Interesting and Fun facts
Wrexham was a stop on the world’s first scheduled passenger helicopter service,
which ran between Liverpool, Wrexham and Cardiff between June 1950 and March 1951.
Wrexham – Liverpool return fare was £1!
They were based on a concrete pad on the site of Homebase, Plas Coch Retail Park.
Limited capacity and high running costs made the service uneconomic – by the time
flights ceased they had carried only 219 passengers.
One of the aircraft is now at Cosford Aerospace Museum.
Tunnels
Many of the local townsfolk firmly believe that there is a whole network of tunnels
under the town.
According to legend, these tunnels all come from the Parish Church and generally end in pubs
around the area. Some say that these were used by the church wardens to ensure that
everyone was in church on a Sunday and not in the pub!
Probably the main sources for the tunnel stories are the large cellars under many older buildings,
some of which interconnect. Also the drains, sewers and culverts, such as the one which
takes the river Gwenfro underground at the junction of Brook Street and Town Hill;
and a few genuine underground passages here and there.
Elihu Yale
The great Welsh American, Elihu Yale was born in Boston, USA, but his family moved back
to Britain when he was only three. He spent most of his adult life in India,
where he worked for the East India Company and rose to be a local government official in Madras.
He grew very rich as he also traded on his own behalf in diamonds and other gems, spices,
and many other commodities. He retired to the family estate, Plas Grono near Erddig,
Wrexham in 1699.
He was a benefactor of St. Giles church, where he was buried in 1721. He wrote his own epitaph,
which you can see on his tombstone; the lines “Much good, some ill, he did;
so hope all’s even, And that his soul thro’ mercy’s gone to Heaven” seem to show a quaintly
merchant-like attitude to balancing the books on his life!
Yale University in USA is named after him.
Next read about Acton Hall
