Ceiriog Memorial Institute including retaining wall and railings, Glyn Ceiriog, Wrexham

History

Village Institute of 1911 designed by T Taliesin Rees of Liverpool. Founded by Alfred T Davies of Pontfadog, councillor, and later 1st Permanent Secretary to the Welsh Department, Board of Education, London. He provided the site and started the endowment fund. It was a memorial to the great lyrical poet John ''Ceiriog''Hughes of Pen y bryn (1832-87), winner of the national Eisteddfod, and to other notable local Welshmen, particularly Huw Morris (1662-1709), Royalist and poet, and the Rev Robert ''Cynddelw'' Ellis (1812-75), poet, author and antiquary. The institute was also a village hall, library, museum, court house, district office, women''s parlour, and club with games room. It was opened by David Davies MP (later Lord Davies) of Llandinam. A plaque outside the building notes the influence of the Welsh spiritual revival of 1904-5 and the Temperance Movement. The Institute was extended in 1929 by T Alwyn Lloyd of Cardiff, and a garden of remembrance was added in front, in 1939.
Items were donated to the Institute from all over Wales and beyond, such as the library cupboards and a table, which were donated by the Patagonian Welsh community. Many of the artefacts, at the time of writing, are in Wrexham Museum; they include the earliest Welsh bibles, dating back to the C17, busts by Sir W Goscombe John including one of Ceiriog, illustrations of C18 ironwork by the Davies brothers of Croes Foel, and memorabilia donated by Lloyd George.

Exterior

Arts & Crafts style Institute. Front range with gable-end façade, large block to rear, entrances to S side. The front range is timber-framed above masonry, under slate-covered roofs with barge boards. The gable-end façade is of rubble to lower part with sandstone quoins and dressings, timber-framing above with collar truss and pegged narrow panels. Central 3-light window rising to collar with flanking sidelights. Moulded wooden-framed window with basket arch and transom, containing quarries and stained glass. A clock is fixed at right angles to the gable apex, and a bell to the SE angle of the building. Below, to the masonry section, is a small 2-light window with quarries offset to L of centre, L of which is a wooden notice board.
An entrance passage, reached by a flight of concrete steps, runs along the S side of the building. The timber-framing to the S side of the front range is mainly covered in roughcast; a post and arched brace are visible to the R. To the L, in the angle with the rear range, is a lean-to porch of rubble masonry and timber-framing, reached by 2 steps. The entrance faces E; segmental wooden archway and quarry tile floor; boarded door with 8-pane overlight set back. The S side of the porch has a large 3-light window, and a glazed notice box to its R. To the R of the porch, the masonry section has a further doorway to R of centre, with double boarded doors containing small lights under a concrete lintel. To the rendered section are 2 x 3-light windows, similar to the gable-end but with flat heads. To L of the porch is the 2-storey block, the front advanced and with 3 gables. It is roughcast with slate-covered roofs, the verges projecting. To L of centre, is a boarded door with 8-pane overlight, under a suspended porch canopy, boarded to the underside. To R of doorway are 2 x 3-light windows, as front range. To the L is a 2-light window with transom. Upper storey has similar window to R gable. The rear (W) side of the block has a 3-light window to the R end. The N side of the Institute is roughcast with 4 x 3-light windows with flat heads, as elsewhere.
Adjoining the rear (W) side, and accessed from the S, is an L-shaped wing dated 1929 and further later additions. These ranges are also roughcast, with a brick stack, boarded and panelled doors at different levels, and a variety of wooden windows.
The gable-end façade is raised above street level, in front of which is a small garden of remembrance bounded by simple iron railings attached to a rubble stone retaining wall with chamfered stone copings. The railings are lower to the centre and reveal a stone tablet with brass plaque which gives a historical account of the Institute.

Interior

The front range consists of an assembly hall and library divided by a movable screen, reached from the porch through double boarded part-lit doors. Detail includes tie-beam trusses with vertical struts, ceiled at collar level; wood block floor; wainscot panelling. The movable screen is panelled and mainly glazed; truss above is infilled with small-pane glazing. Stage to E end of hall with panelled front, the decorated proscenium with small-pane glazing. In the library is a cast iron spiral staircase near the S wall leading to the attic, and a small arched fireplace to N wall, both flanked by boarded window seats. To the W end are 2 panelled doors with side lights which lead to the caretaker''s accommodation and billiards room beyond.
The stained glass windows of the institute are of outstanding interest. The E window above the stage was donated by Sir Robert Jones, orthopaedic surgeon, and is a memorial to John Ceiriog Hughes, Huw Morris and Rev Robert Ellis. It is by H Gustave Hiller, of Liverpool. The 2nd window from the R, on the N side, is a tribute to the Welsh founders of the British and Foreign Bible Society. One of the depictions shows Mary Jones walking with her bible to Bala. The window to the R is a memorial to John Matthews, Doctor of Glynceiriog, donated by the community. In the library, the N windows are to Sir Thomas Myddelton of Chirk Castle, who funded the printing of the first Welsh bible, and to Bishop Morgan who translated the first bible into Welsh. They are by Herbert Hendrie and were gifts of the Worshipful Company of Grocers. To the S wall of the library is a window to the Welsh Hymn Society, including a depiction of Ann Griffiths. Another shows Colonel W Cornwallis West MP of Ruthin Castle, whose family owned the Llanarmon estate. Double part-glazed doors to S wall of hall include busts of Lord Davies of Llandinam and Professor Sir Henry Jones of Llangeniew. The window to its L has a bust of Rev Robert Ellis. In the porch is a window with the emblems of the principal banks of Britain. A rear window is to George Borrow, author of Wild Wales. Between the doorways in the W wall is a large panel depicting ''Saint David for Wales'', a quarter-sized copy of the original mosaic in the Houses of Parliament.

Reasons for Listing

Listed grade II* for the exceptional historic interest of this village Institute and its unique celebration of Welsh culture. As a nationalist foundation in a rural setting, it makes an important statement about Welsh cultural aspirations in the early C20.

External Links

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.