Denbighshire

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Wrexham / Wrecsam

"A market town, a parliamentary borough, the head of a Union, and a parish, chiefly in the hundred of Bromfield, county of Denbigh; 26 miles (SE by E) from Denbigh, 18 (ESE) from Ruthin, and 187½ (NW) from London; ..... and containing 12,921 inhabitants, of whom 5818 are in the townships of Wrexham Abbot and Wrexham Regis, forming the town."
[ A Topographical Dictionary of Wales, 1849, Samuel Lewis]

The ancient parish of Wrexham comprised the townships of Abenbury Fawr, Abenbury Fechan, Acton, Bersham, Bieston, Broughton, Brymbo, Borras Hwfa, Esclusham Above, Esclusham Below, Gourton, Minera, Stansty, Wrexham Abbot and Wrexham Regis.
The townships of Erddig and Erlas, which were surrounded by other Wrexham townships, were in fact detached parts of the parish of Gresford.

On 23 May 1844, by an Order in Council (gazetted on 6 December 1844) the townships of Minera and Esclusham Above went to the new parish of Minera.
On 6 December 1844, by an Order in Council, the township of Brymbo and part of the township of Broughton went to the new parish of Brymbo.
In 1851, the township of Borras Hwfa was transferred to Gresford; and the townships of Erddig and Erlas were transferred from Gresford to Wrexham.
In November 1851, part of the township of Stansty went to the new parish of Gwersyllt.
In 1865, by an Order in Council, that part of the township of Bersham which lay west of Offa's Dyke was added to the parish of Minera.
In 1879, by an Order in Council, the townships of Erddig, Esclusham Below, and a portion of Esclusham Above went to the new parish of Esclusham.
In 1886, by an Order in Council, the townships of Acton, Bieston and Gourton went to the new parish of Rhosddu.
On 15 February 1909, by an Order in Council, part of the township of Broughton went to the new parish of Broughton.
On 7 May 1921, parts of the townships of Bersham and Stansty went to the new parish of Southsea.
In 1934, further parts of the same townships went to the new parish of Bersham.

