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Chirk

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"A parish in the Union of Oswestry, hundred of Chirk, county of Denbigh. ..... This parish is bounded on the north by the river Dee, and on the south by the Ceiriog, which unite on its eastern side. It lies at the foot of the Berwyn range of mountains, which skirt it on the west, and its surface is somewhat uneven, rising from the village to an eminence on which the castle is situated, on the western side, with the Berwyns beyond, and on the eastern to another elevation, from the brow of which there is a delightful prospect of the plain of Salop, on the one side, and on the other a nearer view of part of the Vale of Llangollen. ..... The village is pleasantly situated on the northern bank of the river Ceiriog, which, flowing through a small vale of great beauty, here separates the counties of Denbigh and Salop, and consequently Wales and England." [A Topographical Dictionary of Wales, 1833 & 1849, Samuel Lewis]

The parish comprises the townships of Chirk, Bryncynallt, Halton, Gwernospin and Penyclawdd.

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Bibliography

  • A guide to Llangollen, Chirk & Corwen   Manchester : Abel Heywood & Son, [191-?]
  • A memoir of Chirk Castle      Chester : Hugh Roberts, Printer, 1859.
  • Arnold, C J.   Excavation of Offa's Dyke, Chirk Castle   Trafodion (Denbighshire Historical Society), 40 (1991), p. 93-97
  • Burton,  Jill  and Yvonne Turton.   Chirk castle and the Civil War      Welsh Historian, No. 32 (Spring 2002), 19-20
  • Chirk  by The Chirk Local History Society ; foreword by Lord Howard de Walden.    Loggerheads : S. B. Publications ; [Chirk] 1989.
  • Emery, Gordon.  Chirk aqueduct, viaduct & tunnel    Chester : Gordon Emery, 1989.
  • Emery, Gordon.   Chirk- Castle, dyke & canal   Chester : Gordon Emery, 1989.
  • Hurdsman,  C. Neville.   A history of the parish of Chirk       Wrexham : Bridge Books, 1996.
  • Jones,  C. Delyth R.   Llangollen-Chirk canal    (edited by Neil Thomson).      Mold : Planning and Estates Department, Clwyd County Council, 1980.
  • Mahler, Margaret.   A history of Chirk Castle and Chirkland     London : G. Bell, 1912.
  • Milner-Gibson-Cullum, Gery.     Pedigree of Middleton or Myddelton, of Chirk Castle, Denbigh     London : Mitchell and Hughes, 1897.
  • Myddelton, W M.     Chirk Castle accounts, A.D. 1605-1666   St. Albans: Gibbs and Ramforth, 1908.     and       Chirk Castle accounts, (continued) A.D. 1666-1753    Horncastle: W. K. Morton & Sons, 1931
  • Palmer, Vera.   Chirk and the Glyn Valley Tramway   Loggerheads : S.B.Publications, 1988.
  • Pink, William Duncombe .  Notes on the Middleton family of Denbighshire & London &c.     [Chester, England] : Chester Courant Office, 1891.
  • Pratt, Derrick.   The marcher lordship of Chirk, 1329-1330         Trafodion (Denbighshire Historical Society), 39 (1990), p. 5-41
  • Pratt, Derrick.  A Chirk charter, 1334      Trafodion (Denbighshire Historical Society), 43 (1994), p. 109-115
  • Pratt, Derrick.   The medieval borough of Chirk      Trafodion (Denbighshire Historical Society), 46 (1997), p. 26-51.
  • Reports of the Society for Bettering the Condition of the Poor in the Hundred of Oswestry and the parishes of Chirk, Llansilin and Llanarmon        Oswestry : Printed for the society by T. Edwards, 1813-23.
  • Smith, Llinos Beverley.   The grammar and commonplace books of John Edwards of Chirk         Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies, Vol. 34 (1987), p. 174-184
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Church History

See Welsh Chapels and Churches for a photograph of St Mary's Church Ordnance Survey reference SJ 291376.
There is believed to have been a Christian church on the site since the 7th century. The earliest written records, which date from 1163, refer to "Warinus, priest of Chirklands". The church was mentioned in the Lincoln Taxation of 1291.
There were extensive alterations to the Norman structure during the late 15th century; and various renovations and restorations during the early 19th century. The church was partly rebuilt after being damaged by fire in the early hours of Christmas Day, 1853. Further restoration work was carried out in 1877.

The Clwyd FHS website has a photograph of the church.

St Mary's Church (Internal and external) on the People's Collection Wales site

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 Chirk :

Name of ChapelDenominationNumber of "adherents"
Black ParkPrimitive Methodists (English language)400
Pont y BlewPrimitive Methodists (English language)100
Chirk GreenUnited Methodist Free Church (English language)300
JubileeWesleyans (English language)50
WaenWesleyans40
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Church Records

Parish Registers

  • The following Parish Registers have been deposited at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth.
    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.
BaptismsMarriagesBurials
1678 - 19561611 - 19711611 - 1975
  • Clwyd FHS has published full transcriptions of the registers (complete with indexes) for the following years :
BaptismsMarriagesBurials
1666 - 18121612 - 18121611 - 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 Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; and the films are available on request at Family History Centres of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
    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 WalesMicrofilmed copies
1663 - 18521666 - 1852

I.G.I.

  • There are no official I.G.I. entries for St. Mary's, Chirk.
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Civil Registration

When Civil Registration was introduced (on 1 July 1837), the parish of Chirk was assigned to the No. 4 ("St. Martin's") sub-district of the Oswestry Registration District; which was co-extensive with the Oswestry Incorporation poor law Union.

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

  • Years 1837 - 1851: Oswestry XVIII. nnn
  • Years 1851 - 1930: Oswestry 6a. nnn

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

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Description & Travel

Chirk and Ceiriog Valley site

Chirk Castle - on National Trust site

Chirk - on wikipedia

Chirk Castle - on castle wales

Various items on the People's Collection Wales site

  • Chirk Castle 
  • CHIRK RAILWAY VIADUCT 
  • Various landscapes 
  • CHIRK AQUEDUCT
  • Offa's Dyke
You can see pictures of Chirk which are provided by:

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Gazetteers

The transcription of the section for this parish from the National Gazetteer (1868), provided by Colin Hinson.

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History

Household accounts of the steward of Lady Myddleton, Chirk Castle, 1729 on the People's Collection Wales site

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Maps

"North-East Wales Churches and Ancient Parish Boundaries" produced by Clwyd Record Office in 1994, published by Genuki with the permission of Flintshire Record Office and Denbighshire Archives

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.

Plan of the parish of Chirk in the County of Denbigh on the People's Collection Wales site

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SJ281395 (Lat/Lon: 52.948425, -3.071709), Chirk which are provided by:

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Military History

Chirk war memorial on the People's Collection Wales site

An article from the Llangollen Advertiser, Denbighshire, Meirionethshire and North Wales Journal about the death of B. Craig Job from Chirk during The First World War on the People's Collection Wales site

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Population

  • In 1831- the population was 1598.
  • In 1901- the population was 2611.
    [ Royal Commission on the Welsh Church - October 1907]
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Statistics

  • Archdeacon Thomas gives the area of the parish as 2649 acres.
    [ The History of the Diocese of St. Asaph , 1908-1913, Ven. D.R. Thomas]
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Taxation

Chirk Tithe Map, 1837, with Schedule and Transcript on the People's Collection Wales site