Some projects arrive with a plan. Others arrive with a story already half-written, just waiting for you to notice it. The Wrecsam wooden letters were very much the second kind.
Each letter contains a map of a part of Wrexham County – not printed, not engraved by machine, but carved directly into the grain. The idea was always that the letters wouldn’t just spell Wrecsam, they would be Wrecsam – landscape, memory, history and identity all bound up in timber.
The tree itself set the tone for the whole project. It was a windblown oak from about half a mile away from the workshop. One of those moments that feels a bit too perfect to be coincidence – we were literally in the middle of planning when a guy turned up and said:
“I’m the manager of Trevalyn Estate and we’ve got a fallen tree. If you can take it, you’re welcome to have it.”
The O’Rourke jammy gene strikes again!
Because we knew exactly where the tree came from and its story, it stopped being ‘material’ and started being ‘heritage’. We could count back the growth rings and line them up with moments in Wrexham’s history. That’s when it really clicked for me that this wasn’t just sculpture – it was literally bringing history back to life.
We marked in:
- 1864 – the formation of Wrexham AFC
- 1882 – the beginning of Wrexham Lager
- 1934 – the Gresford Mining Disaster
Those years aren’t just dates – they’re scars, pride, grief, resilience, community. The idea that those moments are physically embedded in the growth of the same tree that now forms the letters still gives me goosebumps.
It still amazes me that all the letters could be made from one tree. One oak, one life, now holding an entire town’s story.
The materials around the wood mattered just as much as the carving. The steel bases were made by local engineering company AEC Engineering, who used to sponsor the football team before the Hollywood takeover. That detail felt important – rooted in the real industrial backbone of the place. In fact, the whole project has been Wrexham based – from the tree to the people, the community and the businesses who have all had a hand in creating the Wrecsam letters statues.
At the base of each letter are silhouettes of Wrexham landmarks. Not postcard versions – real markers that people recognise in their bones.
One of the most important parts for me was getting members of the communities represented on each letter to come into the workshop and carve a small part of the area they’re connected to. That changes the energy of a piece completely. It stops being my work and becomes our work. You can feel the difference in the wood – different hands, different pressures, different rhythms. That matters.
This project didn’t happen quickly. It was first talked about three years ago, and it’s been refined, reshaped, questioned and evolved over that time. What you see now is the result of that slow process – not rushing, not forcing, just letting the idea mature until it became what it needed to be.
Joe Bickerton, Wrexham’s Tourism Manager, originally muted the idea as he had seen many such signs promoting European cities. With the influx of tourists to Wrexham over the past few years, he wanted to create a similar showpiece for the city, and this year, with Welsh Government support, the project could be completed.
“With global support for Wrexham, I think it has been really important to develop something like this to amplify Wrexham’s name around the world for people taking photos coming to town, coming to different parts of the county and for actually magnifying what Wrexham is all about. I think it’s a magnificent piece of art and something that I think will really become iconic for Wales too.” Says Joe.
The real hope is simple.
That people see the maps. That they recognise streets. That they spot rivers, estates, hills, corners they know.
And in doing that, memories of places and people get triggered. Conversations start. Stories come back.
Because that’s what good carving does when it’s done properly – it doesn’t just sit there looking nice. It connects. It holds memory. It carries meaning.
This isn’t just wood shaped into letters. It’s Wrexham, in the grain.
If you’re interested in finding out more, why not watch this short video?
