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RHYL HISTORY TRAIL

This book accompanies a trail around Rhyl designed for Smartphone users. There are QR Codes - a black and white barcode that can be read by certain phones - at various sites. When scanned, these codes provide the user with information about the building or the lives of the people who lived or worked there.

Rhyl Tourist Information Centre The Village, West Parade, Rhyl, Denbighshire LL18 1HZ

Starting point: Rhyl Tourist Information Centre. Point 1: Town Hall. Walk down the steps or ramp onto the promenade, and cross to Queen Street (This is where the Corner Café is.) Go down Queen Street to the traffic lights and turn right. You’ll find the Town Hall just ad little way along. Point 2: The Railway Station. Look across from the Town Hall – HSBC Bank is on the corner. This road is Bodfor Street and the Railway Station is at the end. Point 3: The Little Theatre. At the side of the Railway Station is a road bridge – go over this bridge and the Little Theatre is on your left. Point 4: Central Hall. Come back over the bridge and continue in a straight line up the High Street. At the Lorne pub, turn left. The next building along was Central Hall. Point 5: Burtons. Use the little street “Glanglasfor” between Central Hall and Wilkinsons to bring you back to the High Street. Burtons is right there! Point 6: White Rose Centre. Cross the High Street and into the White Rose Centre. Point 7: Morfa Hall. Use the tunnel exit from the White Rose Centre (This is called the “Morfa Link”). It brings you out at the Library and Morfa Hall is just behind. Point 8: Holy Trinity Church. Exit Morfa Hall on the Library side, onto Church Street. Holy Trinity Church is at the bottom of this road. Point 9: Fire Station. You are on Russell Road. Walk Eastwardly (with the Sea Front on your left) until you reach the Fire Station. This is the longest part of the trail. Point 10: Alexandra Hospital. Use Old Golf Road, (just along from the Fire Station) to move onto the promenade. Heading towards the town centre you’ll find the Alexandra Hospital on your left. Point 11: St. David’s Home. Continue along the promenade in the direct ion the town centre. St. David’s is on your left. Point 12. The Lifeboat Station. Cross over the road from St. David’s onto the Sea Front side of the promenade. The Lifeboat Station is right there. And that’s it! The trail is finished!

Sganio'r cod cyntaf yn y Ganolfan Groeso. Bydd hyn yn rhoi i chi y cyfarwyddiadau ar gyfer y llwybr.

Scan the first code at the Tourist Information Centre. This will give you the directions for the trail

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111111111111 Neuadd y Dref y Rhyl. Cael gwybod am y Rhyl Arfbais. Rhyl Town Hall. Find out about Rhyl's Town Crest.

222222222222 Gorsaf Reilffordd. Thomas Winston: Y Meistr Orsaf Cyntaf. Railway Station. Thomas Winston: The First Station Master.

333333333333 Y Theatr Fach. Mae'r cyntaf Pwrpas-Adeiledig Theatr Plant. The Little Theatre. The First Purpose-Built Children's Theatre.

444444444444 Neuadd Ganolog. Arthur Cheetham: Sinema Arloeswr. Central Hall. Arthur Cheetham: Cinema Pioneer.

555555555555 Burtons. Beatles y cyngerdd cyntaf yng Nghymru. Burtons. The Beatles first concert in Wales.

666666666666 Canolfan Rhosyn Gwyn. Mae'r Hyfforddwyr Motor Cyntaf. White Rose Centre. The First Motor Coaches.

777777777777 Neuadd y Morfa: Y Cyntaf Pob Ysgol yr Iaith Gymraeg. Morfa Hall: The First All-Welsh School.

888888888888 Eglwys y Drindod Sanctaidd: Ysgol Cyntaf Anglicanaidd. Holy Trinity Church: First Anglican School.

999999999999 Gorsaf Dân: Yr Injan Dân yn Gyntaf yn y Rhyl. Fire Station: The First Fire Engine in Rhyl.

101010101010101010101010

111111111111111111111111 Hafan Dewi Sant. David Swynford Ffoulkes Roberts. Affricanaidd Cenhadol & Athro Ysbrydoledig. St. David's Home. David Swynford Ffoulkes Roberts. African Missionary & Inspirational Teacher.

121212121212121212121212 Gorsaf Bad Achub. Joseph Hughes: Arwr y Môr. Lifeboat Station. Joseph Hughes: Hero of the Seas.

Ysbyty Alexandra. Y Fonesig Agnes Hunt: Arwres y Orthopedig Meddygaeth. Alexandra Hospital. Dame Agnes Hunt: Heroine of Orthopaedic Medicine.

ENDENDENDENDENDENDENDENDENDENDENDEND Mae'r Llwybr yn Gorffen!. The Trail is Finished!

