Flintshire

Parishes

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Dyserth

Dyserth is one of the ancient parishes of Flintshire, comprising the townships of Dyserth, Llewerllyd, Rhyd and Trecastell.
The name Dyserth is believed by some scholars to indicate one of the early methods of Christian evangelisation - by hermits; it occurs in several parishes in Wales, and in many parishes in Ireland, as Dysart.
The site of Dyserth Castle stands high on the rocky hill which dominates the village. Now almost nothing remains other than banks and ditch defences of the outer ward. Other evidence survived until the early part of this century, but has since been destroyed by the very extensive quarrying that has taken place in the area.
The Castle was constructed by Henry III following his defeat of Dafydd ap Llywelyn in 1241, and was completed by 1250. It had a very short history, as it was destroyed in 1262 after a siege of some six weeks, by the Welsh, under the leadership of Llywelyn the last.

Bibliography

• Davies. A.R. and L.M.           Dyserth        L.M. Davies, 1999.
• Davies, Lucy M.          Dyserth long ago        Rhyl : L.M. Davies, 1993.
• Davies, Lucy.          Picture of old Dyserth        Country Quest 26/4 (1985), p. 15
• Edwards, Thos.       Historical guide to Prestatyn, Dyserth, Meliden, Newmarket, Gwaenysgor, Llanasa, Talacre, etc         Prestatyn : John T. Burrows, [1905]  
• Ellis, Bryn.         Dyserth 'Crown' quarries       Proceedings of the Dyserth and district field club, (2000), p. 84-89.
• Emery, Gordon.            Dyserth - Cwm & Marian Mills        [additional illustrations by David Bell].         Chester : Gordon Emery, 1989.
• Emery, Gordon.            Dyserth -Graig Fawr & Bryniau         Chester : Gordon Emery, 1989.
• Glenn, Thomas Allen.       Prehistoric and historic remains at Dyserth Castle         1915 
• Glenn, Thomas Allen, Colonel          Dyserth freeholders 1291/2-1570 and other notes          Flintshire Historical Society journal, Vol.11  1925    Welsh Journals Online
• Goodall, Stephen P.        The Prestatyn and Dyserth branch line          Oxford : Oakwood Press, 1986.
• Phillips,  J.             A field of vision: 1911-1991 [history of the Dyserth and district field club]      Proceedings of the Dyserth and district field club, (1990), p. 78-81
• Phillips,  J.         Post Christmas walk in and around Dyserth       Proceedings of the Dyserth and district field club, (2008), p. 117-118
• Phillips,  J.  and J. Hughes.      The 'Barbara Allen' nature walk at the NWWT Dyserth Grassland Nature Reserve       Proceedings of the Dyserth and district field club, (1997), p. 35-38 
• Roberts, Dewi.       A history of witchcraft at Dyserth       Country Quest. (December 2004), p. 49
• St. Asaph, Rhuddlan, Dyserth and surrounding districts      5th ed.         Cheltenham : Burrow, 1954.
• Thompson, Trefor.     The Prestatyn and Dyserth Railway        [Rhuddlan] : North Clwyd Railway Association, 1978. (& 1985)

Church History

The Clwyd FHS website has a photograph of the church.

The Parish of St Bridget and St Cwyfan

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 Dyserth :

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Church Records

"Here somme indiscrete personne, finding the church coffer oppen, did with a knife cutt out all that was written from Anno Dom. 1625 untill Ann. 1635, all which wanteth in this book"
[Written in one of the Parish Registers]

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.

• The following have been incorporated into the I.G.I., as part of an "official extraction" programme.
  They were extracted from the Bishop's Transcripts, not from the Parish Registers.

Nonconformist Records

• The following nonconformist registers for the Dyserth 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 Dyserth 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. :

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Civil Registration

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

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

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

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Description and Travel

Dyserth - on wikipedia

Dyserth - community site

Dyserth photographs - on geograph.org.uk

Dyserth Castle - on castle wales

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 714.
• In 1901- the population was 745.
  [ Royal Commission on the Welsh Church - October 1907]

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Statistics

Archdeacon Thomas (1911) gives the area of the parish as 1884 acres.

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Last Updated  19 March 2012- Gareth Hicks