Bangor-on-Dee

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Bangor-on-Dee, also known as Bangor-is-y-coed or Bangor Is-coed, is a village and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales, on the River Dee. It has about 1,110 people (2011 census). The name Bangor-on-Dee refers to its location beside the river, while the Welsh name means “Bangor below the wood.”

History
- It was part of the Flintshire exclave Maelor Saesneg until 1974, then part of Clwyd until 1996.
- The area has ancient roots: a monastery was founded around AD 560 by Saint Dunawd and was important in early Christianity. It was destroyed around 613 after the Battle of Chester. Monks fled to Bardsey Island; Bede wrote about the massacre.
- A village existed by 1300; Saint Dunawd’s Church was built then. By the late 1600s it had about 26 houses, and by the 19th century it grew with a free school, inn, shop, more houses and a brewery.

Places and transport
- Bangor Bridge over the River Dee was rebuilt in 1658, possibly to designs by Inigo Jones, replacing an older medieval bridge. A 1903 suspension bridge is nearby at Pickhill Meadows.
- The village had a Cambrian Railways station on the Wrexham to Ellesmere line (opened 1895, closed 1962).

Today
- Southwest of the village is Bangor-on-Dee racecourse (National Hunt). There are two pubs, a basketball court, and river activities such as fishing and rafting.