Need a QR Code Scanner for your phone? Point your phone's web browser to http://reader.kaywa.com/ where you can download one for free!

111111111111 Neuadd y Dref y Rhyl Rhyl Town Hall

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The History of the Town Crest The Armorial Bearings, or Town Crest, was presented to the Rhyl Urban District Council on 18th December 1967 and was inherited by Rhyl Town Council, its successor authority in 1974. The words used to describe the Crest’s features are French. This is because Norman French was the considered ‘language of gentlemen’ at the time when heraldry came into existence. Heraldry is the term given to the system of identifying individuals by means of hereditary devices or symbols placed upon a shield, and originates from Western Europe in medieval times! Symbols featured on the Crest (working from the bottom to the top) The literal translation of the Welsh motto “Yr Hafan Deg Ar Fin Y Don” is “The Fair Haven at the Edge of the Waves”. The basic colour of the shield is known as Tenny, derived from the French word Tenné, meaning a tawny colour, and is a direct reference to one of the possible meanings of the name Rhyl, namely a sandbank, and also to the beaches for which the resort is justly famous. The colour is a very rarely used heraldic tincture (tinctures are the official colours used to make up heraldic crests; gold, silver, red, blue, green, purple and black) and the Council has the unique distinction of being the first in the British Isles to be granted Arms with a Tenny field. The word ‘Arms’ refers to the helmet, and the Tenny field is represented by the tawny coloured area of the actual shield. The colouring of the inverted pyramid (blue and white) symbolises the sea and port at Rhyl giving access to the River Clwyd. The word “Clwyd” includes amongst its meanings a moveable hurdle or wattle (wattle being a mat of woven sticks and weeds used in the construction of a wall or dike) and the River Clwyd is represented by the wattle extending across the shield. The heraldic ship and the salmon in the shield represent the sailing which was popular at the resort and both the fishing industry and the fishing sport of the resort. The colour red has been used in design as a reference to the Principality of Wales. The helmet is shown with visor closed and facing to the viewer’s left, this being the appropriate style for a local Council. The wreath above it, and which serves to retain the mantling on the helmet , contains the basic tinctures of the Arms, which are Tenny and Argent (Argent being the French word for Silver). The mantling was a cloth cape worn from the back of the helmet to protect the metal from the sun. The Tenny colour of the mantling reflects the Tenny field of the shield and the Argent colour represents the metal of the helmet . The wreath attached to the mantling of the helmet is coloured Azure (the French word for blue) backed on to lined Argent as a further reference to Rhyl’s association with and proximity to the sea.

222222222222 Gorsaf Reilfford Railway Station

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Thomas Winston He arrived in Rhyl on May 1st, 1848 as the town’s first station master. This was the day that the railway first opened. According to Mr. Winston’s obituary: “…of all the factors which have contributed to the prosperity of Rhyl, unquestionably the greatest was the opening of the Chester and Holyhead Railway. “It may be interesting to note that it was Mr Winston who booked the first passenger from Rhyl, and the remembrance of this fact always gave him a peculiar satisfaction. Indeed, he was for a long time in the habit of attending the booking office on the 1st of May each year, and booking a passenger in commemoration of this incident.” In 1859 he retired to Bodannerch, Russell Road. He was presented with an inscribed silver cup by the workforce at the station. Mr Winston died on June 29th 1889. There is a brass memorial to him inside St. Thomas’ Church.

333333333333 Y Theatr Fach The Little Theatre

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The Rhyl Children's Theatre Club was founded in 1944 by actor Joseph Holroyd. Joe was a member of the Manchester Repertory Company, which was evacuated to Rhyl's Pavilion Theatre during the war years. When the war ended Joe stayed on in Rhyl and continued with the Children's Club. The Club presented annual pantomimes at the town's Pavilion and Queen's Theatres. The Club's first permanent base was above a shop in Abbey Street. The 'Little Theatre' held an audience of just 50, and had a tiny stage. This theatre opened in 1952. The reputation of the Club grew and, after much campaigning, the UK's first purpose-built theatre for children was built on its present site, that of the former Emmanuel School. During the Second World War the school had become clinic for mothers and children and remained that way into the 1950s. This theatre opened in May 1963. It was further extended to give rehearsal rooms and scenery workshops. It originally had 196 seats – thereby avoiding the 200 seat rule which would have meant having an iron fire curtain. The fundraising efforts to build the theatre included raising £5.00 to buy a chair or 2/6 to buy a brick. The patrons who provided the £5.00 for the seats still have their names on the backs of the chairs they supplied.

