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Holt, Wrexham |
Holt is a town in the county borough of Wrexham, Wales.
Located on the western bank of the River Dee, it has a ruined stone castle, built in pentagon form with a tower at each corner, by John de Warenne, who was granted lands by Edward I of England following the defeat of the Welsh in 1282. The castle was once a possession of Henry Fitzroy, 1st Duke of Richmond, but was in ruins by the 17th century; all that remains today are the remnants of the walls of the inner keep with a doorway and a staircase. The remainder was floated on barges down the River Dee after the sieges of the English Civil War to construct Eaton Hall.
The Church of St Chad has parts dating to the 15th century and 17th century. There is also a medieval market cross in the town centre. Downstream was a Roman brickworks (possibly called Bovium) which supplied clay tiles and pottery to the Roman fort of Deva Victrix (modern Chester). Six kilns, a bath house, sheds and barracks were found there in the early 20th century, as well as three earlier Bronze Age burial urns. Pieces of pottery sherds are still regularly thrown up after ploughing.
A Grade I listed medieval sandstone bridge links Holt with its English neighbour Farndon on the opposite bank of the Dee. Records of the county court of Chester, in 1368, show that:
A survey of 1627 described the bridge:
Sixteen years later, William Brereton, attacking the bridge for the Parliamentarians stated:
Thomas Pennant recorded ten arches in 1754 (and had been told a date stone of 1354 was there until recently, which contradicts the more likely date of 1338) but Hubbard in Buildings of Wales only saw eight. The third arch, viewed from the Holt river bank, shows the strengthened arch where the drawbridge once stood.
Notable people from Holt include Welsh football goalkeeper Leigh Richmond Roose.
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