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Gresford

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"A parish in the Union of Wrexham, partly in the hundred of Bromfield, county of Denbigh, and partly in that of Mold, county of Flint. ..... The parish is very extensive, comprising upwards of twelve thousand acres; and the village is delightfully situated on the western side of the road from Wrexham to Chester, near the head of a beautiful valley, which opens into the Vale Royal of Cheshire. ..... The little vale of Gresford is one of the most lovely in the principality, enlivened by the meanderings of the river Alyn through its meadows, and finely varied with richly wooded eminences, on one of which stands conspicuously its beautiful church, remarkable for the elegance of its architecture and its picturesque appearance." [A Topographical Dictionary of Wales, 1833 & 1849, Samuel Lewis]

Until the early nineteenth century, the parish of Gresford was of very great extent, as it included the chapelries of Holt and Isycoed, and the detached township of Erddig.
On 30 June 1840, the townships of Allington, Burton, Marford and Hoseley (a total of 6780 acres) became the new parish of Rossett.
In November 1851, the township of Gwersyllt went to the new parish of Gwersyllt.
When Archdeacon Thomas wrote his "History of the Diocese of St. Asaph" (1908 - 1913), the parish of Gresford consisted of the townships of Gresford, Llay, Borras Riffri, Borras Hofa, and portions of Burton, Allington and Marford & Hoseley.

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Bibliography

  •  An account of the Parish Church of Gresford, Denbighshire.   Gresford : T. Crane, 1843.
  • Bayliss, Sarah.    The Gresford disaster    Country Quest. (January 2005), p. 8-9
  • Charities in the Parish of Gresford, in the county of Denbighshire       Chester : P.P. Evans, pr., 1844.
  • Fishbourne, Edward A.    The parish church of All Saints', Gresford    Chester : Phillipson & Golder, 1906.
  • Gresford Vicarage    Wrexham : printed by T. Painter, [1843]
  • Gresford's Bevin boys          A5 Publications, 1991.
  • James, Major-General Sir Henry. (Superintendent of the Survey).      Book of reference to the plan of the Parish of Gresford      London : Eyre & Spottiswoode for H.M.S.O., 1873.
  • Jarman, Sydney Gardnor.    The parishes of Gresford and Hope       Compilation facsim. ed.     Wrexham : Wrexham County Borough Council, Library and Information Service, 2000.
  • Jarman, Sydney Gardnor.    The village of Gresford  3rd ed.     Wrexham : Jarman and Co., 1902.
  • Jones, Bethan.   A guide book to the Parish Church of All Saints Gresford        Rev ed.   Gresford Parish Church, 1995.
  • Jones, Bethan.    All Saints Church, Gresford      Gresford, Wrexham : Friends of the Parish Church of All Saints, 1997.
  • Jones, Bethan  with line drawings by Michael  Hand.     Gresford Parish Church       Gresford Parish Church, 1990.
  • Jones, J. Colin.    Gresford Village and Church        Gresford : J. Colin Jones, 1995.
  • Laidlaw, Roger.    The Gresford disaster in popular memory         Llafur, Vol. 6, no. 4 (1995), p. 123-146
  • Palmer, Alfred Neobard.      A history of the old parish of Gresford in the counties of Denbigh and Flint     Wrexham : Bridge Books, 1987.
  • Syme, Alistair.   Remembering the Gresford disaster         Country Quest, February 2008, p. 20-21.
  • Williamson, Stanley.    Gresford: the anatomy of a disaster        Liverpool : Liverpool University Press, 1999.
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Church History

Ordnance Survey reference SJ 346550.
All Saints, Gresford - on wikipedia

The Clwyd FHS website has a photograph of the church.

See John Ball's site Welsh Churches and Chapels Collection for a photograph/data re All Saints Church, Gresford

Gresford - All Saints Church  - 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 Gresford :

Name of ChapelDenominationNumber of "adherents"
Church of Christ, Cam yr AlynBaptists50
Not namedWesleyans (English language)100
GolleyPrimitive Methodists (English language)40
LlayPrimitive Methodists (English language)90
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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.
BaptismsMarriagesBurials
1661 - 19761672 - 19881661 - 1979
  • Clwyd FHS has published full transcriptions of the registers (complete with indexes) for the following years :
BaptismsMarriagesBurials
1660 - 18101670 - 18121660 - 1811

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
1670 - 18981670 - 1897

I.G.I.

  • There are no official I.G.I. entries for All Saints, Gresford.
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Civil Registration

When Civil Registration was introduced (on 1 July 1837), the parish of Gresford was assigned to the No. 1 ("Hope") 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 Gresford 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 & Travel

Gresford - on wikipedia

Gresford  view(painting?)  - on the People's Collection Wales site

You can see pictures of Gresford 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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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

Various maps  -  on the People's Collection Wales site

  • Burton township in the parish of Gresford in the County of Denbigh  
  • Plan of the township of Gresford in the parish of Gresford in the County of Denbigh  
  • A map of the township of Allington in the parish of Gresford in the County of Denbigh
  • Gwersyllt township in the parish of Gresford and County of Denbigh
  • Map of Erddig township in the parish of Gresford in the County of Denbigh
  • The township of Llay in the parish of Gresford in the County of Denbigh
  • Map of Erlas township in the parish of Gresford in the County of Denbigh
  • Map of Borras Riffre township in the parish of Gresford in the County of Denbigh
  • Map of the district called Holt Parks in the township of Allington in the parish of Gresford in the County of Denbigh
  • Map of the lordship of Merford and Hoseley in the parish of Gresford in the County of Flint

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SJ356536 (Lat/Lon: 53.075813, -2.96206), Gresford which are provided by:

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Occupations

The Gresford Disaster - on Clwyd FHS

Gresford Colliery Disaster - on wikipedia and  on the All Saints, Gresford site

Various items  - on the People's Collection Wales site

  • Pithead Baths Check, Gresford Colliery 
  • General view of Gresford Colliery 1975.
  • Memorial "The worst disaster of the North Wales coalfield occurred at Gresford Colliery in 1934. An explosion took place and, with the exception of 1 deputy and 5 men, everyone working in that section was killed .........".
  • Rescue team during the Gresford Colliery disaster 1934.   
  •  
  • Photograph of Samuel Rogers with his children sat in a Ruston Bucyrus underground locomotive at Gresford Colliery
  • Two railway wagon labels for a consignment of coal from Gresford Colliery to Chester Loco Shed (GWR).
  • Indenture of Edward Powell to be apprenticed to a carpenter from Gresford, 11 April 1767
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Population

  • In 1831- the population was 3849.
  • In 1901- the population was 2056.
    [ Royal Commission on the Welsh Church - October 1907]
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Statistics

  • Archdeacon Thomas gives the area of the parish as 5200 acres.
    [ The History of the Diocese of St. Asaph , 1908-1913, Ven. D.R. Thomas]