“Amazing” Restoration Plans For Brymbo Heritage Sites Underway

A multi-million pound heritage initiative to regenerate one of Wrexham’s most historic sites is well underway.

The Brymbo Heritage Project is already looking at a busy year, with several plans in the making to redevelop history and heritage assets in Brymbo to turn it into a world-class site, taking advantage of its rich industrial past.

There are a number of far-reaching goals in store for the village – including the restoration and reuse of the former Brymbo Iron and Steelworks site and the exploration and conservation of the nearby fossil forest; a major site of geological interest with fossils dating back more than 300 million years old.

The Brymbo Steelworks site in particular has been the subject to redevelopment proposals since its closure in 1990.

Formed by ex-workers and local history enthusiasts, Brymbo Heritage Group came together with landowners Brymbo Developments Ltd in 1994, to become the Brymbo Heritage Trust and develop a regeneration project for the site.

Aiming to be phased over a twenty-year period, the redevelopment proposals are seen to have the potential to bring a wide range of benefits to Wrexham in the long term. In particular, a tourism and heritage based vision after the discovery of the 300-million-year-old Brymbo Fossil Forest in 2004.

In February 2017 the project gained the support of Wrexham Council’s Executive Board, who unanimously agreed to support the Trust’s plans for the site – along with committing the support of council officers to the planned developments.

Speaking at the meeting, Lead Member for Communities, Partnerships, Community Safety and Public Protection, Cllr Hugh Jones described the programme as one that is ‘truly exciting’ and has the ‘potential to develop a world class tourist venue in Wrexham.

The decision did not require any funding from the council, but gives the project the weight it needs to push on for applications for funding and grants from larger bodies.

Shortly after gaining council support, the project attracted nearly £2 million in funding from the Big Lottery Fund’s Create Your Space programme, allowing the project to kick-start its Roots to Shoots initiative, which looks at ways of making use of additional former industrial open spaces in and around the village.

Already the funding has helped the project to secure three new jobs, with two development officers and a finance officer appointed for its Roots to Shoots plans.

Gary Brown, Heritage Officer for the project, said: “We’re incredibly grateful for the support we received from Wrexham Council earlier this year, as it gave us the seal of approval we needed to pursue large-scale funding.

“The council’s support has helped us to manage to the flow of funds and get started on work sooner, rather than later.

“We have some great ambitions for Brymbo and the surrounding area – we want to do all we can to bring to light the area’s incredibly rich heritage and use that to support its continued development.

“We benefit greatly from attractions such as the fossil forest and the Steelworks, and we‘re really keen to tie both assets together – to remind people that it’s Brymbo’s geological prehistory, as evidenced in the fossil forest, which gave it the resources it needed to help power it through the Industrial Revolution through to the present day.”

Cllr Jones said: “The work which the Brymbo Heritage Project has been able to carry out since we gave them our backing has been very encouraging, and I want to congratulate them on the work they’ve undertaken to date.

“They’ve already put a lot of good groundwork in place, and that’ll certainly be of help to them as the project progresses – especially as further funding comes in.

“I look forward to watching this project progress and I’m very glad we’ve been able to provide them with the support we have.”

Cllr Paul Rogers, ward member for Brymbo, said: “This project has been building up a good pace for some time, so it’s very pleasing to see them finally able to make progress towards what promise to be some amazing improvements here in Brymbo.

“The heritage of the area has always been a bit of a hidden asset, so it’s excellent to see moves in place which will help bring it into the limelight.”

You can find out more information on the range of work carried out by the Heritage Project, here.