Rhyl History Club

Rhyl History Club

The club was founded in 1982 to promote interest in, and study of, the town's history. It meets on the second Monday of every month, between September and May. The meeting venue is Ednyfed Meeting Room, Rhyl Community Fire Station, Coast Road, Rhyl. Meetings start at 7.30pm. There is a guest speaker at most meetings.

The club also holds an annual summer outing to places of historical interest.

Website of Rhyl History Club

HiPoints collection:
Royal Alexandra Hospital - look up for the flying fox, which is connected with the hospital's 1902 rebuilding
Edith Vizard Memorial Home - nurses' home bought as a memorial to the hospital's superintendent
Site of Rhyl pier - the pier was popular with visitors, in between fires, storms and collision damage
Rhyl war memorial
1853 lifeboat tragedy memorial - commemorates six men who drowned after the boat capsized
Remnants of prehistoric forest - visible sometimes near Splash Point
Town Hall - opened 1876 with offices, fire station, markets, soup kitchen, bank and corn exchange
Former Dudley Arms – a jilted barmaid’s trial for attempted suicide made headlines in 1893
Former Bee and Station Hotel - now offices, was once home to Rhyl's jazz and folk clubs
Bodrhyddan Hall - in the same family for over 500 years. Well in garden was enclosed in 1612
Animal trough, Bodrhyddan - given to Rhyl by town's first station master for thirsty horses and dogs
Belle Vue stadium - Rhyl football teams were involved in Wales' first floodlit matches
Colet House - originally a prep school for boys, then a miners' convalescent home
Ty'n Rhyl - reputedly the oldest house in Rhyl, with a fireplace surround made from King Henry VIII's bedstead
Rhyl Miniature Railway - oldest miniature railway in Britain, opened 1911
Marine Lake - fed by seawater. Opened in 1895 for boating, swimming etc
Former Cheetham's cinema - used by pioneering film maker and showman Arthur Cheetham
Site of Salem Bungalow - lost to sea erosion, this was home to a pioneer of electric tramways worldwide
Former Thomas Cliffe stamp factory - where millions of postage stamps were packed for sale to collectors
St Mary's Church - original church was baptism place of Sir Roger Casement, hanged for treason in 1916
Rhyl rail station - wide platforms were needed for the crowds of holidaymakers who arrived by train
Park on former cemetery - discover who lies buried under the park at Morley Road
Botanical Gardens - first opened to the public in 1877, still a popular leisure area today
The Cut - authorised 1794 to drain the land which enabled Rhyl's rapid growth in 19th century
Former Grange Laundry - large building opened 1906, busy each August keeping holidaymakers clean
Birthplace of last woman hanged in UK - Ruth Ellis, born in Rhyl, was hanged controversially in 1955
Site of convent school - past pupil Roberta Leigh was a romantic novelist and created children’s TV puppet shows
Former Westcliffe Garage - used by military science college, evacuated from southern England in Second World War