County Buildings - Revealing the Past

Welcome to County Buildings the historic home of Wrexham County Borough Museum!

"Halt! Who goes there? Make yourself known!"

We don't greet visitors like this now but nearly 150 years ago this building was the HQ of the Royal Denbighshire Militia.

Picture Wrexham, a lively industrial town in the 1850s: 
industrial disputes, colliery lockouts, miners' strikes and riots were all regular events. Political unrest was growing as people demanded the vote. Britain was at war with Russia in the Crimea. The Establishment felt under threat and looked to its security:

To Her Majesty's Justices of the Peace for the County of Denbighshire

Michaelmas 1854

I, Robert Myddelton Biddulph Esquire, Lord Lieutenant of Denbighshire and Colonel  Commandant of the Militia of said county do hereby represent that the place provided for the purpose of keeping therein the arms &c belonging to said Regiment of Militia, namely the Town Hall,  is insecure, insufficient and unfit for the safe custody of such arms.

Given under my hand this Seventeenth day of September 1854.

R. Myddelton Biddulph.

In short Biddulph feared "the Mob" might break into the Town Hall and seize the Militia's weapons so could the Justices of the Peace find the money to build a new HQ. They did.

In October 1854 the Justices of the Peace  ordered

"that secure and suitable Stores and an Orderly and guard room and magazine, and sufficient yard wherein the Militia may be mustered and also quarters for a  Sergeant Major and six Sergeants be provided."

The result was this building, the Militia Depot. Initially the building had four towers and there were even plans for a dry moat and steel shutters for the windows to withstand an armed attack. Lack of money or the realisation that Wrexham was not on the brink of revolution meant these plans never left the architect's drawing board.

The Militia Depot was home to the Sergeant Major, the Quarter Master, several Sergeants and their families. Each year there was the annual training month when the Denbighshire Militiamen took over the town as they marched around Wrexham and drilled at the Racecourse. The local Rifle Volunteers and the Denbighshire Yeomanry Cavalry also used this building.

An early photograph of this building, c1860 (view larger version)

1877

Hightown Barracks opened and the Royal Welch Fusiliers based themselves in Wrexham. The Militia decided to leave here and set up home with the regulars.

This building was not empty for long. The Magistrates felt the old Town Hall  was no longer dignified enough for a borough town such as Wrexham.  Moreover the Police had to operate from a desk in the Town Hall entrance foyer. They were all keen to move here and they did in 1879.

Upstairs the former armoury became a court room while behind this wall police cells were built. The Chief Constable had his office just through the door at the end of the corridor on your left.

The Police in Wrexham did not just deal with petty criminals or the drunk and disorderly.

1882

Miners' strike in Moss Valley: The Chief Constable issued cutlasses to Police Constables and called in the Militia when the dispute turned nasty.

1885-90

The Tithe Wars kept the Denbighshire Police busy. Chief Constable Leadbetter and his Constables had to prevent the people who opposed paying taxes to the Church of England from disrupting the forced sales of farm goods so the Church could get its money. The Chief Constable even got hit by a cow pat when the tussle got lively at one farm.

Luckily it was not all hard work for the Police at Wrexham

Chief Constable's Order Book

June 4th 1879

The Chief Constable wishes all men who can grow good beards and moustaches to do so, those who cannot are not to wear chin tufts but to shave.

December 17th 1883

Constables are requested to keep a very careful lookout on Holly trees. Much damage is done to them by persons cutting them and carrying away the branches for decorations. Convictions to be obtained if possible.

October 27th 1890

Complaints of lads annoying young women on the streets at night have been received. Every effort must be made by the Police particularly on Saturday and Sunday nights to put a stop to such annoyances.

February 17th 1896

I object to the tie and regular attendance required by a Policeman being a member of any choir. People who wish to commit an offence wish him to be out of the way and when they learn for certain he is a regular attender of a choir, there is the opportunity they require.

The Magistrates moved into this building and its new courtroom  in 1879.  The Borough Magistrates, the County Magistrates and the County Judges all handed out justice here.  Despite initial reports, they were not all that impressed:

Wrexham Advertiser January 6th 1879

The Court was held for the first time in the new County Buildings, late military barracks, the court room being a most commodious and comfortable one.

Wrexham Advertiser February 15th 1879

A Comfortable Court for Business!

Mr Bennion Acton alluded in Court to the exceedingly uncomfortable condition of the hall. There was no heat in the pipes, no fire in the solicitors' room, no tables and no chairs! His Honour, Horatio Lloyd, Esq., stated that this was a question for the County Magistrates, who ought certainly to see that something was done.

Former constables say that it was the Station Sergeant's job to ensure that the boiler did not go out over the weekend and he was in serious trouble with the Magistrates if it did.

Volunteers mustering outside County Buildings.

During the Second World War County Buildings and its workforce faced more serious times: The Police had to ensure the blackout was observed, and  keep a look out for spies. The ARP (Air Raid Precaution)  built their garage and cleansing depot in the yard behind. The ARP attached an air raid siren to the top of the building ready to sound when  German bombers were overhead. The air raid siren  is still there and is sounded each Remembrance Day.

Wrexham Police with the latest police cars, 1954
(left to right PC174 DP Davies, PC91 JM Lewis, PC115 TM Williams, PC169 DW Lloyd, PC128 E.Evans, PC44 I Davies and PS151 AW Hughes)

The Police and the Magistrates eventually found County Buildings too small for the needs of the modern Criminal Justice System and had moved out by 1979. The building was saved from threatened demolition and Wrexham's Art College moved in. In 1995 Wrexham Maelor Borough Council bought the building to be a museum for the people of the town and its surrounding communities.