Holt
"A parish in the Union of Wrexham, hundred of Bromfield, county of Denbigh, comprising the borough of Holt, and the parochial chapelry of Isycoed, in which latter are the townships of Cacca Dutton, Dutton y Brân, Dutton Difieth, Ridley, and Sutton. ..... The borough of Holt is 29 miles (ESE) from Denbigh, 21 miles (E by S) from Ruthin, and 191 miles (NW) from London. This parish ..... is supposed to have contained, under the Roman dominion in Britain, an outpost to the station Deva (Chester); and the fortress erected here, according to some antiquaries, was called from that circumstance, Castra Legionis, or "the castle of the legion", preserved in its synonymous Welsh name of Castell Lleon, which was probably, by mistaking Lleon for the plural of Llew, changed into "the castle of Lions", or "Lyons", which it continued to bear for ages. ..... Though anciently a place of some note, the borough at present constitutes only an inconsiderable village, situated on the road from Wrexham to Nantwich, on an eminence rising gently from a spacious vale, and on the western bank of the Dee, in the navigable part of its course, and immediately above the point where this river is joined from the west by the powerful stream of the Alyn [A Topographical Dictionary of Wales, 1833 & 1849, Samuel Lewis]
Although it was a technically a chapelry of the parish of Gresford, which was (and still is) in the diocese of St. Asaph, Holt was in the diocese of Chester until 1849, when it was transferred to St. Asaph.
It formerly contained the townships of Caca Dutton, Dutton Diffaeth, Dutton y Brain, Hewlington, Holt, Ridley and Sutton; but in 1829, Caca Dutton, Dutton Diffaeth, Dutton y Brain, Ridley and Sutton went to the new parish of Isycoed.
Bibliography
- Bellis, Edwin. How a Holt business grew [these notes have been dictated by Edwin Bellis]. Holt : [Edwin Bellis], 1929.
- Booth, P.H.W. The corporation of Holt, the Manor of Farndon, and the bridge over the Dee, Denbighshire Archaeologia Cambrensis, Vol. 146 (1997), p. 109-116
- Holt Wrexham : Holt Local History Society, 1999.
- Holt then and now Holt : Holt Women's Institute, 1988.
- Jones, Michael K. Sir William Stanley of Holt Welsh history review, Vol. 14, no. 1 (June 1988), p. 1-22
- Palmer, Alfred Neobard. The Town of Holt, in County Denbigh London : Printed at the Bedford Press, 1910.
- Powell, John. Holt and its records through the centuries Holt : [J. Powell], c1982.
- Powell, John. A short history of Holt [Wrexham : The author], between 1976 and 1978?]
- Roberts, Raymond. The Holt and Farndon six Connah's Quay : Clwydian Walks, 1996.
- Shelbourne, Eirwen. A fine historic place to Holt a while Country Quest, July 2007, p. 16-17
- Stephens, C R. The tile graffito from Holt Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies, Vol. 36 (1989), p. 224-226
- Ward, Margaret. Some finds from the Roman works-depot at Holt Studia Celtica, Vol. 32, (1998), p. 43-84
Churches
| St Chad, Holt |
| Holt English Baptist Chapel, Holt |
| Independent Meeting, Holt |
| Quakers' Yard, Church Street, Holt |
You can also perform a more selective search for churches in the Holt area or see them printed on a map.
Church History
Ordnance Survey reference SJ 412541.
There is evidence that the church, which is dedicated to St. Chad, has been on its present site from 1395; and that it was originally a chapelry of Gresford, dedicated to St. Leonard.
"The restoration of the church (1871 - 1873) involved a great deal of change, and cost about £4000. As in most cases of this kind, it is difficult, after so long an interval, to learn the details of what was then done. But cart-loads of dead bodies were taken out of the church, and re-interred, the floor levelled, and the chancel re-arranged. Many of the memorial slabs also disappeared."
[ The Town of Holt in County Denbigh, 1910, Alfred Neobard Palmer]
The Clwyd FHS website has a photograph of the church.
Holt - St Chad's Church (Internal/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 Holt :
| Name of Chapel | Denomination | Number of "adherents" |
|---|---|---|
| Not named | Baptists (English language) | 60 |
| Not named | Calvinistic Methodists (English language) | 350 |
| Glanypwll | Calvinistic Methodists (English language) | 105 |
| Bethesda | Methodist New Connexion (English language) | 30 |
| Commonwood (Iron Chapel) | Primitive Methodists (English language) | 50 |
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.
| Baptisms | Marriages | Burials |
|---|---|---|
| 1661 - 1966 | 1661 - 1971 | 1662 - 1924 |
- Clwyd FHS has published full transcriptions of the registers (complete with indexes) for the following years :
| Baptisms | Marriages | Burials |
|---|---|---|
| 1661 - 1812 | 1661 - 1837 | 1661 - 1812 |
Bishop's Transcripts
- Bishop's Transcripts for the years shown below have been deposited in the Cheshire Record Office, Chester.
On 21 February 1990, these Bishop's Transcripts 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 Flintshire and Cheshire Record Offices.
| Microfilmed copies of BT's |
|---|
| 1600 - 1849 |
- 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.
| Deposited at the National Library of Wales | Microfilmed copies |
|---|---|
| 1850 - 1869 | 1850 - 1869 |
I.G.I.
- The following have been incorporated into the I.G.I., as part of an "official extraction" programme.
They were extracted from the Bishop's Transcripts, not from the Parish Registers.
| Baptisms | Marriages |
|---|---|
| 1850 - 1869 (89% extraction) | None |
Civil Registration
When Civil Registration was introduced (on 1 July 1837), the parish of Holt was assigned to the No. 2 ("Malpas") 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 Holt 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)
Description and Travel
Holt - on wikipedia
Holt Castle - on Castle Wales and on the People's Collection Wales site
Various landscapes - on the People's Collection Wales site
You can see pictures of Holt which are provided by:
Gazetteers
Ask for a calculation of the distance from Holt to another place.
Click here for a list of nearby places.
Historical Geography
You can see the administrative areas in which Holt has been placed at times in the past. Select one to see a link to a map of that particular area.
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.
Map of the township and Borough of Holt in the County of Denbigh - on the People's Collection Wales site
You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SJ413541 (Lat/Lon: 53.080881, -2.877753), Holt which are provided by:
- This place shown on an OpenStreetMap map.
- Google Streetview
- StreetMap (Current Ordnance Survey maps)
- OpenStreetMap
- OpenStreetMap Cymru (Welsh counties only)
- Bing (was Multimap)
- OldMaps (Old Ordnance Survey maps.)
- Old Maps Online (Other old maps.)
- National Library of Scotland (Best site for old maps)
- Vision of Britain (Click "Historical units & statistics" for administrative areas.)
- English Jurisdictions in 1851 (Unfortunately the LDS have removed the facility to enable us to specify a starting location, you will need to search yourself on their map.)
- Magic (Geographic information) (Click + on map if it doesn't show)
- Elgin Road Works
- GeoHack (Links to on-line maps and location specific services.)
- All places within the same township/parish shown on an Openstreetmap map.
- Nearby townships/parishes shown on an Openstreetmap map.
- Nearby places shown on an Openstreetmap map.
Occupations
Various items - on the People's Collection Wales site
- Bellis Brothers Ltd. strawberry farm, Holt, 4 July 1953
- Fruit pickers at Bellis Brothers Ltd. strawberry farm, Holt, 4 July 1953
- Pattern book of William Jones, weaver from Holt, 1775-82
Population
- In 1831- the population was 1609.
- In 1901- the population was 1059.
[ Royal Commission on the Welsh Church - October 1907]