Overton-on-Dee (often abbreviated to Overton; Welsh: Owrtyn) is a small town in the county borough of Wrexham, Wales, overlooking the River Dee. It has a population of 1,200. It is about seven miles from Wrexham and twenty-two miles from Chester and Shrewsbury.
The town was, until 1974, in an exclave of the traditional county of Flintshire known as Maelor Saesneg (English: "Saxon or English-speaking Maelor"), sometimes called "Flintshire Detached", and was its administrative centre. Between 1974 and 1996 Overton was in the short-lived county of Clwyd. Strangely the community (parish) and county boundary between it and Erbistock (in former Denbighshire) is, in part, on the west side of the river due to oxbow formation in the river.
The churchyard of St Mary the Virgin contains a number of very ancient yew trees. These are described in an anonymous rhyme as one of the Seven Wonders of Wales. At 1500-2000 years old, the oldest tree predates the church, whose earliest stonework is probably Norman.
In 1992 Overton celebrated the 700th anniversary of the granting of a Royal Charter to Overton by Edward I in 1292 with a royal visit from the present queen who planted a new yew tree.
Most of the town was once owned by the Bryn-y-pys Estate. The 1848 sale particulars, with 4.300 acres and a majority of the houses and farms in the town, run to several pages. It was made clear that the estate wielded 'Great Political Influence', as without the secret ballot at general elections, the purchaser, who would be virtually everyone's landlord, was guaranteed of a place in Parliament.
There are several interesting buildings in the town including: the 'Cocoa and Reading Rooms', a terrracotta building of 1890, built to promulgate temperance, now the library; almshouses and a Victorian village pump.
The Maelor Way, a long-distance footpath, passes through Overton. |
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