Although there is some evidence of a small Roman settlement at Wrexham, the town itself was founded in the Middle Ages. The area that is now the town was part of the Marcher Lordship of Bromfield and Yale and, at some point in the 12th century, the Marcher Lord granted some of the lands to the control of monks from Valle Crucis Abbey in nearby Llangollen.
At this point, Wrexham had two distinct areas, Wrexham Abbot, the part of the town that belonged to the Church, and Wrexham Regis, the remainder of the town which answered to the King. This dichotomy continued until 1885 when, as part of a civic reform, Wrexham Abbot was dissolved as an entity and incorporated into the parish of Wrexham Regis, which remained as its ‘official’ name until 1974, when local government reform consigned ‘Regis’to history.
However, this history is reflected in the name Abbot Street, the ghost of Wrexham Abbot.
