Sesswick

Sesswick is a small rural local government community, the lowest tier of local government, part of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It lies south-east of Wrexham near Marchwiel. The population of the community at the 2011 Census was 609.[1]

Bridleway in the largely rural community of Sesswick

The area was historically part of Denbighshire, where it was one of the townships of the parish of Bangor Monachorum (Bangor-on-Dee). The neighbouring township of Royton was incorporated in it in 1935.

The name Sesswick, recorded as Sesewyke in 1286, is one of the names indicating an early English presence in this part of north-east Wales; it is possibly derived from the Old English personal name "Seassa", along with -wic, meaning "settlement".[2] However, the Wrexham historian Alfred Neobard Palmer, noting that the name was recorded as Chespric (actually Chespuic) in the Domesday of Cheshire, speculated that it may have come from "Chadswick" in reference to land in the township being owned by St. Chad, the first bishop of Mercia.[3]

The community's only village is Cross Lanes: it also includes several small hamlets (though no settlement itself having the name of Sesswick). In the 2001 census Sesswick had a total population of 591 in 236 households.[4]

The area gave its name to a rural station, Sesswick Halt, on the former Cambrian Railways' Wrexham and Ellesmere Railway; the line and station closed in 1962.

References

1. "Community population 2011". Retrieved 19 November 2015.
2. Charles, B. G. Non-Celtic place-names in Wales, University College London, 1938, p.206
3. Palmer, A. N. A history of ancient tenures of land in North Wales, 1910, p.241
4. Sesswick Community, Office for National Statistics