444444444444 Neuadd Ganolog CentralHall

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This hall opened on Whit Monday 1890. and went by many names - including Lyric Hall, Operetta House, Central Hall and Central Cinema, but the most popular name was “Cheetham’s”. Mr Arthur Cheetham was born in Derby but based in Wales from the 1880s. He made films until around 1912, at least eight of which survive, including his 1903 record of Buffalo Bill Cody's visit to Rhyl and the Royal Visit to Conwy in 1899. His Blackburn Rovers v West Bromwich Albion film from 1899 is the earliest known surviving British soccer film, and E.H. Williams and his Merrie Men (1899) is an invaluable record of Rhyl’s popular stage entertainment. Cheetham's early film titles include including “Rhyl May Day Procession” and the “Irish Mail Train going through Rhyl Station”. Cheetham opened this building as Rhyl's first all-year-round cinema entertainment in 1906 and Colwyn Bay's first cinema in 1908. A YouTube video of E.H. Williams and his Merrie Men, by Arthur Cheetham, can be found here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3lamIPfCzU

555555555555 Burtons

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The Beatles' first performance in Wales took place at the Regent Dansette Ballroom in Rhyl, which was above Burton’s Tailors, on Saturday, 14th July, 1962. Admission cost just five shillings, and the night lasted from 8pm to 11.30pm. At this time, Pete Best was still the drummer with the band, although he was sacked just one month later, on 16 August. The Beatle’s manager, Brian Epstein, had lived in Prestatyn for a short while when he was a child. Also on the bill were a local group called The Strangers, and they all performed on a stage built up on top of the billiard tables. The audience included a mix of tourists and locals, and were most likely primarily there to dance rather than listen to the groups. Prior to the concert The Beatles spent a few hours exploring Rhyl, including a visit to the local funfair. The Beatles returned to Rhyl on Friday 19th & Saturday 20th July, 1963, this time with Ringo on drums. These concerts took place in the Ritz Ballroom, and the Beatles stayed in The Westminster Hotel on the Friday night. After the show on Saturday they drove straight back to Liverpool. The Beatles also played the Royal Lido Ballroom in Prestatyn on November 24th 1962.

666666666666 Canolfan Rhosyn Gwyn White Rose Centre

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In 1911, trading as White Rose, Rhyl entrepreneurs Brookes Bros began running motor buses & charabancs. They had previously operated horse-drawn vehicles. The firm eventually expanded to operate 89 motor buses over a large area. White Rose bus services grew rapidly after the First World War. By then, Rhyl attracted thousands of summer visitors. White Rose sold to the London, Midland & Scottish Railway in 1930. The LMS was also the owner of Crosville. White Rose buses were immediately transferred to Crosville. In 1986 bus services were deregulated and Crosville were eventually succeeded by Arriva Arriva’s current garage in Rhyl, The Albion Works, on Ffynnongroew Road is on the same site that White Rose used for maintenance. Rhyl’s White Rose Shopping Centre is on the site of the former White Rose garage and bus station.

777777777777 Neuadd y Morfa Morfa Hall

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Originally a private residence, and at times the Registry Office, The Parade Hotel, Shopmobility and Rhyl Women’s Convalescent Home, Morfa Hall was the site of Rhyl’s first All-Welsh Language School. Ysgol Dewi Sant (St. David’s School) opened on 4th January 1949 in an annexe of the building that had been leased by the Flintshire Education Authority. There were eleven pupils aged between four and six years old. In overall charge of the school was Mr A. T. Williams, headmaster of Christ Church School. He was described as “a prominent Welshman who was previously head of Mostyn School, where under his guidance the language flourished." One of the first pupils in the school was Mr. Williams’ six year old son. The hall now houses the Wales Council for Voluntary Action, and other organisations. Ysgol Dewi Sant moved to Rhuddlan Road, onto the site of Ysgol Glan Clwyd, in 1969 when Glan Clwyd (Rhyl’s first Welsh-Medium Secondary School) moved to St. Asaph.

888888888888 Eglwys y Drindod Santaidd Holy Trinity Church

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The land this church sits on was acquired from The Mostyn Estate – and was described as “a piece of waste land on the sandy track from the Voryd (sic) to Prestatyn” in 1833, and work commenced in 1836. The Vicar of Rhuddlan, Reverend Thomas Wynne Edwards (or his curate) conducted all the services in Welsh. Reverend Edwards was responsible for the construction of the First National School in Rhyl, later known as Clwyd Street School, in 1842. The cost of building this school was £200. The school was next to the church, and was enlarged in 1872. In place of the school now sits Trinity Court – a residential development. Holy Trinity became the Parish Church of Rhyl, the larger St. Thomas’ not arriving until 1867 (and the spire two years after that!)

