GENUKI : Southsea, All Saints

Southsea

" At Glan yr Afon, the boundaries of the townships of Bersham, Brymbo and Broughton meet. .....
Glan yr Afon was also sometimes called Southsea. It is first so named in the rate books of 1786, deriving its name from the Southsea Inn in Broughton. ..... Here the wages of the miners and colliers at most of the works in the neighbourhood were paid once a fortnight. The hamlet which gradually grew up here was also known as Southsea - an absurd name which should never have been adopted, especially as there was an appropriate name ready to hand in "Glan yr Afon". .....
Glan yr Afon, or Southsea, is now the name of a populous village, also called "Plas Power" from its proximity to the Plas Power colliery, although quite remote from Plas Power itself."
[ History of the Thirteen Country Townships of Wrexham, 1903, Alfred Neobard Palmer]

Southsea became a separate ecclesiastical parish on 7 May 1921, being formed from part of the ancient parish of Wrexham, and parts of the parishes of Broughton and Brymbo.

For a map link to Southsea village - see Maps under Wrexham

Church History
Church Records

Civil Registration

Church History

Ordnance Survey reference SJ 302518.

"Built as a chapel of ease to serve the needs of the growing population of this mining district; a conventional district has been assigned to it under the charge of the chaplain of Berse. The Church has not been consecrated, but it was licensed and opened for divine service on St. Andrew's Day, 1884. The churchyard was consecrated as a non-parochial burial ground on 2 September 1907."
[ The History of the Diocese of St. Asaph , 1908-1913, Ven. D.R. Thomas]

In 1926, it was decided to demolish the original building, and replace it with a larger building on the same site.
It is said that this was done by building the new church around the old one - which was then demolished!
Less than sixty years later, this second church had become unsafe because of land subsidence. The church hall, a short distance away, was therefore converted for use as a church, some of the windows and fittings from the second church being incorporated into the conversion.
On 15 April 1984, the Bishop of St. Asaph deconsecrated the second church, and consecrated the converted church hall; continuing with the dedication to All Saints.
The second church was demolished soon afterwards.

The Clwyd FHS website has a photograph of the modern church.

A district church (or chapel of ease) to Southsea was opened at Tanyfron in 1897.

Nonconformist Churches Nonconformist places of worship for Southsea were included in the "Welsh Church Commission - County of Denbigh - The Statistics of the Nonconformist Churches for 1905"under the Civilparish of Bersham. Details will be found on the parish page for Bersham.

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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.

Baptisms	Marriages	Burials
1914 - 1961	1922 - 1983	1947 - 1973

Bishop's Transcripts

There are no Bishop's Transcripts for All Saints, Southsea.

I.G.I.

There are no official I.G.I. entries for All Saints, Southsea.

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Civil Registration

Having been formed from townships of the ancient parish of Wrexham, the parish of Southsea was assigned to the Wrexham Registration District.

In the GRO indexes to civil registration, entries for Southsea 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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Last Updated 13 Jan 2011 - Gareth Hicks