Flintshire

Parishes

Contents

Caerwys

"Caerwys, a small market town containing, according to the returns made to Parliament, 162 houses, and 773 inhabitants. ... It having been a Roman station, and afterwards a seat of judicature: the assize, or great sessions for the county of Flint being held for several centuries at this place."
[From North Wales ; Rev. J. Evans, 1812]

Caerwys is one of the "ancient parishes" of Flintshire. It comprises the townships of Tref Edwyn, Tre-dre, Bryngwyn Ucha and Bryngwyn Isa. The town of Caerwys was at one time a place of considerable importance.

Bibliography

• Caerwys chronicle / Caerwys Civic Society.         Caerwys : Caerwys Civic Society, 1987-
• Caerwys :         London: Ace Books Limited, [1979?].
• Davies, Ellis Canon         Caerwys Church              Flintshire Historical Society journal, Vol. 18 1960   Welsh Journals Online
• Eisteddfodau Caerwys.         Caerdydd : Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru, 1968.
• Evans, R. Paul.      Reverend John Lloyd of Caerwys (1733-93)     Flintshire Historical Society journal, Vol. 31  1983/4     Welsh Journals Online  
• Evidence of Mr. Henry Taylor ... given before the Municipal Corporation Commissioners, on the unreformed Flintshire corporations of Caergwrle, Caerwys, Overton, & Rhuddlan, etc.         Flint : Thos. Jones, [1877.]
• Hughes, Owen (ed).    Caerwys Royal Charter celebrations      Caerwys : Caerwys Royal Charter Committee, 1990
• Jones, Kitty Idwal.        Cerddi Caerwys 1968 / cyhoeddwyd ar ran Pwyllgor Gwyl Dathlu Eisteddfod Caerwys           Mold : K.I. Jones, [1969]
• Lloyd, George    A pre-reformation lych gate at Caerwys        Flintshire Historical Society journal, Vol. 18 1960   Welsh Journals Online
• Lloyd-Roberts, Tom.    Caerwys to Pompeii      Country Quest 32/1 (1991), p. 8-9
• Lloyd-Roberts, Tom.       Church of fighting dragons [at Caerwys] .       Country Quest 33/3 (1992), p. 6-7
• Lloyd-Roberts, Tom.     The great battle of Caerwys camp       Country Quest. 35 (July 1994), p. 25-27
• Roberts, Mary.         Y Fonesig Ruth Lewis, Plas Penucha, Caerwys         Llafar Gwlad 33 (1991), p. 20-1
• Scarll, Peter  and Joe Phillips.         Circular walk Caerwys area       Proceedings of the Dyserth and district field club, (2001), p. 21-22   and (2001), p. 56-59
• Smith, Janet.        Hên Caerwys      Proceedings of the Dyserth and district field club, 2009, p. 34-39
• The roll of the Caerwys Eisteddfod of 1523 / introduction by J.H. Davies.         [Liverpool : Hugh Evans + Sons, 1910.]
• Trefnlen cyfarfodydd Eisteddfod Freiniol Gymreig Cymru, yr hon a gynhelir Awst 31ain, a Medi 1af a'r 2il, 1886, yn Nghaerwys, Swydd Gallestr    Denbigh : T. Gee and Son, [1886?]

Church History

See Welsh Chapels and Churches for a photograph of Caerwys, St Michael

"The church, dedicated to St. Michael, is a neat edifice, with a square embattled tower, consisting of a nave and north aisle, and appropriately accommodated to the use of the parishioners."
[From Handbook for the Vale of Clwyd , William Davis, 1856]

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 Civilparish of Caerwys:

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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, Ruthin, and 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 Flintshire and Denbighshire 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 St. Michael's Church, Caerwys.

Nonconformist Records

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

• The following nonconformist registers for the Caerwys area are held at the Denbighshire Record Office, Ruthin.
  They 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 Caerwys 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)

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Description and Travel

Caerwys Town Council

Caerwys - on wikipedia

Caerwys 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

Population

• In 1831- the population was 985.
• In 1901- the population was 739.
  [ Royal Commission on the Welsh Church - October 1907]

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Statistics

Archdeacon Thomas (1911) gives the area of the parish as 2603 acres.

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Last Updated   8 Jan 2013 - Gareth Hicks