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Flint / Y Fflint

"Flint, the nominal county town of the Shire of that name .... is beautifully situated on the estuary of the Dee, about 5 miles E.S.E. of Holywell (opposite Parkgate) and is 203 miles distant from London. It was formerly a place of considerable importance, on account of its maritime situation and its extensive fortress."
[From Gleanings of the histories of Holywell, Flint, St. Asaph and Rhuddlan, J. Poole, 1831.]

There is reason to believe that at one time Flint was a chapelry within the parish of Northop, but it has functioned as a separate parish for at least 400 years.

The townships of Leadbrook Major and Leadbrook Minor were added to the parish of Flint (from the parish of Connah's Quay) in 1872.

 

Bibliography

Cemeteries

St. Mary's churchyard was closed in 1856, by an Order in Council, and a cemetery, complete with chapel, was opened off Northop Road, a short distance to the south-west (OS ref. SJ 242728). The first burial in the cemetery was on 18 November 1856.
Until 1900, this cemetery was to all intents and purposes the "remote" churchyard of St. Mary's parish church, all burials being recorded in St. Mary's burial register.
The cemetery was extended by two acres on Friday, 13th September 1889. The Bishop of St. Asaph officiated at the consecration service, which was conducted with considerable pomp and ceremony.
At the turn of the century, maintenance of the cemetery was handed over to the local authority.
In 1941, the local authority opened a second cemetery, in London Road (OS ref. SJ 233731). Both cemeteries are still in use, and are now administered by Flintshire County Council. The opening time for each cemetery is 8.00 a.m. until sunset.
The cemetery records, from 1890 to date (Northop Road), and 1941 to date (London Road), are held at the Flintshire County offices in Flint.
Researchers who wish to see the cemetery records mustmake a prior appointment, by contacting :
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Church History

Ordnance Survey reference SJ 243730.
The earliest recorded reference to St. Mary's Church dates from the thirteenth century. The original church was on the plan of a parallelogram. It had a north aisle, a porch, and a small wooden steeple at its west end. By 1846, the condition of the church had deteriorated so badly that it was considered to be unsafe. Permission was granted to worship in the Town Hall. The church was completely demolished and a new building, designed by the architect Ambrose Poynter, was erected on the same site. At the time, a number of old coffin lids and inscribed slabs were discovered in the foundations. The new church was consecrated on 5th December 1848. It consists of a nave, with north and south aisles, a short chancel, and a north-west clock tower with an octagonal spire.
In 1992, the local authority initiated a programme of pedestrianisation in the area around the church. During this work, some 60 memorials, mainly of the flat slab type, were discovered, many with most interesting inscriptions.

The Clwyd FHS website has a photograph of the church.

There are also two district churches - St. David, Oakenholt, which was opened in 1872; and St. Thomas, Flint Mountain, which was opened in 1875.

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 Flint :

Name of Chapel Denomination Number of "adherents"
Tabernacle Baptist 60
Sion - Welsh Congregational 100
Not named - English Congregational 70
Caersalem Calvinistic Methodist 200
Bethania, Pentre Calvinistic Methodist 140
Cae Coch, Pentre Calvinistic Methodist Not stated
Bryn Calvinistic Methodist Not stated
Not named English Presbyterian 260
Not named English Wesleyan 110
Peniel, Flint Wesleyan 250
Bethel, Flint Mountain Wesleyan 150
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Church Records

Parish Registers

Baptisms Marriages Burials
1598 - 1929 1598 - 1955 1598 - 1900
Baptisms Marriages Burials
1598 - 1812 1598 - 1837 1598 - 1812

Bishop's Transcripts

Deposited at the National Library of Wales Microfilmed copies
1662 - 1837 1663 - 1837

I.G.I.

Type of Record Years Covered I.G.I. Batch Number
Baptisms 1820 - 1837 C056581
Marriages None -

Nonconformist Records

Name of Chapel Denomination Type of Record Years Covered I.G.I. Batch Number
Bethesda (Flint Mountain) Calvinistic Methodist Births and Baptisms 1833 - 1836 C098331
Caersalem Calvinistic Methodist Births and Baptisms 1826 - 1837 C098321
Name of Chapel Denomination Type of Record Years Covered
St. John's Congregational Baptisms, Marriages and Burials 1929 - 1975 (photocopies)
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Civil Registration

When Civil Registration was introduced (on 1 July 1837), the parish of Flint was assigned to the No. 3 ("Flint") sub-district of the Holywell Registration District, which was co-extensive with the Holywell poor law Union.

In the GRO indexes, entries for Flint are found under:

(GRO index references have no relevance in local register offices)

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Description and Travel

Flint Castle - on castle wales

History

Flint through the Ages

Maps

View maps covering the area of this parish and places within its boundaries

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

Merchant Marine

Flint Lifeboat Station

Population

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