- Bangor-on-Dee
Bangor-on-Dee ( _cy. Bangor-is-y-Coed or Bangor Is Coed) is a
village in the ancient district ofMaelor inWales , situated on the banks of the River Dee. The village is in the county borough of Wrexham.Etymology
The commonly used
anglicise d name refers to the village's proximity to the River Dee. However, the traditional Welsh name is "Bangor-is-y-Coed", literally meaning "Bangor (i.e. a settlement within afence ) below the wood/trees".History
A
monastery was established at Bangor in about AD 560 bySaint Dunod and was an important religious centre in the 5th and 6th centuries. This monastery was destroyed in about AD 616 after Aethelfrith, the King ofNorthumbria , defeated the Welsh, led by Brocmail (Brochfael), at theBattle of Chester . The scholarBede wrote that 1200 monks were slaughtered before the attack. More than a millennium later, the massacre was recounted in a poem entitled "The Monks of Bangor's March" bySir Walter Scott , and put to music byLudwig Van Beethoven . Today no trace of the monastery remains and even its site is uncertain.The five-arched stone
arch bridge across the River Dee dates from about 1660 and it is believed to have been built byInigo Jones . A 1903suspension bridge byDavid Rowell & Co. is nearby at Pickford Meadows.Transport
Bangor had a station on the
Cambrian Railways ' Wrexham to Ellesmere line which crossed the River Dee via an iron bridge to the north of the village. This line was opened in 1895 and ran through an entirely rural area. The line closed for passenger services in 1962.Today there is only a local bus service that runs to the nearby towns ofWrexham and Whitchurch.Recreation
South-west of the village there is
Bangor-on-Dee racecourse , a National Hunt racecourse. There are also two lively pubs, a basket ball court and river activities such as fishing and rafting.External links
* [http://www.bangorondeeraces.co.uk/ The racecourse]
*
* [http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=26651 The Monks of Bangor's March]
* [http://www.geograph.org.uk/search.php?i=3549186 photos of Bangor-on-Dee and surrounding area on geograph]
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