Denbighshire

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Cefn

"A township in that part of the parish and union of St. Asaph which is in the hundred of Isdulas, county of Denbigh, 2 miles (S.) from St. Asaph, containing 586 inhabitants, of whom 257 are in Wigfair. This township is situated on the left bank of the river Elwy, and near that river is a beautiful and romantic dingle, in which is a fine spring, called Y Ffynnon Fair, discharging about 100 gallons of water per minute, and strongly impregnated with lime. It is enclosed in a richly-sculptured polygonal basin, which was formerly covered by a canopy supported by ornamental pillars, and was then much resorted to as a cold bath. Adjoining the well are the ruins of a cruciform chapel, in the decorated and later English styles, parts being overgrown with ivy. Prior to the Reformation, this was a chapel of ease to St. Asaph, and was served by one of the vicars to that church. ..... The river Elwy, the banks of which are finely wooded, is here crossed by a majestic bridge, called Pont-yr-Allt-Goch, of one arch, eighty-five feet in span."
[ A Topographical Dictionary of Wales, 1849, Samuel Lewis]

The new parish of Cefn was formed by an Order in Council on 7 February 1865. It comprised the two Denbighshire townships of Wigfair and Meiriadog, which had until then been in the parish of St. Asaph, Flintshire.

Bibliography

• Owen, Meurig (ed).  Cofio'r Cefn - Cefn remembered    Cefn Meiriadog : Cefn Meiriadog Historical Society, 2007.

Church History

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 Civilparish of Cefn :

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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, and at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth.
  These microfilms are not available elsewhere.

Bishop's Transcripts

• No Bishop's Transcripts have been deposited for St. Mary's, Cefn.

I.G.I.

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

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Civil Registration

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

• Years 1837 - 1851: St. Asaph XXVII. nnn
• Years 1851 - 1930: St. Asaph 11b. nnn

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

Description and Travel

Cefn  - on the Vision of Britain site

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Maps

On Clwyd FHS's site there is a diagram showing parish names/positions with links to pages for the parish church

Kain, R.J.P., Oliver, R.R., Historic Parishes of England and Wales: an Electronic Map of Boundaries before 1850 with a Gazetteer and Metadata [computer file]. Colchester, Essex: History Data Service, UK Data Archive [distributor], 17 May 2001. SN: 4348.   Here is a gazetteer/finding aid plus a set of overview maps to accurately identify the position of parishes within the county

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Population

• In 1831- this was not a separate parish.
• In 1901- the population was 480.
  [ Royal Commission on the Welsh Church - October 1907]

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Statistics

• Archdeacon Thomas gives the area of the parish as 3268 acres.
  [ The History of the Diocese of St. Asaph , 1908-1913, Ven. D.R. Thomas]

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Last Updated  9 Jan 2013 - Gareth Hicks