GENUKI : Brymbo, St. Mary's

Brymbo

"A township in the parish and Union of Wrexham, hundred of Bromfield, county of Denbigh; containing, in 1841, 1217 inhabitants. ..... "
[A Topographical Dictionary of Wales, 1833 & 1849, Samuel Lewis]

The new parish of Brymbo was formed by an Order in Council on 6 December 1844, out of the ancient parish of Wrexham. It contained the township of Brymbo and part of the township of Broughton.
On 5 March 1880, the western part of the parish went to the new parish of Bwlchgwyn; on 15 February 1909, part of the township of Broughton went to the new parish of Broughton; and on 7 May 1921, part went to the new parish of Southsea.

Church History
Church Records
Civil Registration

Population
Statistics

Church History

The first church to be built was consecrated on 31 July 1838. Unfortunately, it began to collapse because of subsidence, and it was closed in 1869. The well-known local historian, Alfred Neobard Palmer, stated that the subsidence was caused by construction work on the nearby Great Western Railway; but other authorities blame it on extensive coal-mining operations. Services were temporarily transferred to the nearby school, but this also became unsafe - for the same reason.

The foundation stone of a new church, a little distance away, (Ordnance Survey reference SJ 295543) was laid on 15 August 1871; and the church was consecrated on 10 September 1872, the dedication being to St. Mary.

The Clwyd FHS website has a photograph of the church.

A second church, dedicated to St. John, was built in 1892 on the site of the original church, specifically for the use of the Welsh-speaking population. Not surprisingly, in view of the history of the site, this building became unsafe; and it was demolished during the 1970's.

Nonconformist Churches

"Welsh Church Commission - County of Denbigh - The Statistics of the Nonconformist Churches for 1905" lists the following nonconformist places of worship in the Civil parish of Brymbo :

Name of Chapel	Denomination	Number of "adherents"
Lodge	Baptists (English language)	185
Noddfa, Lodge	Baptists	210
Tabernacle	Baptists	520
Bethania	Calvinistic Methodists	200
Engedi	Calvinistic Methodists	350
Peniel, Bwlchgwyn	Calvinistic Methodists	175
Salem, Bwlchgwyn	Calvinistic Methodists	110
Cana, Tanyfron	Congregationalists	130
Nebo, Bwlchgwyn	Congregationalists	150
Not named	Wesleyans (English language)	150
Bethesda, Bwlchgwyn	Wesleyans	241
Mynydd Seion, Tanyfron	Wesleyans	337

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Church Records

Parish Registers

The following Parish Registers have been deposited at the Denbighshire Record Office, Ruthin.
They may be viewed on microfilm at the Denbighshire and Flintshire Record Offices, at the A.N. Palmer Library, Wrexham, and at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth.
These microfilms are not available elsewhere.

Baptisms	Marriages	Burials
1838 - 1945	1839 - 1971	1838 - 1968

Bishop's Transcripts

Bishop's Transcripts for the years shown below have been deposited in the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth.
Around the year 1951, most of the Bishop's Transcripts which had been deposited at that time were microfilmed by the LDS; and the films are available on request at Family History Centres of the LDS.
The films may also be viewed at the Denbighshire and Flintshire Record Offices, and at the National Library of Wales.
In general, the Bishop's Transcripts are less complete than the parish registers.

Deposited at the National Library of Wales	Microfilmed copies
1839 - 1855	1839 - 1855

I.G.I.

There are no official I.G.I. entries for St. Mary's, Brymbo.

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Civil Registration

Having been formed from townships of the parish of Wrexham, the parish of Brymbo was assigned to the Wrexham Registration District.

In the GRO indexes to civil registration, entries for Brymbo are in the format :

Years 1837 - 1851: Wrexham XXVII.nnn
Years 1851 - 1930: Wrexham 11b.nnn

(GRO index references have no relevance at the local Superintendent Registrar's Office)

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Population

In 1831- Brymbo was not a separate parish.
In 1901- the population was 10,036.
[Royal Commission on the Welsh Church - October 1907]

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Statistics

Archdeacon Thomas gives the area of the parish as 1720 acres.
[ The History of the Diocese of St. Asaph , 1908-1913, Ven. D.R. Thomas]

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Last Updated 22 Nov 2009 - Gareth Hicks