Welcome to Wrexham! Victorian Wrexham. A period plump with possibilities for historical crime writers. And especially during Wrexham’s 1876 “Year of Wonder”. I settled here (originally from Liverpool), forty-five years ago with my Wrexham-born wife, Ann. When we both retired, some year later, I developed a passion for the town’s history and also … [Read more...] about A Love Letter to Wrexham
Victorian Crime
Settings and interesting trivia arising from the author's twelfth novel, Blood Among the Threads, set in Wrexham during the town's "anno mirabilis", 1876.
2026 – Celebrating 150 Years of Wrexham’s Culture, Art and Industry
If we build it, they will come! And we'll be putting the first bricks in place on Wednesday 15th January in Wrexham Library at 2.30pm. That afternoon, the Library - through our annual literary festival with a difference – Wrexham's Carnival of Words – hosts a gathering for dozens of organisations, and individual "movers and shakers", to decide … [Read more...] about 2026 – Celebrating 150 Years of Wrexham’s Culture, Art and Industry
1867’s Raid On Chester Castle
Not strictly 1876 or Wrexham, but while I was researching the background to my second Wrexham Victorian crime novel, Death Along the Dee, I came across this slightly strange - and vaguely related - story. During the English Civil Wars, Royalist Chester (England, of course) had been besieged by Cromwell's Parliamentarians from July 1643 until … [Read more...] about 1867’s Raid On Chester Castle
Wrexham’s Great Art Treasures Exhibition, 1876
The year had an interesting beginning - the Football Association of Wales established at the town's Wynnstay Hotel. And then there were the visits by George Pinder's Continental Circus and a memorable Horticultural Show, the first to be held in town for almost ten years. But in July 1876, Wrexham saw the most memorable event of the entire … [Read more...] about Wrexham’s Great Art Treasures Exhibition, 1876
Alfred Neobard Palmer
I remember plainly how I first stumbled across Alfred Neobard Palmer. I was writing the final part of my Yale Trilogy and was searching for significant events which might have taken place in Wrexham during 1715. This search led me to a book with the lengthy title, A History of the Older NonConformity of Wrexham and its Neighbourhood, being the … [Read more...] about Alfred Neobard Palmer