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| Holt | |
|---|---|
 Holt village | |
  Holt Location withinWrexham | |
| Population | 1,554 (Community, 2021)[1] |
| OS grid reference | SJ409539 |
| Community |
|
| Principal area | |
| Preserved county | |
| Country | Wales |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Wrexham |
| Postcode district | LL13 |
| Dialling code | 01829 |
| Police | North Wales |
| Fire | North Wales |
| Ambulance | Welsh |
| UK Parliament | |
| Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament | |
53°04′44″N2°52′52″W / 53.079°N 2.881°W /53.079; -2.881  Map of the community | |
Holt is a medievalvillage andcommunity inWrexham County Borough,Wales. It is situatedon the border withEngland and within thehistoric county boundaries ofDenbighshire.Holt Castle was begun byEdward I shortly after theEnglish conquest of Wales in 1277.Farndon lies just over theRiver Dee.
The Old English wordholt meant a "wood" or "thicket" and is a common element in place names over the border in England.[2]Welsh uses the same name for the village but in the past, it included thedefinite article, appearing asYr Holt.[3]
The district has been occupied since at least theRoman period. A brickworks (possibly called Bovium) supplied clay tiles and pottery to theRoman fort ofDeva Victrix, eight miles away (modernChester). The works was located just downstream from the modern village. In the early 20th century, six kilns, abath house, sheds and barracks were found there on the banks of theRiver Dee.
ThreeBronze Age burial urns have also been found in Holt.
Excavations to the north-west of Holt have revealed a major Roman site for making tiles and pottery.[4] It is thought that the tiles were supplied to the Roman fort at Deva Victrix (modern Chester). In 2024, remains of a medieval longhouse were also discovered. The long and narrow building was thought to have been used as a communal dwelling.[5]
There is amedieval market cross in the centre of Holt. Thechurch of St Chad has parts dating to the 15th century and 17th century.
The population was 1,058 inhabitants in the 1841 census.[6]
AGrade I listed 14th-centurysandstone bridge links Holt with the English village ofFarndon across theRiver Dee. Records from the county court of Chester in 1368, state that:
"the jury presented that John, earl of Warenne, late Lord of Bromfield, had constructed a bridge across the River Dee (during 1338)... and upon that bridge is afortified gateway. The jury then claimed that illegal toll was being extorted from workmen daily crossing the bridge, and that the town of Holt was giving shelter to felons who ambushed Cheshire folk."
A survey of 1627 described the bridge:
"contayninge 10 arches which River divideth Two Sheires, namely Cheshire and Denbye... Upon the fifth Arch from Holt standeth a Tower or Gatehouse of Fortification... [the text then describes the Lady's Chapel in the tower]... Upon the other end of the fortificacion next unto the manor of Farndon next unto the Manor of Farndon is layd out in Masons Works a Lyon to the full passant. And like Lyon is upon the gates of Holt Castell. The county of Chester doth repair the bridge to the Lyon."
Sixteen years later,William Brereton attacked the bridge for theParliamentarians:
"for which end they had also made a towre and drawbridge and strong gates upon the bridge soe as they and wee coceived it difficult if not altogether ympossible to make way for our passage."
Despite this he,Thomas Myddelton and their forces took the bridge on 9 November 1643 when they cast 'somegrenados amongst the Welshmen'.
Thomas Pennant recorded ten arches in 1754 (and had been told a datestone of 1354 was there until recently, which contradicts the more likely date of 1338) but Hubbard inBuildings of Wales only saw eight. The third arch, viewed from the Holt river bank, shows the strengthened arch where the drawbridge once stood.
There are two tiers of local government covering Holt, atcommunity andcounty borough level: Holt Community Council andWrexham County Borough Council. The community council generally meets at Kenyon Hall on Castle Street.[7]
Holt was anancient parish. It was subdivided into sixtownships: Cacca Dutton, Dutton Diffeth, Dutton-y-Bran, Ridley, Sutton, and a Holt township covering the northern part of the parish including Holt itself and adjoining countryside.[8] From the 17th century onwards, parishes were gradually given various civil functions under thepoor laws, in addition to their original ecclesiastical functions. In some cases, including Holt, the civil functions were exercised by each township separately rather than the parish as a whole. In 1866, the legal definition of 'parish' was changed to be the areas used for administering the poor laws, and so the townships also becamecivil parishes.[9] The five southern townships from the old parish were merged into a new civil parish calledIsycoed in 1935.[10]
Holt anciently formed part of thecantref ofMaelor within theKingdom of Powys. The area was contested between English and Welsh rulers between the 11th and 13th centuries. By the 13th century, Maelor was split intoMaelor Saesneg (English Maelor) and Maelor Gymraeg (Welsh Maelor), also known asBromfield. Holt was in Bromfield, which became part ofDenbighshire on the county's creation in 1536.[11]
Holt was also anancient borough, having been incorporated under amunicipal charter issued byThomas Fitzalan, 5th Earl of Arundel, around 1409. By the 19th century the borough had very few functions, an so it wasleft unreformed when most boroughs were converted intomunicipal boroughs in 1836. The borough was eventually abolished in 1886.[12][13]
The civil parish of Holt was converted into a community and became part of the new borough ofWrexham Maelor inClwyd in 1974 under theLocal Government Act 1972.[14][15] The upper tiers of local government were reorganised again in 1996, when the modern county borough of Wrexham was created.[16]
