North Wales 2023: Wrexham and Colwyn Bay
I’m travelling back in time to September 2023 again to continue the story of our three-country, three-cottage trip.
On leaving our cottage in Cumbria we headed for the next one in North Wales, but with 6 hours between check-out and check-in times we needed to find places to visit on the way. Neither of us has ever been to Wrexham so we stopped there for lunch. Afterwards we visited the lovely 15th / 16th century church of St Giles which claims to be one of the finest examples of ecclesiastical architecture in Wales. After negotiating the gates (dating from 1720), a rather baleful looking sheep, and a painted bicycle we went inside.
I hadn’t actually found the exterior unusually interesting but the interior was very impressive. With sixteen musical angels and a wee Devil’s face in the roof, what’s not to love?
We made another stop in Colwyn Bay where I once had a holiday with my sister, one of my cousins, and a friend. I was 19, they were all 16, so I suppose I was the responsible adult. I tried to remember where we had stayed, but beyond recognising the railway bridge which we passed under on the way to the seafront (now decorated with street art on either side) I couldn’t. I enjoyed a nostalgic wander though.
Here’s a close up of those pink and white benches on the pier for Jude. I loved the way they matched the fence.
After a coffee at a beach café it was time to head off to find our home for the next week – Derwenfa here we come!
The Glasgow Gallivanter 
Aaah north Wales. We stayed in Betwys-y-Coed when we were there back in March. Stunning country.
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Yes, it is. We didn’t get to Betwys-y-Coed though.
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I somehow missed this post last week….another trip to somewhere new for me.
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It was somewhere I didn’t know very well either, but would like to go back to Wales in general.
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I briefly visited Wrexham for the first time over the summer with work and saw St Giles’s, but wasn’t able to go inside as it was closed. So it’s interesting to see what I missed. I hadn’t realised it has such an impressive interior. Maybe next time…
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That’s a shame – it really is well worth a visit. The musical angels and the devil are quite a sight!
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Thank you for these quick stops. St. Giles’ gate and interiors look so nice. I love the benches too.
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St Giles was lovely, with very helpful guides who pointed out all the quirks.
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Those benches are great and I love how they match the railings!
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One of the prettiest piers I have seen, even if there’s not much left of it.
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Hi Anabel – what an interesting looking town … and as you note fascinating church interior. I did spot that it’s been a ‘centre’ for human activity for nigh on 10,000 years … I love that gate. Cheers Hilary
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The gate is a stunner!
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All lovely sights. I love the pink pier!
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Yes, I’ve never seen a pink pier before. It shouldn’t really work, but it does, maybe because it’s quite compact now most of it having collapsed a few years ago as I found out from other commenters.
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I’ve been to Colwyn Bay a few times, around 20 years ago, but as usual it was during the rock climbing and hill-walking era in a shared car so I’m seeing now the places I missed or zoomed past without stopping, except for a quick takeaway then onto the next cliff or summit in the area. Good to get around but always a compromise in some ways for me as I like exploring towns and cities as well. Nobody else I was with did though at that time, to the same extent, which I always found rather strange. Bob. BSS.
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Yes, I find that rather strange too – so much of interest in small towns, even if just for an hour. Your friends were clearly very single-minded!
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Very interesting Anabel – my 2X great grandmother came from Wrexham (she grew up at a small place called Marchwiel nearby). I have never visited – one day!
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As I’ve said to others, I don’t think there was a lot there other than the church, but of course family connections make all the difference.
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Yes I think that makes a difference – it’s always interesting to see where families lived.
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I don’t think I’ve done more than pass by Colwyn Bay, en route to Llandudno, but I wouldn’t have minded a look around. And those angels are great xx
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I suspect we went when we were teenagers because it was cheap and not because it was terribly fabulous! But we passed a happy hour or so there.
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Love the angels and the sugary benches. First pink ones I think.
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Ooh, a first! I shall award myself a medal! Pink is not really my thing, but I did think they and the pier were rather nice.
