This house appears on the 1872 survey, surrounded by substantial gardens. The house was offered to Wrexham Borough Council in 1932 but remained a private house until the 1950’s when it was converted into a public house named the Egerton Arms. In the late 1990’s the name of the public house was changed to the Thirsty Scholar in the hope of drawing in students from the Yale College which stands just across Rhosddu road. The name was again changed to Arnold’s Bar in more recent times.

Egerton Street takes its name from Lady Eleanor Cunliffe, the wife of Sir Robert Cunliffe, who was the daughter of Colonel Egerton Leigh of West Hall, High Leigh and Jodrell Hall, Cheshire.

A tunnel in the cellar of the Egerton Lodge is believed to have led to the former Old Wrexham War Memorial Hospital, now Yale College across the Rhosddu road; allegedly it was also used as a temporary overflow morgue to store the dead from the old Infirmary and probably continued when the War Memorial Hospital was built.  

In 1833, Sir Watkin Williams Wyn founded The Dispensary. In 1838 the Infirmary was built. During it’s lifetime, many extensions and improvements were made to the Infirmary (now the Art College) and it continued to be used as the town’s hospital until 1918 when it was decided to build a new hospital as a memorial to all those lost in the First World War. Consequently, 1926 saw the opening of the Wrexham and East Denbighshire War Memorial Hospital.

Local History

In 1086 a great survey was held of all lands controlled by the King of England. Revealed in this Domesday Book are the limits of Norman power. The land around Gresford and Marford and settlements in the Maelor are shown as Norman controlled territory. The border, though, was never stable.

By 1161 there was a Norman motte and bailey castle at 'Wristlesham', to accompany those at Marford and Overton. Its remains are in the grounds of Erddig. These castles did not guarantee Norman rule. The princes of Powys conquered this area in the early 12th century. According to tradition, Henry II led his forces up the Ceiriog Valley along the - road of the English - in 1165. He had to retreat, defeated by the weather and the constant attacks of the local Welsh forces. The princes of Powys skilfully dealt with their aggressive neighbours, Gwynedd and England. The stability they created allowed Wrexham to develop as a trading town. In the 13th century Madog ap Gruffudd, one of these princes, gave land in Wrexham to the new abbey at Valle Crucis. The abbots' priests served in the new church on the site of St Giles', and their tenants built the mill at Pentrefelin.

At the start of the 15th century, the local Welsh gentry and peasants backed the uprising led by Owain Glyndwr. The rising was disastrous for Wrexham economically and the English won. The middle ages drew to a close with the final flowering of the local bards, Guto'r Glyn of the Ceiriog Valley and Dafydd ab Edmwnd of Hanmer.

The 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act created a new welfare system based on the workhouse. Wrexham's workhouse was on Croesnewydd Road. Life in the workhouse was strict with lots of rules. Husbands were separated from their wives, children taken from their parents. The inmates had to do unpaid work in the workhouse fields or in the laundry, and a refusal resulted in hard labour. These rules and the stigma of being a pauper were intended to act as a deterrent. The 'undeserving', such as vagrants and unmarried mothers, were treated harshly. "Ordered that all Vagrants admitted into this house be strictly searched by the Master and if there is found sufficient cash in their possession to furnish them with lodgings, that they be rejected.”Wrexham Poor Law Guardians, 26th March 1840. Children were not held responsible for their situation and those children born in the workhouse were registered as born at 'Plas Panton' to hide their background. There was a school in the workhouse, and older children were sent out to work as domestic servants and apprentices. Iron making and the mining of coal and lead transformed Wrexham from a small market town into an economic powerhouse of 18th and 19th century Wales. Many of the most fascinating reminders of this era have now been turned into museums and heritage centers. Attitudes to industry and working conditions changed during the Victorian period. The 1842 Mines Act prohibited women, girls and boys under 10 from working underground in the mines. After a long campaign, the 1874 Factory Act limited the working day to 10 hours. Some businessmen opposed these changes as government interference, while others saw the harm done to women and children and felt they should be protected. Local school log books reveal that the laws were flouted.