Archives

Wrexham Archives and Local Studies Service

Bibliography

• Blackwell, Colin.     From Wrexham to Fromelles (a Boy Soldiers short life)     Hel achau, No. 104 (Mawrth / March 2010), p. 54-59.
• Bordessa, D.  Old Wrexham         [S.l.] : Adebo Press, c2008.
• Boyd,  James I. C.         The Wrexham, Mold and Connah's Quay railway    Oxford : Oakwood Press, 1991
• Brooks, Ron.  Rochdale, Wrexham, and the University tutorial class movement in north-west Wales, 1907-14   (NLW's site)   Welsh History Review 20
• Byrne, Kathryn.       St Mary's Cathedral Wrexham          Werxham : Bridge Books, 2007.
• Chaloner, Joan.    Wrexham hospitals       Wrexham : Bridge Books, 2005.  
• Chirk Castle, Wrexham / Ymddiriedolaeth Genedlaethol = The National Trust.         Rev. ed         [Swindon?] : National Trust, 2007 [reprinted 2009]  
• Cliffe, Vic.    Helping the needy in Wrexham      Hel achau, No. 93 (July 2007), p. 14-15
• Crocker's Wrexham directory and postal guide for 1881-82, ...         Shrewsbury : Crocker, [1881]
• Davies,  Gareth M. and Peter Jones.    Wrexham Football Club, 1872-1950      Stroud, Gloucs. : Tempus, 2000.
• Davies, Grahame.     Real Wrexham            Bridgend : Seren, 2007.
• Davies, Jonathan.    John Bury and the emerging middle class of Victorian Wrexham          Trafodion (Denbighshire Historical Society), Vol. 55 (2007), p. 144-164.
• Dodd, A H (ed).   A History of Wrexham, Denbighshire   Wrexham 1990 (& 1957)
• Early Methodism in and around Wrexham c.1750-1805 / by the editor.       Bathafarn, Vol. 18 (1963), p. 22-41
• Fletcher, Allan.   Richard Gwyn - Wrexham's martyr     Clwyd Historian = Hanes Bro Clwyd. No. 49 (Autumn 2002), p. 10-12
• Herbert, Reg.   Wrexham and district        Wrexham : Wrexham Advertising Services, [1996?]
• Hornsey, Brian.   Ninety years of cinema in Wrexham           [Wrexham] : Brian Hornsey, 1990.
• Jones, Beryl M.    The clockmakers and watchmakers of Wrexham 1650-1900         Trafodion (Denbighshire Historical Society), Vol. 56 (2008), p. 101-120
• Jones, Derek M. and Beryl M.         Wrexham breweries and inns             Wrexham : Bridge Books, 2001.
• Jones,  John  Solicitor, Wrexham.      Wrexham and its neighbourhood        2nd ed.         Wrexham : R. Potter, 1868.
• Jones, Peter.     Wrexham     Derby : Breedon, 1992.
• Jones,  Russell H.     Wrexham villages  Volume 1, West.         Wrexham : Bridge Books, 1991.
• Linnard, William.          Richard Joynson and Thomas Hampson of Wrexham, clockmakers         Trafodion (Denbighshire Historical Society), Vol. 57 (2009), p. 56-63.
• Lloyd, H A (ed)   Wrexham and District     Wrexham 1970
• Lloyd, Terry.    Wrexham and district guide         Wrexham : Wrexham Advertising Services, 1989.
• Nineteenth century Wrexham :          Ltd ed: 400 copies.         Wrexham : Wrexham Library & Information Service, 1997.
• Palmer, Alfred N.  A history of the older nonconformity of Wrexham and its neighbourhood    Wrexham 1888 
• Palmer, Alfred Neobard.   History of the town of Wrexham             Wrexham : Bridge Books, 1997.
• Palmer, Alfred Neobard.      History of the thirteen country townships of the old parish of Wrexham, and of the townships of Burras Riffri, Erlas, & Erddig    Wrexham : Printed for the author by Hughes and Son, 1903.
• Pratt, Derrick.   Memories of the Wrexham and Ellesmere Railway, 2, a personal odyssey    Denbighshire Historical Society 48   1999
• Pratt, Derrick.           One small corner of Wrexham      Clwyd Historian = Hanes Bro Clwyd. No. 48 (Spring 2002), p. 1-4
• Pratt, Derrick.      Wrexham area Home Guard, 1940-44. [Part 2], Dad's Army       Clwyd Historian = Hanes Bro Clwyd. No. 37 (Autumn 1996), p. 26-32
• Pratt, Derrick.    Fourteenth-century Wrexham      Trafodion (Denbighshire Historical Society), Vol. 55 (2007), p. 19-65.
• Pratt, Derrick.      Towards mapping the Wrexham coalfield        Clwyd Historian = Hanes Bro Clwyd. No. 61 (Winter 2009/10), p. 14-22
• Pratt, Derrick.     A Wrexham Castle?      Clwyd Historian = Hanes Bro Clwyd. No. 62 (Spring 2010), p. 23-29
• Roberts,  John Howell.       Lost houses in and about Wrexham        Hel achau, No. 104 (Mawrth / March 2010), p. 33-35
• Shone, Arthur N.             Wrexham races             Wrexham : Snowy Publications, 1991.
• Shone, Isaac.     Wrexham: its present sanitary condition      Wrexham : Bayley and Bradley, Printers and Publishers, 1876.
• Smith, Gillian.      Guide to Wrexham Parish Church     Wrexham : St. Giles Parish Church, Wrexham, 1988.
• The late Mr Alfred Neobard Palmer, of Wrexham :         Wrexham : Wrexham Advertiser, 1915.
• The Official Guide to Wrexham     Ed J Burrows & co Ltd    19??
• Wicklen, S I.     History of Wrexham printing     Conwy : Cader Idris Books, [1988]
• Williams, Gwyneth.     Wrexham and district          Loggerheads : S.B. Publications, 1990
• Williams, W. Allister.    Old Wrexham            Wrexham : Bridge Books, 1988;  and several other vols
• Williams, W. Allister.      The encyclopaedia of Wrexham        Wrexham : Bridge Books, 2001.
• Williamson, Val.     Wrexham's railway  ;     illustrations by Norah Sakwa ; photographs by Mandy Bainbridge.    Mold : Clwyd Centre for Educational Technology, c1984.
• Wrexham Directory 1886  Hawarden 1981
• Wrexham illustrated :          Brighton : Robinson, Son and Pike, [1892?]
• Wrexham in the Welsh Marches of Denbighshire     8th ed   Cheltenham 1954

Church History

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 Civiladministrative district of Wrexham Regis :

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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.

• Bishop's Transcripts for 1858 to 1870 have been deposited in the Denbighshire Record Office, Ruthin.

I.G.I.

• There are no official I.G.I. entries for Wrexham.

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Nonconformist Records

• The following nonconformist registers for the Wrexham area are held at the Public Record Office, Kew.
  They may be viewed on microfilm at LDS Family History Centres; and at the Denbighshire Record Office, the Flintshire Record Office and the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth.
  The baptisms have also been incorporated into the I.G.I., as part of an "official extraction" programme :

• The following nonconformist registers for the Wrexham area are held either at the Denbighshire Record Office, Ruthin (DRO) or at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth (NLW).
  The Denbighshire and Flintshire Record Offices have photocopies of those registers which have been deposited in the National Library.
  These registers have not been filmed; and they have not been incorporated into the I.G.I. :

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Civil Registration

In the GRO indexes to civil registration, entries for Wrexham 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

Wrexham County Borough Council

Wrexham - on wikipedia

Welcome to Wrexham

Wrexham.com - "Independent local news, reviews, information and forums"

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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Population

• In 1831- the population was 11,521.
• In 1901- the population was 15,821.
  [ Royal Commission on the Welsh Church - October 1907]

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Last Updated  9 Jan 2013 - Gareth Hicks