Southsea, Wrexham

Southsea
Southsea church, formerly the church hall
Southsea is located in Wrexham
Southsea
Southsea
Location within Wrexham
OS grid referenceSJ301518
Community
Principal area
Preserved county
CountryWales
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townWREXHAM
Postcode districtLL11
Dialling code01978
PoliceNorth Wales
FireNorth Wales
AmbulanceWelsh
UK Parliament
Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament
List of places
UK
Wales
Wrexham
53°03′32″N 3°02′35″W / 53.059°N 3.043°W / 53.059; -3.043

Southsea (Welsh: Glanrafon) is a formerly industrial village on the River Gwenfro in Broughton community, Wrexham County Borough, Wales.

The village came into being at the site of the Broughton Hall Brickworks and Plas Power Colliery. Its Welsh language placename (meaning "the bank of the river", glan yr afon) derives from that of a farm. Its exotic-sounding English name, however, comes from the South Sea Inn which used to stand over the road from the brickworks, and in a room of which the brickworks pay was distributed.

The Wrexham historian Alfred Neobard Palmer noted that the name Southsea first appeared on the rate books as early as 1786, though also commenting that this was "an absurd name which should never have been adopted, especially as there was an appropriate name ready to hand".[1]

Southsea's church, All Saints, was formerly its church hall. The previous church, built in 1921 after the original building became unsafe due to mining subsidence, itself became unsafe and was demolished in 1984.[2]

  1. ^ Southsea, All Saints, GENUKI. See Palmer, History of the Thirteen Country Townships of Wrexham, 1903
  2. ^ Southsea, All Saints Archived 2011-07-16 at the Wayback Machine, Clwyd FHS