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I’ve never visited either of these places so this was all new to me. The musical angels are a lovely find, and do I spot a mermaid too?!
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Yes, a bare-breasted mermaid! Not your usual church sculpture.
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We’ve been watching the Wrexham football production and now follow their team so it might be on the location finder for a future England trip. That beach is Colwyn is outstanding!
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I don’t know about football, but I’m not sure there’s much else to see in Wrexham! Colwyn Bay has an expansive beach but we didn’t have time to explore it.
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A high profile Canadian is partners in the Wrexham Club. We’d go see a game and the pub and be ever so happy!!
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I looked that up – Ryan Reynolds as co-owner now rings a bell, unlikely as it seems!
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Thank you for these quick stops. I know the places quite well but they always fall into the category of a ‘pit stop’ ! I haven’t visited St Giles so next time!Thank you.
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Yes, pit stops for us too and they served their purpose well. St Giles is definitely worth a visit.
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Charming places. Thanks for the tour!
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Glad to have you along on the tour! I don’t think either place had enough to detain us much longer but they were perfect short stops.
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Well, I call that a very pleasant low-key sort of day. Perfect. (Commenting via Reader – again. Thanks WP)
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Yes, they were two pleasant stops. I apologise on behalf of WP 😕.
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Not your fault …
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Nice pics of Wales. We visited Wales for a 10-days in Sept 2001 though it was under a dark mood as it was during the New York terrorist attack on the WTC…So our memories of Wales are tainted by this world event. It is good to look at your pictures with a different eye!
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Ah yes, one of those events you always remember where you were when you heard about it. We had flown out of JFK the day before so counted ourselves very lucky.
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You are right that those are events you always remember. I know exactly what we were doing when we learned about the attack…The return flight for us was OK as flights had resumed by the time we were done with the trip but Heathrow was a bit chaotic. You were lucky to return a day ahead…
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We certainly were! I was back at work in the library when it happened and one of the security staff came in to tell us. Couldn’t believe it.
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Yes the pier in Colwyn Bay is a bit of an excuse these days. The previous owner let it get into disrepair and I think there was some sort of legal battle between the owner and the Council that went on so long it was beyond repair so they demolished most of it.
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Ah, thanks Jon – I didn’t know that. It did seem very odd, but it’s a nice little area for people to sit.
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North Wales brings back a lot of childhood holiday memories. I also hiked through Colwyn Bay in 2023. The bridge street art was different.
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Interesting! They must redo it from time to time then.
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Ah, Colwyn Bay.. I would have been five or six when we visited! That doom painting looks quite a thing
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Your memories are likely to be even more misty than mine then! The church interior was very curious altogether with its doom and devils.
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Very misty memories, Anabel!
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I’ve only ever skirted round Wrexham, never been to it. I like the fancy gates and the church interior is lovely. Colwyn Bay is very familiar to me from my North Wales camping holidays a few years ago – the pier is a bit short to be of much use but the fancy pink and white railings are lovely.
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The church was well worth a visit – not sure how much else there is to see in Wrexham though. The pier at Colwyn is very short and stubby, I wondered if a bit had been demolished.
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And I see according to a later commenter it did fall into disrepair and get demolished!
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A big part of the seaward end collapsed onto the beach in 2017. The salvageable parts, including the fancy railings, were stored to rebuild what exists now and it was opened in July 2021 though when I went there in 2022 it didn’t have any benches and was just a characterless empty space, at least it does look better now with the benches installed.
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I see – thanks for the extra info. I do think it is a nice space now.
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well this was a rather marvellous place to stop off
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It was, wasn’t it? We had no idea what Wrexham would be like so the church was a bonus.
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PS In response to my comment in the galley you don’t need to square, I just couldn’t help seeing that one’s potential!
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I know! I just felt slightly guilty because I wanted to but haven’t had time as yet. Blogging time has been spent on trying to catch up with things like this Welsh trip.
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oooh no guilt, no guilt is needed at all. Squares is meant to be a fun, if you can, kind of thing xxxx
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