Denbighshire

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Gresford

"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.

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.

Church History

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

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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 Gresford :

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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.

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

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 All Saints, Gresford.

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Civil Registration

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 and Travel

Gresford - on wikipedia

Gresford photographs - on geograph.org.uk

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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Occupations

The Gresford Disaster - on Clwyd FHS

Gresford Colliery Disaster - on Wrexham.gov.uk

The Gresford Disaster - on All Saints, Gresford site

Gresford Disaster - on wikipedia

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]

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Last Updated  9 Jan 2013 - Gareth Hicks