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My country:

Squatter settlement on Newtown Mountain

Doctoral Projects

​Full Project Title: 'A Trajectory of Marginality: The life of the squatter colony on Newtown Mountain, 1848 - 1909'

Doctoral Researcher: Vic Tyler-Jones

Supervised by: Dr Shaun Evans and Dr Mari Wiliam

The remains of a nineteenth century squatter settlement lie on Newtown Mountain in the community of Penycae near Wrexham. Covering the lifespan of the Newtown settlement, this study seeks to throw light upon a group of poor people normally unrepresented in the historical record. The remnants of their rough dwellings remain as testament to a life on the margins of society.

Squatters built ‘tai unnos’ on moorland waste. An old Welsh custom said that if you could build a house overnight on common land and have a chimney in action the next morning then the house and a small plot was yours. The custom had no legal justification but nevertheless the squatters were tolerated by the landowner  Sir Watkin William Wynn and he seemingly did not charge them rent.

Strand Magazine photo of Mary North 1895
Strand Magazine photo of Mary North 1895

Mary was 105 years old in the photograph which was taken outside her daughter’s house in Afoneitha. She had lived for over 25 years on the mountain and is believed to have been the ‘barefooted woman with on her head an immense lump of coal’ [Borrow, Wild Wales, 1862 p.313].

Where did these people come from and why were they living on the mountain? What were they like and what can we find out about their dwellings? What evidence is there of the development of a community in this place? How did these people withstand the rigours of existence in this inhospitable place and how did they relate to their neighbours in villages? Were they viewed as being undesirable, shunned, or accepted as part of the wider community? I hope to provide answers to these and other questions in order to describe the life of the squatter settlement on Newtown Mountain. 

Recent activity: 

Updating statistical data: 

  • Population figures for the Newtown Mountain settlement 1851 to 1910
  • Newtown Mountain Welsh/ English speakers in the 1891 census and comparison with other groups.
  • The number of children who were born on the mountain.
  • The length of stay for families on the mountain.

Talks: 

  • Discovering Old Welsh Houses, February 2025
  • CAHSS Conference Bangor, April 2025
  • Llay Luncheon Club, June 2025
  • Holt Local History Society, September 2025
  • Ruthin Historical Society, October 2025
  • Denbighshire Historical Society, November 2025
  • Wrexham Museum Friends, March 2026
  • Broughton History Society, April 2026