area and circled Crispin Field and Crispin Croft in yellow, but also highlighted plot 73 (in blue) which is listed as Crispin Meadow. Again, the tenant of this plot paid a tithe, only to John Foulkes. In the lower apex of this field is a cottage and smithy, under private ownership, which was known as The Crispin Smithy. Further along Mold Road, I have highlighted two small fields in green; these fields had previously been the location of The Crispin Inn, before it was demolished (see attachment 3) and the tenants of both of these fields were paying a tithe, only to John Foulkes, whereas, all of the other surrounding fields had different owners. John Foulkes was the owner of many other fields and properties in the area and was also the owner of Ashfield Hall, off Crispin Lane, just beyond Crispin Croft, but he was the sole tithe owner of all of the fields which bore the name of Crispin, even though they were spread out amidst other fields and properties, which had different tithe owners, especially the church and W.W. Wynn.
From this, it would seem most likely that the Crispin connection was inherited through the Foulkes family, as The Crispin Inn was known to be in existence at least 150 years before the tithe map was compiled, and presumably, the field-names were also, at least of the same age.
The Foulkes family of Wrexham were a wealthy family from the legal profession, with John Foulkes being a solicitor, who followed his father, also named John, into the profession. His half-brother, William Langford Foulkes of Rakery Hall, Llay was also a barrister and magistrate.
John Foulkes (jnr) lived at Ashfield Hall, which was situated just beyond Crispin Croft, on the northern side of The Racecourse, with his wife- Elizabeth, 2 sons and 7 daughters; one of whom, married the playwright and actor- Henry James Byron, the cousin of Lord Byron, while another married the London Barrister and author, William Carew Hazlitt; the family were very well connected.
John Foulkes (jnr) died in 1861 and his wife and the younger members of his family may have moved to Penybryn Hall, before moving to The Lodge in Wrexham, although his son, William Bennion Foulkes (a Dragoon Guard) remained at Ashfield Hall, until his death in 1872.
The land register of 1872 recorded that John Foulkes’s widow- Elizabeth (b 1807- d 1883) owned over 916 acres of land in the Wrexham area, with his brother- William Langford Foulkes owning 105 acres and William Bennion Foulkes owning 45 acres, though the house at Ashfield, together with 14 acres of grounds, would be leased to tenants sometime around 1885.
Much of the family’s wealth must have been inherited through John’s father- John Foulkes snr (born 1773) who was also a solicitor, as well as being a magistrate, and who lived with his second wife at Elwy House in King Street, Wrexham, until his death, at home in 1833, though, the family inheritance would appear to have been much more Ancient.
In 1875, Elizabeth Foulkes’s son-in-law, William Carew Hazlitt, published a treatise called ‘The Tenures of Land and Customs of Manors’ which correlated earlier works on the customs relating to tenures of historic manors.
Under the title, The Manor of Stansty, Hazlitt wrote

‘Mrs Foulkes pays 1s a year quit-rent to the lord of the manor Sir Watkin Wynn, in respect to a tenement in this lordship, otherwise freehold. Tenures of this description, it may be stated generally, are not uncommon. Mrs Foulkes is the lay-rector of Stansty, and takes commuted rent-charge on the great tithes. Till the payment in kind was discontinued, it was usual to distinguish the rectors by the insertion of a small twig or stick’

Quit-rent was an ancient form of payment, under feudal law, on leasehold or freehold land, which could be paid, in certain circumstances, to the lord of the manor, and which freed the payer from the obligation of services to the lord under feudal tenure. Or in other words, for a traditionally nominal fee, the Foulkes family were free from all of the other obligations and services that a tenant or leaseholder was obliged to provide to the lord of the manor. In additional, Mrs Foulkes was the lay-rector of the manor, which was not an active ecclesiastical role, but rather, an ancient role which gave entitlement for the landowner who had bought or inherited property on the site of historical church or abbey land, to collect nominal church tithes on the land that they owned.
During Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th Century, Valle Crucis Abbey and its lands were sold off. When this happened, the purchasers of the land also inherited the role of lay-rector, which gave them entitlement to the tithes and glebe rents, previously owned by the dissolved religious houses, even though the monastic properties may no longer have existed, as was likely the case in the area around The Racecourse. These tithes were different to the tithes collected by the vicar of Wrexham, which were used for the church and for his own upkeep, but the fact that Elizabeth Foulkes had retained the ancient entitlement of lay rector in 1875, proves that the Foulkes family had either bought or inherited ancient monastic land, which dated back to the land owned by Valle Crucis Abbey, and as the family owned also all of the fields and property which bore the name of Crispin, amidst land that was owned by others, then it is possible the name of Crispin, or St Crispin, also dates back to the earlier monastic ownership of the land.
In addition to this, the earliest reference that I can find to The Turf Tavern comes from a parish register which states that Joseph and Margaret Foulkes were the landlords of the tavern in 1819, although I have not yet been able to establish if they come from the same Foulkes family. Curiously, though, records from the tithe maps show that the landlord of the tavern in the 1830’s- John Tench, was paying a small tithe to the vicar of Wrexham in the 1830’s with no tithe to Sir W.W. Wynne, while there is an entry of 4 crosses in the margin, under the name of John Foulkes. This is unusual as the margins were left blank if no tithes were due, but the 4 crosses may suggest that the Foulkes family had also owned, either the tavern or the land it was built on, or had previously had entitlement to the tithe, due from the tenant.

