GENUKI : Erbistock, St. Hilary

Erbistock

"A parish in the Union of Wrexham, partly in the hundred of Bromfield, county of Denbigh, and partly in that of Maelor, county of Flint; five miles (NNW) from Ellesmere. This parish, which by tradition is said to have been originally an appendage to the ancient monastery of Bangor, is situated on the river Dee, which is navigable about four miles below it, and which is enclosed and in a good state of cultivation. The soil in general is fertile: the surrounding scenery is pleasingly diversified, and in some places highly picturesque; and the river Dee, which for a considerable distance forms the boundary of the parish, pursues a winding course through the adjoining tract, and adds greatly to the beauty of the scenery."
[A Topographical Dictionary of Wales, 1833 & 1849, Samuel Lewis]

Church History
Church Records
Civil Registration

Population
Statistics

Church History

Ordnance Survey reference SJ 355413.
The church was mentioned in the Norwich Taxation of 1254, and at that time was dedicated to St. Erbin. A new church was built about 1748. The present building, which is dedicated to St. Hilary, was constructed in 1860.

The Clwyd FHS website has a photograph of the church.

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 Erbistock :

Name of Chapel	Denomination	Number of "adherents"
Not named	Congregationalists (English language)	56

Return to top of page

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
1680 - 1918	1679 - 1970	1679 - 1991

Clwyd FHS has published full transcriptions of the registers (complete with indexes) for the following years :

Baptisms	Marriages	Burials
1679 - 1812	1679 - 1812	1679 - 1812

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
1663 - 1835	1671 - 1835

I.G.I.

There are no official I.G.I. entries for St. Hilary's, Erbistock.

Return to top of page

Civil Registration

When Civil Registration was introduced (on 1 July 1837), the parish of Erbistock was assigned to the No. 3 ("Ruabon") sub-district of the Wrexham Registration District; which, initially, was co-extensive with the Wrexham poor law Union.

In the GRO indexes to civil registration, entries for Erbistock 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)

Return to top of page

Population

In 1831- the population was 398.
In 1901- the population was 307.
[Royal Commission on the Welsh Church - October 1907]

Return to top of page

Statistics

Archdeacon Thomas gives the area of the parish as 1571 acres.
[ The History of the Diocese of St. Asaph , 1908-1913, Ven. D.R. Thomas]

Return to top of page

Find help, report problems, and contribute information.

Last Updated 23 Nov 2009 - Gareth Hicks