Rhosllanerchrugog is the largest village in Wales. Initially part of the parishes of Rhiwabon and Moreton Above, on the 3rd September 1844 it became a parish in its own right. By the 1870s the population of the village had already grown to 6,683. Most people had been drawn to the village by the growth of the coal industry in the area. The smaller villages of Johnstown, Ponciau and Pen-y-Cae have been incorporated into the community of Rhosllanerchrugog.
In a similar fashion to the towns of the slate mining districts further west, the houses of Rhosllanerchrugog were initially built in a somewhat haphazard way. The results of this could still be seen by 1919, when the editor of Y Brython wrote an article about the village. In it he said that 'the shapes of the houses and streets of Rhos are strange - very strange. The village would surely look very peculiar if seen from an aeroplane! Most of the people have succeeded in building their houses where they please, having the shape they please, and facing whichever way they please. One house seems to be within spitting distance of the next and I am sure there is not one figure in the whole of Geometry that could completely define Rhos. Rhos is the most visual living proof that the world has ever seen that man has a free will, because no laws and byelaws imposed from outside authorities would ever have succeeded in building houses in this manner." (Translated from the original Welsh)
Sources: A History of Wrexham Denbighshire. ed. A. H. Dodd (1957); Rhosllanerchrugog Johnstown Ponciau Pen-y-Cae - a collection of pictures vol. 1 and 2, by Dennis W. Gilpin (1991 and 1992); Y Brython 24/7/1919, p. 3
Meg Ryder, RCAHMW, 11th June 2018