Originally Posted by eastsussexred

Since yesterday, I have found another Crispin Field on the tithe map, directly opposite Crispin Meadow, but on the opposite side of Mold Road (circled in red on the attachment) and again a tennant was paying a tithe of £5-2shillings-8d, solely to John Foulkes. What is interesting about this field is its relationship to Crispin Meadow, i.e. if you look at the boundary hedges of both of these fields (on the Stansty side) you can see that they are perfectly aligned, but are seperated by Mold Road. This very strongly suggests that at one time they were the same field, but were dissected by Mold Road at some point in the very distant past. Moreover, The Crispin Inn must have been built at the side of an existing road (Mold Road) which means that the fields pre-date the Inn, and so the name Crispin was not derived from the Inn, as A.N. Palmer had thought, but rather, the name of the Inn was derived from the fields. This also seems logical as there are other fields named after Crispin, around a mile away, next to The Racecourse, and this in-turn adds weight to the idea that the whole area was named after Crispin, or St Crispin
The earliest reference I have found for The Crispin Inn was 1625, but the road that we now know as Mold Road, which dissected the fields, is indeed ancient and may even pre-date any significant occupation of the town of Wrexham itself.
As previously stated, I feel that the name of Crispin may have been derived from The Cistercians of Valle Crucis Abbey, who established a grange with outlying farms and tithe barns in Stansty at the beginning of the 13th Century, with the subsequencial manufacture of leather and leather-goods providing the connection with St Crispin as the patron saint of leather-makers and shoemakers.

[jonesfach]

Are you able to overlay a path for mold road, train station and Crispin lane from your knowledge obtained from the other maps? As I am slightly lost where things should be??

Thanks if possible but don't worry if you can't.

[eastsussexred]

Originally Posted by jonesfach

Are you able to overlay a path for mold road, train station and Crispin lane from your knowledge obtained from the other maps? As I am slightly lost where things should be??

Thanks if possible but don't worry if you can't.

Currently using my phone Jonesfach, so don't have access, but the area called Crispin Meadow is I think where Lex play now, in the triangle between summer hill road and Mold Road. Stansty Farm and The Crispin Inn are oposite Stansty Lodge Lane. So the road highlighted in yellow is Mold Road, which may have been a trackway, before it developed into a road. The lane leading to Plas Coch was also off Mold road and the line highlighted in yellow that cuts through Crispin Croft and Coopers field, is Crispin Lane. The station was built just behind Crispin field. The map is angled in order to get all of the details on, and Much of Mold road is missing from the top of the page. To gain a better idea, then consider that Crispin Croft would probably be somewhere in the region of the plastic pitch , behind the car park in front of the club shop

[eastsussexred]

Originally Posted by jonesfach

Are you able to overlay a path for mold road, train station and Crispin lane from your knowledge obtained from the other maps? As I am slightly lost where things should be??

Thanks if possible but don't worry if you can't.

Jonesfach. I have copied the overlay of the tithe map from the 1830's and the current town map (see attachment aaa) and also copied an ordinance survey map from the 1890's (attachment bbb) giving the positions of the fields as they were previously. Just remember that The Racecourse used to be much longer, and wider than the stadium is today.

You can find the tithe maps here. Cynefin | Tithe maps
Just select Denbigh from the left hand selection and then Wrexham/Stansty from the dropdown list. You then have three selections Transcribe/Geoconference/Visualise. Each of these gives you a different kind of map, and by selecting the maps in different ways, you can get additional information.
I Hope this gives more clarification.

[eastsussexred]

Originally Posted by eastsussexred

Jonesfach. I have copied the overlay of the tithe map from the 1830's and the current town map (see attachment aaa) and also copied an ordinance survey map from the 1890's (attachment bbb) giving the positions of the fields as they were previously. Just remember that The Racecourse used to be much longer, and wider than the stadium is today.

You can find the tithe maps here. Cynefin | Tithe maps
Just select Denbigh from the left hand selection and then Wrexham/Stansty from the dropdown list. You then have three selections Transcribe/Geoconference/Visualise. Each of these gives you a different kind of map, and by selecting the maps in different ways, you can get additional information.
I Hope this gives more clarification.

P.S. I think that the two small fields between Crispin Croft and The Racecourse, and to the side of Crispin Field, were originally a part of Crispin Field also, but were sold to different owners, sometime prior to the date that the tithe map was made.

[jonesfach]

Fantastic. Thanks can make sense of it all now.

Really is interesting how it's all developed.