Уэльс ауылы: Овертон және Ди өзені жағалауы

Village in Wales

Overton (Owrtyn) or Overton on Dee is a village and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It is situated close to the Welsh English border on the edge of an escarpment that winds its way around the course of the River Dee, from which Overton on Dee derives its name. The community of Overton, which also includes the village of Lightwood Green and a number of small hamlets including Knolton, had a total population of 1,276 at the 2001 census, increasing to 1,382 at the 2011 Census.

Overton is 7 mile (11 km) from Wrexham and exactly 22 mile (35 km) from both Chester and Shrewsbury. Its neighbouring villages are Bangor on Dee and Penley whilst the small towns of Ellesmere and Ruabon are only a short distance away. The hamlet of Overton Bridge is a distinct settlement west of the village at above the Dee and the road bridge that carries the A528 road across the river.

The settlement is not mentioned in the Domesday Book, but was first recorded in 1195, via a 14th century source, as Ouerton. Its name was also recorded as Overtone in 1201, Awtun, in the 14th century and Ortyn in the 15th, all of which are forms of a name meaning "settlement on the bank [of the Dee]". However, when local government legislation was introduced no change was made. Under the Local Government Act 1894 the area became Overton Rural District, remaining as a detached part of Flintshire until 1974. Between 1974 and 1996 Overton was administered as part of the short lived county of Clwyd. The community (parish) and county boundary between it and Erbistock (in historic Denbighshire) is, in part, on the west side of the river due to oxbow formation in the river. It is now in Wrexham borough.

Overton has a fine collection of 18th and 19th century buildings, many of which are listed as buildings of architectural or historic interest. Even the old telephone box has been "listed". The village centre is also designated as a Conservation Area. Most of the village was once owned by the Bryn y pys Estate. The 1848 sale particulars, with and a majority of the houses and farms in the village, 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 village including: the "Cocoa and Reading Rooms", a terracotta building of 1890, built to promulgate temperance, now the library; almshouses and a Victorian village pump.

An electoral ward in the same name exists. This ward stretches south east to Maelor South and at the 2011 census had a total population of 3,315.

The village has the usual sporting recreational areas of cricket, football, bowls and tennis. Overton is also an excellent rendezvous point for walkers as it finds itself on the map of the Maelor Way, a 24 mile (38 km) long distance footpath; this in turn links up with Offa's Dyke Path National Trail at Bronygarth and the Sandstone Trail, Llangollen Canal, South Cheshire Way, and the Marches Way.

St. Richard Gwyn (ca. 1537 – 15 October 1584), Overton village schoolmaster, Elizabethan era composer of Welsh poetry, and Roman Catholic martyr. Canonized in 1970 by Pope Paul VI as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.