Froncysyllte | |
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The Cefn Railway Viaduct over the River Dee, seen from Froncysyllte with the A483 road viaduct in the background. |
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Froncysyllte shown within Wrexham | |
OS grid reference | SJ273411 |
Community | |
Principal area | |
Ceremonial county | |
Country | Wales |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | LLANGOLLEN |
Postcode district | LL20 |
Dialling code | 01691 |
Police | North Wales |
Fire | North Wales |
Ambulance | Welsh |
EU Parliament | Wales |
UK Parliament | |
Welsh Assembly | |
Froncysyllte (/ˌvrɒŋkəˈsʌlteɪ/; Welsh pronunciation: [vrɔŋkəˈsəɬte]), colloquially known as Fron, is a village in Wrexham county borough, Wales and stands on the banks of the River Dee and the Llangollen Canal. It is situated on the main A5 road which runs from London to Holyhead.
The name is derived from the Welsh bron (here lenited to fron), here meaning a hill breast, along with the name Cysyllte, one of the old townships of the parish of Llangollen. The anglicised spelling Vroncysyllte was commonly used until the mid 20th century.
Froncysyllte is situated in the farming landscape of the Vale of Llangollen, but first developed as a settlement of cottages for quarry, limekiln, brick and tile workers during the 19th century. The village was built on a high outcrop of limestone below several quarries. Though the area's traditional industries have now gone, it still has a rich industrial archaeology.
Amongst the landmarks left around Froncysyllte by industrial development is the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, a World Heritage Site, which was built by Thomas Telford in 1795 to carry the Llangollen Canal across the River Dee.