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Brynford

During the early Victorian period, it was seen that there was a need to provide a church for the population of the more remote areas of Halkyn mountain. The local landowners undertook to build a church at Pantasaph; but when the building was almost complete, the family converted to Roman Catholicism. Following a period of bitter dispute, and legal action, the Bishop of St. Asaph had to relinquish the claim of the Established Church to the new building.
A fund-raising appeal was launched, and within a very short time the sum of £10,806 (a considerable figure for that time) had been contributed - enough to build two new churches - St. Michael's, Brynford and St. Paul's, Gorsedd.

The new parish of Brynford was created in 1854, from the townships of Brynford (formerly in the parish of Holywell), and parts of Trellan Ucha and Prysau (formerly in the parish of Ysceifiog).

Bibliography

  • Brassil, Kenneth.   Excavations at Naid-y-march, Brynford         Flintshire Historical Society journal, Vol. 33, (1992), p. 203
  • Miller, J.         Fossil hunt, Brynford         Proceedings of the Dyserth and district field club, (1992), p. 55-7. 
  • Tennant, Rowland.     A history of six villages      Holywell : Rowland Tennant, 2003.

Churches

Baptist
Ebenezer Baptist Chapel, Milwr, Dolphin
Methodist
Saron Methodist Chapel, Brynford
Other
Pisgah Independent Chapel, Penpyllau

You can also perform a more selective search for churches in the Brynford area or see them printed on a map.

Church History

See Welsh Chapels and Churches for a photograph of Brynford St Michael's Church

Ordnance Survey reference SJ 178744.
The Bishop of St. Asaph laid the foundation stone of the new church at Brynford on Monday, 6th October 1851. The Church, which was dedicated to St. Michael, was consecrated on 12 July 1853.

"The church is distant from the town about a mile and a half, and is a neat and substantial edifice in the gothic style of architecture, and capable of holding about 300 persons; the Schools and master's residence adjoin, and appear to be fitted up with every regard to the comfort and advancement of the scholars."
[From The Chester Chronicle of 16 August 1853]

The Clwyd FHS website has a photograph of the church.

Nonconformist Churches

"Welsh Church Commission - County of Flint - The Statistics of the Nonconformist Churches for 1905" lists the following nonconformist places of worship in the Civil parish of Brynford:

Name of Chapel Denomination Number of "adherents"
Milwr - Welsh Baptist 21
Saron Calvinistic Methodist 60
Pisgah - Welsh Congregational 98
Calcot - Welsh Wesleyan 88

Church Records

Parish Registers

  • The following Parish Registers have been deposited at Flintshire Record Office, Hawarden. They may be viewed on microfilm at the Flintshire Record Office, the Denbighshire Record Office, and the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth. These microfilms are not available elsewhere.
Baptisms Marriages Burials
- 1855 - 1965 1877 - 1917

Bishop's Transcripts

  • No Bishop's Transcripts have been deposited.

I.G.I.

  • There are no official I.G.I. entries for St. Michael's, Brynford.

Civil Registration

The new parish of Brynford was assigned to the No. 2 ("Holywell") sub-district of the Holywell Registration District, which was co-extensive with the Holywell poor law Union.

In the GRO indexes to civil registration, entries for Brynford are found under:

  • Years 1837 - 1851: Holywell XXVII. nnn
  • Years 1852 - 1946: Holywell 11b. nnn

(GRO index references have no relevance at the local Superintendent Registrar's Office)

Description and Travel

Brynford and Calcoed Village site

Brynford - on wikipedia

You can see pictures of Brynford which are provided by:

Historical Geography

You can see the administrative areas in which Brynford has been placed at times in the past. Select one to see a link to a map of that particular area.

Ask for a calculation of the distance from Brynford to another place.

Maps

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SJ178743 (Lat/Lon: 53.259299, -3.233726), Brynford which are provided by:

Population

  • In 1831- Brynford was not a separate parish.
  • In 1901- the population was 661.
    [ Royal Commission on the Welsh Church - October 1907]

Statistics

Archdeacon Thomas (1911) gives the area of the parish as 1253 acres.