Southsea, Wrexham

Southsea
Welsh: Glanrafon
240px Southsea church, formerly the church hall
Southsea  Southsea shown within Wrexham
OS grid reference	SJ3017051818
Community	Broughton
Principal area	Wrexham
Ceremonial county	Clwyd
Country	Wales
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	WREXHAM
Postcode district	LL11
Dialling code	01978
Police	North Wales
Fire	North Wales
Ambulance	Welsh
EU Parliament	Wales
UK Parliament	Clwyd South
Welsh Assembly	Clwyd South
List of places UK Wales Wrexham

Southsea (Welsh: Glanrafon) is a small formerly industrial village on the Gwenfro river in Broughton community, the county borough of Wrexham, Wales.

The village came into being at the site of the Broughton Hall Brickworks and Plas Power Colliery. Its Welsh language placename (meaning "the bank of the river", glan yr afon) derives from that of a farm. Its exotic-sounding English name, however, comes from the South Sea Inn which used to stand over the road from the brickworks, and in a room of which the brickworks pay was distributed.

The Wrexham historian Alfred Neobard Palmer noted that the name Southsea first appeared on the rate books as early as 1786, though also commenting that this was "an absurd name which should never have been adopted, especially as there was an appropriate name ready to hand".

Southsea's church, All Saints, was formerly its church hall. The previous church, built in 1921 after the original building became unsafe due to mining subsidence, itself became unsafe and was demolished in 1984.

External links

• www.geograph.co.uk: photographs of Southsea and surrounding area