Grove Park schools . A school under the name
Grove Park was founded in 1895, replacing a previous school known as
The Groves Academy, and the new school was a
grammar school for boys. It was initially housed in the
Groves Academy (or now
old Grove Park School) buildings near Grove Park Road, until they were sold to Wrexham Borough Council in return for a £11,500 () fund which led to the construction of new red brick buildings closer to Chester Road, opening in 1902. While it was mainly a school for boys, some girls were educated at the school in small numbers, until they later moved to a purpose-built girls school site.
Construction of main building In 1936, a separate building began construction on Chester Road/Powell Road, to the designs of Gilbert D Wiles. It was renamed a
grammar school in the 1940s. Pupils of the school were split into two "super" high schools,
Ysgol Clywedog and
Rhosnesni High School. While it was also planned, prior in 2002, for the Groves to be purchased by
Yale College, with Yale needing to raise "major investment" for it. However by the end of 2002, Yale admitted it could not afford to purchase the Groves School building. In 2012, the first arguments for demolishing the deteriorating building were raised, In 2014,
Coleg Cambria (replacing
Yale) revealed plans to develop the site into part of its Wrexham central campus. In 2015, the original 1902 buildings, part of Coleg Cambria, were refurbished. In 2016, it was announced to be demolished, 250 and later 1,000 people signed a petition urging the site be retained.
Coleg Cambria considered the site to become part of its campus, The council rejected requests to re-evaluate the decision, and 55 local campaigners gathered outside the building to oppose its demolition. Threats were also made to the council's leader over the announcement. The site has cost £100,000 in upkeep to maintain since its closure in 2003, and an additional £900,000 between 2006 and 2016.
Listed status and proposals In August 2016, the
Welsh Government prevented its demolition by making it a
listed building with
Cadw. Its listing by the government has led Wrexham council to argue the Welsh Government should pay for the site. following a
High Court-issued judicial review raised by Wrexham council. It asked Welsh economy and infrastructure secretary,
Ken Skates to review his decision for listing. However,
Mark Drakeford, finance and local government secretary, backed the listing, re-instating it with immediate effect. Skates backed his original decision to list the building, stating it was the "right one", but accepted the original decision lacked detail. The site is subject to a
covenant meaning it can only be redeveloped for educational use, In 2018, Wrexham council looked into re-using the building for education, such as a
primary school for 480 pupils. However, the estimated cost of £11.5 million to refurbish the building was stated to be too expensive to pursue. The council then considered using the land adjacent to the building to construct a new school building costing £6.7 million. In 2020, following plans to build a new school on the nearby Nine Acre field, campaigners opposing a school on that site, urged Wrexham Council to construct the new school on the Groves site instead. In 2021, the site was considered to become a medical training facility, however Wales' travel restrictions at the time were stated to have hampered the proposal. In 2022, a local councillor argued the site should be used to create Wrexham's second
Welsh-medium high school. In May 2023, the site was shortlisted, alongside five others, as a potential contender of the main site of the
National Contemporary Art Gallery for Wales, with Wrexham Council receiving £25,000 to develop its proposal. A proposed main site for the gallery was scrapped in July 2024. In 2024, local heritage campaigners accused the council of allowing the building to fall into disrepair. On 10 August 2025, Wrexham Council stated that the headline summary costs for the site since its closure in 2003 was £821,255, with the council describing the situation concerning the former school as "frustrating" and they "worked tirelessly" searching for a solution to it. The cost is attributed to insurance and security to protect the site from issues like vandalism and adverse weather. == Description ==