Wynnstay Arms
The front of the hotel from Park Street
General information
Type	Coaching inn (18th century) Public house Hotel
Location	Ruabon, Wrexham, Wales
Coordinates	52°59′13″N 3°02′21″W / 52.986854°N 3.03914°W / 52.986854; -3.03914
Current tenants	Robinsons Brewery
Opened	18th century
Technical details
Floor count	3
Other information
Number of suites	12
Website
wynnstayarms.pub
Listed Building – Grade II
Official name	Wynnstay Arms PH
Designated	7 June 1963; Amended 22 February 1995
Reference no.	1625[1]

The Wynnstay Arms is a hotel and pub in Ruabon, Wales. It is located between Park Street and High Street in the village, and dates to an 18th-century coaching inn. The building is a Grade II listed building, and the early meetings of the Football Association of Wales (FAW) were held in the hotel in the 19th century shortly after the FAW was founded in the Wrexham hotel of the same name.

Description

Located in Ruabon,^[2] opposite St. Mary's Church, between Park Street and High Street,^[1][3] it currently serves as a public house and hotel.^[4]

It has 12 bedrooms and can be booked as a wedding venue or for other private events. The pub is run by Robinsons Brewery.^[2][5]

It is three storeys along Park Street, and has a deep central octagonal bay. Its exterior is covered in dark orange brick in Flemish-bond, a slate roof with brick chimneys, painted stone dressings and stone plinths, as well as small-pane sash windows. The building's central bay has a hipped roof and tipartite sashes. Its side faces have blocked openings with painted round-arched heads to its first floor and blind Diocletian openings to its second floor. There is an asymmetrican two-storeyed, three-window range dating to 1841 attached to the right of the building and has an entrance with a central arched carriage. Also to the right is an English garden wall bond with similar fenestration and dressings as the side blocked openings. The building has roughly coursed sandstone rubble with dressed stone quoins, stringcourse and a slate roof, as well as an advanced and pedimented central bay which incorporates a dated roundel. The symmetrical side facing Ruabon's High Street has an ornate wrought-iron bracket attached to the building's corner with a hanging signboard, and the bracket may date to either the 18th or early 19th century. The interior of the building has been substantially remodelled, although earlier forms of the building's plan survive on its upper floors.^[1][4]

History

The building dates to the 18th century, when it was originally a coaching inn. The building may have incorporated an earlier structure into its design, and the building was enlarged in 1841.^[1][4][3] Behind the building is the 18th century stable block, which still stands today.^[3]

In May 1876, the constitution and name of the Football Association of Wales was agreed during a meeting in the hotel.^[6] The meeting was called by a Ruabon solicitor, Llewelyn Kenrick, who became the association's first president.^[7] Two and a half hours of the meeting was dedicated to deliberating a goal the Wrexham club had scored against Northwich, which disputed the goal. This objection was over-ruled with changes made to football rules.^[3] This Ruabon meeting followed a meeting in February 1876, at the Wynnstay Arms Hotel in Wrexham, where the idea of a Welsh footballing organisation was first raised.^[6]

During the Victorian era, utilising the building's centuries-long purpose as a community activity hub, the pub was the meeting place of the Association for Prosecution of Felons' local branch, which encouraged witnesses to come forward following crimes, including offers of rewards for information.^[3]

Various chess matches were held in the building, with Joseph Blackburne, a professional chess player, giving an exhibition of his skill, in the building in 1897.^[3]

By 2015, there were reports of paranormal activity in the building.^[8]

References