In the late 20th century the traditional industries in Wrexham entered a steep decline. Coal mining in the area ended altogether. Gresford Colliery closed 1973. Bresham Colliery closed in 1986. However new industries came to Wrexham including engineering, pharmaceuticals, electronics, chemicals and food processing. During World War II a large ordnance factory was built at Wrexham. After 1945 it was converted into the Wrexham industrial estate.

Bersham Heritage Centre opened in 1983. Maelor Hospital opened in 1985. A swimming pool was built in 1970. In 1998 it was refurbished and renamed Waterworld Leisure Complex. Then in 1999 two new shopping centres opened in Wrexham, Henblas Square and Island Green. The first Wrexham Science Festival was held in 1998. In the 21st century Wrexham is still developing. Border Retail Park opened in 2002. Eagles Meadow Shopping Centre opened in 2008. Today Wrexham has a population of 43,000.

Group members attending the Investigation

Andrea Ellis, Kate Lloyd, Tim Cowell, Mike Griffiths and Jimmy Ellis.

The Investigation

After conducting a baseline test Kate, Andrea and Tim went down into the cellar with a K2 meter and a voice recorder to try and capture any disembodied voices. Andrea was pushed off an up-turned bucket she had been sitting on. A number of orbs had also been caught on our locked off night vision camera. The voice recorder is still waiting to be played back and reviewed but I can give you this link when we did our last investigation at the Croft Hotel in Bridgnorth when two of our group investigators caught some EVP’s down in the cellar area. 

http://www.youtube.com/user/NorthWalesParanormal?feature=mhum

Jim and our medium remained in the dining room area where he was picking up on a doctor by the name of Richard Williams; the medium said that this location was once a surgery, he could see a waiting room and an office with apothecary bottles stacked on shelves. A date of between 1913 and 1950 was given when it was used as a doctor’s surgery.

When our medium went into the cellar he immediately picked up on a WW1 Belgian soldier who gave his name as Joseph Verdeken who fought with the 1st Regiment of Chasseurs. Joseph had been badly wounded and along with others from his country had been brought to a Wrexham Hospital to recover from their injuries. Unfortunately Joseph succumbed to his wounds and he died in 1914. Allegedly at that time there was an extreme flu epidemic sweeping the country and the area was badly hit. The hospital morgue was unable to take the strain so the authorities used Doctor Richard Williams surgery cellar (Arnold’s Bar) as a temporally morgue, Joseph was one of those placed down in the cellar until his burial. He did indicate that he was buried in Wrexham Cemetery. Some other information he gave was that he was 28 years of age and was born in 1886.

Andrea, Kate and Tim along with some staff members of Arnolds Bar decided to use the Ouija Board. Not a lot was learned from using the Ouija Board it was mixture of private information with some messages for those sitting around the table so we decided to close it down. A table with an up-turned glass was used in the hope that any spirit would want to communicate with us by moving the glass but after waiting patiently nothing happened.

Tim took a DVD camera and a voice recorder and decided to do a lone vigil in the darkened cellar in an attempt to make contact with any spirit willing to communicate. While this was going on the ladies performed table tipping which proved very successful when the table began to vibrate and move along the floor to the amusement of all the staff.

The Findings

Numerous orbs caught on the night vision camera in the cellar.

One of the female investigators pushed in the cellar.

War graves at Wrexham Cemetery, Section K:
There are several names on the base of a cross:

Joseph Verdeken of Courtrai, Belgium; 1er Reg. of Chasseurs. Wounded at Dixmude, died 2 November 1914 at Croesnewydd Military Hospital, Wrexham aged 28.

Philimon Van Beveren of St.Giles, Dendermonde, Belgium; 1er Reg. of Line. Wounded at Ramscapelle, died 8 November 1914 at Croesnewydd Military Hospital, Wrexham aged 24.

In the Ruthin Archives the Admissions Book for Croesnewydd Military Hospital says. The first intake was all Belgian soldiers.

I did an enquiry search for them and only found one name in the register P.Van Beveren.
It's stated;

He was originally buried at
Wrexham (Denbighshire)
Borough Cemetery
section K
grave number 3018

Could Joseph Verdeken have been returned after the war to be re-buried in a Belgium War Grave??

We would like to thank all the staff at Arnold’s Bar for their kind hospitality