999999999999 Gorsaf Dân Fire Station

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At 1.23 pm on Monday, 12th December 1864, the first Fire Engine arrived in Rhyl! It came by train, and a huge crown turned out to see it arrive. The appliance was supplied from Birmingham, and members of the Birmingham Fire Brigade accompanied it in order to show their Rhyl counterparts how to use it. The engine formed part of a parade through the town until it arrived at the Town Hall. A fire was lit on the roof of the Town Hall, and the engine, with its powerful hose and water jet, was called into action to extinguish it. (This is not the Town hall we have today – that was erected in 1876) The next demonstration was to show the power of the jet – the engine moved to St. Thomas’ Church where the jet was aimed to clear the 80 foot height of the building, which it did easily as it was apparently capable sending 150 gallons of water per minute to heights of up to 100ft.

101010101010101010101010 Ysbyty Alexandra Alexandra Hospital

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Dame Agnes Gwendoline Hunt DBE RRC is generally recognised as the first orthopaedic nurse. She was born at Boreatton Park, Baschurch, a village in west Shropshire, England, in 1866 and was disabled from osteomyelitis of the hip that she suffered from as a child following septicaemia. In 1887, she began training as a nurse at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Rhyl where she came under the influence of Matron Miss Graham, who had trained at The Great Ormond Street Hospital. The Royal Alexandra Hospital, under Miss Graham’s leadership, was the first hospital to advocate fresh air as an integral part of patient treatment. Miss Graham also held the belief that “No nurse was worth her salt if she had not the joy of life in her, and the power of sharing it with her patients”. In 1901, Agnes sought treatment for her own condition from a Liverpool surgeon, Robert Jones. By 1907, they had built an operating theatre and they introduced the diagnostic use of X-rays in 1913. In 1918, Hunt was awarded the insignia of the Royal Red Cross for her contribution during the war. She was created a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1926. There is a memorial to Agnes Hunt in Gobowen which states: "Reared in suffering thou shalt know how to solace others' woe. The reward of pain doth lie in the gift of sympathy."

111111111111111111111111 Hafan Dewi Sant St. David’s

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This building was originally a boys’ preparatory school, later the South Yorkshire Miners’ Convalescent Home and is now a Residential Home. David was born in 1899, and educated here at Colet House. He was the third son of Arthur Foulkes-Roberts, solicitor from Denbigh. He went on to study at Faraday House Electrical Engineering College, London. He obtained the degree of B.Sc. (University of London) in 1924. In 1925 after a period of training he became an assistant engineer in the Posts and Telegraphs Department in Nigeria, later becoming divisional Engineer in charge of the Eastern Division. He resigned from this post in 1949 to become first a teacher with the Church Missionary Society in Nigeria and then in 1952 the principal of the Okikra Grammar School near Port Harcourt. He retired in 1959 and lived in St. Asaph. He taught for a short time at Oriel House Preparatory School, St. Asaph (now the Oriel Hotel & Spa). His main interest during his retirement, apart from the compilation of his diaries which are now held at The Denbighshire Archive in Ruthin, was the education and welfare of the Nigerian students who stayed with him to attend college in thi s country. He died at Wynns Park Nursing Home, St.Asaph on 9 January 1988.

121212121212121212121212 Gorsaf Bad Achub Lifeboat House

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Joseph Hughes was born in Rhyl in 1858. He followed the family tradition and became a volunteer crewman with Rhyl lifeboat. In 1898 he was appointed coxswain of the lifeboat Caroline Richardson, Joseph had six sons who all become lifeboatmen. On one memorable 'shout' in 1919, Joseph and his crew were called to save one of his own sons, a ships' pilot called Joe. A motor launch had followed a steamer out to take the pilot back to shore but due to a gale and heavy seas, it was unable to get close enough for Joe to transfer. Joe jumped, intending to swim to the launch, but was swept out to sea. The lifeboat was launched and Joseph and his crew searched for two hours, eventually finding Joe alive. The lifeboat in Craster, Northumberland, is named in honour of Joseph. The "Caroline Richardson" lifeboat, on station 1897-1939, was the 3rd in Rhyl and last of the tubular lifeboats (known as the "banana boat, because of it’s unusual shape-that of 2 banana-shaped hulls, meeting at each end, with a grating in between). The boat had great stability, but meant severe exposure to the crew, often meaning they were soaked to the skin before the boat was out of the surfline.

Rhyl Tourist Information Centre The Village, West Parade, Rhyl, Denbighshire LL18 1HZ Telephone: 01745 355068 / 344515

yyyyyy www.visitrhylandprestatyn.co.uk

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Many thanks to the Business Owners of Rhyl for allowing us to display the signs in their windows…

Created by Rhyl Tourist Information Centre for Wales Tourism Week 2012