Join me as I take a walk through Rhyl Town Centre on 24/10/23 .
Walking up through the town and onto promenade then back down to the Bus Station.
Rhyl (/rɪl/; Welsh: Y Rhyl, pronounced [ə ˈr̥ɨl]) is a seaside town and community in Denbighshire, Wales. The town lies within the historic boundaries of Denbighshire, on the north-east coast of Wales at the mouth of the River Clwyd.
To the west is Kinmel Bay and Towyn, to the east Prestatyn, and to the southeast Rhuddlan and St Asaph. At the 2011 Census, Rhyl had a population of 25,149, with Rhyl-Kinmel Bay having 31,229.[2] Rhyl forms a conurbation with Prestatyn and its two outlying villages, the Rhyl/Prestatyn Built-up area, whose 2011 population of 46,267 makes it North Wales's most populous non-city. Rhyl was once an elegant Victorian resort town but suffered rapid decline around the 1990s and 2000s but has since been improved by major regeneration around and in the town.
Early documents refer to a dwelling in the area named Ty'n Rhyl ("Rhyl croft"), and a manor house with that name still exists in the oldest part of the town.[3] Its Welsh orthography has proved difficult for English writers to transliterate as Rhyl's opening voiceless alveolar trill is uncommon in the English language (represented in modern Welsh by the digraph 'Rh'). As such the name has appeared in English texts as Hulle (1292), Hul (1296), Ryhull (1301), Hyll (1506), Hull (1508), yr Hyll (1597), Rhil (1706), Rhûl (1749), Rhul (1773) Rhyll (1830) and Rhyl (1840).[4]
The etymonic origin of the word Rhyl has been the subject of debate for more than a century.[5] It has been suggested that it derives from a contraction of Yr Heol ("The Road"). However, this derivation is problematic as it is thought that no road of significance passed through the area before the name was already extant.[3] Another suggested etymology, that the name is a hybrid of an unfamiliar English word ("hill") within Welsh syntax (Yr Hyl becoming Yr Rhyl) is considered highly unlikely as the town is situated on coastal marshland, with no hills in the vicinity.[4] One etymology that gained popularity in the twentieth century suggests that the original dwelling of Ty'n Rhyl derived from Tŷ'n yr haul (House in the Sun/House of Sunshine). This may be an example of folk etymology, as Rhyl gained popularity as a summer destination for Welsh-speaking tourists and was advertised in English and Welsh as "Sunny Rhyl".[3][4][5]
Rhyl has a number of Grade II listed buildings and landmarks. These include the Parish Church of St Thomas in Bath Street, which is listed as Grade II*.[6] Others are the Midland Bank building, the railway station along with two signal boxes and the public telephone box on the up platform, the Royal Alexandra Hospital, the Sussex Street Baptist Church, Rhyl Town Hall, the Swan public house in Russell Road, the war memorial, and the Welsh Presbyterian Church in Clwyd Street.[7]
Also notable is the Grade II listed Foryd Harbour Bridge, a blue bridge with distinctive bowstring girders built in 1932. Situated over the River Clwyd, it links Rhyl with Kinmel Bay.
Another landmark is the Church of St Margaret of Antioch. The Marble Church was built by Lady Margaret in memory of her late husband, Sir Henry Peyto Willoughby de Broke. It was completed within four years and consecrated on 23 August 1860, becoming the parish church of a new parish of Bodelwyddan, covering an area formerly in that of St Asaph. The church opens daily from 9:30 to 16:30, except between 25 December and 6 January.
A previous Rhyl landmark was the ornate Pavilion Theatre with five domes, which was demolished in 1974. Half a mile further down the promenade stood Rhyl Pier, opened in 1867 at 2,355 feet (718 m) long. The structure was damaged by ships in 1883 and again in 1891. It was further damaged in 1901 by fire. Storms were responsible for further damage in 1909 in 1913 was closed as unsafe. Although it reopened with a much-reduced length in 1930, it closed again in 1966 and was demolished in 1973.[8]
Rhyl's top attractions on the West Parade are Rhyl Children's Village theme park, and the 250-foot (76 m) Sky Tower (formerly the Clydesdale Bank tower, brought to Rhyl from the 1988 Glasgow Garden Festival). The Sky Tower opened in 1989,[9] but it was closed to the public in 2010 and transformed into an illuminated beacon in 2017.[10][11][12] A VUE Cinema is also located there.
On the East Parade is the SeaQuarium. Up until 2014, Rhyl Suncentre was also an attraction on the East Parade; an indoor water leisure centre which opened in 1980 at a cost of £4.25 million and featured a heated swimming pool, water chutes and slides, and Europe's first indoor surfing pool.[13] The local council closed the centre in early 2014 and it was demolished in 2016.
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