Plas Power Woods were once part of the largest and most important estate in the area and today retain a sense of grandeur and quiet dignity.

The woods have been here for many hundreds of years, witnessing the rise and fall of ancient kingdoms and the changing fortunes of industry. Timber from Plas Power and Nant Mill woods would have been important as sources of charcoal to smelt the lead from Minera. Coedpoeth meaning ‘hot wood’ takes its name from charcoal burning. The first iron works at Bersham also relied on charcoal, together with water from the River Clywedog and limestone from Minera. Big Wood Weir was built by Isaac Wilkinson around the 1750s to supply a small coal mine on the opposite side of the river while the original mill at Nant, where Nant Mill stands today, was a fulling mill for thickening woven woollen cloth. Caeau Weir, sluice and leete were built to deliver a steady supply of water to the ironworks, powering huge bellows to blast air into the furnaces. The ironworks moved to Brymbo in 1796, and were replaced by three paper mills that operated until the 20th century. In 1816 the Fitzhugh family took over Plas Power Estate, named after Sir Henry Power who had owned it in the 17th century.