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Cilcain

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"Cilcain is a very ancient village, lying beneth Moel Fammau, the highest of the Clwydian Hills. ... This village lies in the midst, and commands an extensive range, of most beautiful scenery. The cottages and farmhouses are nearly all whitewashed or coloured, and look exceedingly picturesque." [From Handy Guide to Mold and the Neighbourhood , Tweddel, 1890]

Cilcain is one of the "ancient parishes" of Flintshire. It originally comprised the seven townships of Cefn, Llan (or Tre'r Llan), Llystynhunydd (or Glust), Llys y Coed, Maes y Groes, Mechlas (or Dolfechlas), and Trellyniau.
On 27 June 1848, the township of Trellyniau and part of the township of Llystynhunydd went to the new parish of Rhesycae.
On 31 March 1865, the remainder of Llystynhunydd, and parts of the townships of Cefn and Mechlas went to the new parish of Rhydymwyn.

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Bibliography

  • Bevan-Evans, M et al The excavation of a cairn on Cefn-Goleu near Moel Fammau Flintshire Historical Society journal, Vol.13 1952/3 Welsh Journals Online and Second Report Flintshire Historical Society journal, Vol.15 1954/5 Welsh Journals Online
  • Cilcain. [Ruthin] : Clwyd Voluntary Services Council, [1985]
  • Cilcain and its parish church. Chester [Eng., Printed and pub. for the Architectural, Archaeological, and Historic Society for the County and City of Chester, and North Wales] by G. R. Griffith, 1912.
  • Edwards, Gwyneth. Crefftwyr Cilcain Llafar Gwlad 33 (1991), p. 11-14
  • Gruffydd, Eirlys. Capel Gad, Cilcain Cilcain : swyddogion ac aelodau Capel Gad, 2006.
  • 'Llythyr desgrifiadol Cilcain a'r amgylchoedd' ; gan R. Thos. Williams : am ba rai y derbyniodd yr awdwr y prif wobrau a gynygiesid gan bwyllgorau eisteddfod y lleoedd uchod, Llungwyn 1888 a Nadolig 1890; hefyd, y chwe' phenill buddugol i'r 'Foel Famau' o eiddo'r eisteddfod gyntaf. Pwllheli : Argraphwyd dros yr awdwr gan Richd. Jones, 1896.
  • Roberts, Dewi. A Cilcain Christmas Country Quest. December 2006, p. 24
  • Simpson, Frank Cilcain and its parish church: being an address to the Society given in the Town Hall, Mold, May 2nd 1912 Flintshire Historical Society journal, Vol.2 1912 Welsh Journals Online
  • Smith, P and P Hayes Brithdir Mawr, Cilcain: a hall house of 1589 Flintshire Historical Society journal, Vol. 21 1964 Welsh Journals Online
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Cemeteries

In addition to the churchyard of St. Mary's parish church, there is a public cemetery, administered by the local authority. The records are understood to cover the years 1896 to date, but they are not available for public inspection.

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Church History

Ordnance Survey reference SJ 177652

The first recorded mention of the church at Cilcain dates from 1291.

The Clwyd FHS website has a photograph of the church.

'Cilcain Church' by Moses Griffith, 1799 (watercolour) on the People's Collection Wales site

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 Cilcain:

Name of ChapelDenominationNumber of "adherents"
Not namedCalvinistic Methodist179
SardisCalvinistic Methodist158
Salem, RhydymwynCongregational90
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Church Records

  • The following nonconformist registers for the Cilcain 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.
    Pentre, but not Salem, has been incorporated into the I.G.I., as part of an "official extraction" programme :
Name of ChapelDenominationType of RecordYears CoveredI.G.I. Batch Number
Pentre, Maes y GroesCalvinistic MethodistBirths and Baptisms1812 - 1836C098391
SalemIndependentBirths and Baptisms1818-1837-
  • The following nonconformist registers for the Cilcain area are held at the Flintshire Record Office, Hawarden.
    They have not been filmed; and they have not been incorporated into the I.G.I. :
Name of ChapelDenominationType of RecordYears Covered
Garregboeth (later Sardis)Calvinistic MethodistBirths and Baptisms1840 - 1944
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Civil Registration

When Civil Registration was introduced (on 1 July 1837), the parish of Cilcain was assigned to the No. 4 ("Mold") 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 Cilcain 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 & Travel

You can see pictures of Cilcain which are provided by:

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Gazetteers

The transcription of the section for this place from the National Gazetteer (1868), provided by Colin Hinson.

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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

The parish of Cilcen in the County of Flint on the People's Collection Wales site

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SJ177667 (Lat/Lon: 53.190745, -3.233199), Cilcain which are provided by:

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Population

  • In 1831- the population was 1189.
  • In 1901- the population was 362.
    [ Royal Commission on the Welsh Church - October 1907]
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Statistics

Archdeacon Thomas (1911) gives the area of the parish as 5500 acres.