Denbighshire

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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.

For a map link to this place - see Maps under Wrexham.

Bibliography

• Charles, Geoff and Hugh.    The golden age of Brymbo steam        Capel Garmon : Gwasg Carreg Gwalch, 1997.
• Evans, John.    Hanes yr achos, a gyflwynir i gymdeithasfa chwarterol Eglwys Methodistiaid Calfinaidd Cymru ... yn Engedi, Brymbo, Mehefin 6, 7, 8, 1950     Wrecsam : Gwasg Gymraeg Edwin Jones a'i Fab, [1950]
• Rogers, Graham.       Brymbo and its neighbourhood    Wrexham : Graham Rogers, 1991.

Church History

Church and chapel data from The Religious census of 1851 : A Calendar of the returns relating to Wales, Vol 11, North Wales. Ed. by Ieuan Gwynedd Jones, UWP,   1981. The names given towards the end of each entry are those of the informants.

Brymbo Township within Wrexham Parish, Statistics; Area 2451 acres; Population 932 males, 807 females, total 1739

• Brymbo District Church       Erected in 1841 (  Lewis 1849)              Attendance - morning 180 + 72 scholars, afternoon 82 + 88 scholars, evening no service          W G Davies, Incumbent
•  
• Bryn Seion, Congregationalist           Erected 1840 in lieu of older building           Attendance - morning 84 scholars, afternoon 112, evening 125                John Evans, Deacon
• Harwood Chapel, Calvinist Methodist           Erected 1820            Attendance - morning 102, afternoon 95 scholars, evening 106         Rich. Jones, Deacon, Gwin y Gaseg
• Mount Chapel, Wesleyan Methodist              Erected 1838          Attendance - morning 64, afternoon 86, evening 170          Evan Thomas, Steward; John Lewis, Minister
• Pen Graig Chapel, Baptist           Erected 1847               Attendance - morning 100 scholars, afternoon 105 scholars, evening 140 scholars                 Owen Owen, Baptist Minister
• Bwlch Gwyn, Welsh Calvinistic Methodist           Erected 1827              Attendance - morning 36 scholars, afternoon 70, evening 50            John Powell, Deacon
• Bethesda Chapel, Bwlchgwyn, Wesleyan Methodist                  Erected 1843          Attendance - morning 73, afternoon 51, evening 53      John Bartley, Class Leader

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 Civilparish of Brymbo :

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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.

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.

I.G.I.

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

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Civil Registration

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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Description and Travel

Brymbo - on wikipedia

Brymbo - Alan Owen's site

Brymbo Man - on Wrexham CBC site

Occupations

Brymbo Steel Works site

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 1 Nov 2012 - Gareth Hicks