Flintshire

Parishes

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Hawarden / Penarlâg

"Hawarden (pronounced Harden), a small town, consisting of little more than one street, half-a-mile in length, pleasantly situated on an eminence. It is of great antiquity, and the remains of fortified posts around it serve to remind that it has been the scene of conflict, and bravely defended against hostile attack. Its early British name was "Pen-y-Llwch" .... i.e. the head of the swamp or lake; which accords with the tradition that the adjacent low land was formerly under water. In the record of the Norman survey, the name is written "Haordin"."
[From Black's Picturesque Guide to North Wales ,1879]

Hawarden is one of the "ancient parishes" of Flintshire. It originally comprised the sixteen townships of Aston, Bannel, Bretton, Broughton, Ewloe Town, Ewloe Wood, Hawarden, Mancot, Manor, Moor, Pentrobin, Rake, Saltney, Sealand and Shotton.
On 12 December 1874, the new parish of Buckley was created, from the township of Ewloe Wood and parts of the townships of Ewloe Town and Pentrobin.
On 30 May 1921, the new parish of Shotton was created, from parts of the townships of Shotton, Aston, Sealand and Saltney.

The parish of Hawarden was traditionally a "peculiar" i.e. the rector was exempt from the jurisdiction of any bishop - he held his own ecclesiastical courts, proved wills, and granted marriage licences. Confirmations were performed by invited bishops. Peculiars were abolished in 1849, and on the 30th of July 1849 the peculiar of Hawarden was attached to the diocese of St. Asaph. However, the Rector of Hawarden continued to prove wills until 1858, and he is still permitted to grant marriage licences to this day.

Cemeteries Church History Church Records

Civil Registration Population Statistics

Cemeteries

• Flintshire County Council,
  Housing and Community Services,
  Cemeteries Section,
  County Offices,
  Flint,
  Flintshire.
  CH6 5BD.

  Tel: 01352 703360
  Fax: 01352 703373

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Church History

"The Church Registers which were in a safe under the gallery when the fire took place were rescued by a young parishioner named Richard Hammond, who entered the burning building by breaking through a window."
[From "The Parish of Hawarden", W. Bell Jones, 1945 (unpublished)]

The Clwyd FHS website has a photograph of the church.

The modern parish of Hawarden is administered as a "Rectorial Benefice", consisting of the parish church of Hawarden and the five district churches :

• Broughton (opened 1824)
• Ewloe (opened 1938)
• Pentrobin (opened 1843)
• Sandycroft (opened 1912)
• Sealand (opened 1867)

Because of increasing industrialisation, and the consequent rise in population, two former districts of Hawarden parish (Buckley and Shotton) eventually became parishes in their own right.

Researchers should note that parishioners have always had the option to be baptised, married or buried in any church of the parish of Hawarden, subject to the consent of the incumbent.
A thorough search of all the registers is therefore advisable!

Nonconformist Churches

Name of Chapel	Denomination	Number of "adherents"
Ewloe Green	English Presbyterian	200
Mancott	English Presbyterian	100
Hawarden	Methodist New Connexion	230
Penymynydd	Methodist New Connexion	275
Broughton	Primitive Methodist	60
Ewloe	Primitive Methodist	220

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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.

Baptisms	Marriages	Burials
1586 - 1960	1586 - 1994	1586 - 1969

• Registers of baptisms, 1960 - 1993, at the nearby Mission Church, Mancot (now closed) have been deposited in the Flintshire Record Office. They may be viewed on microfilm.

• Clwyd FHS has published full transcriptions of the registers (complete with indexes) for the following years :

Baptisms	Marriages	Burials
1586 - 1840	1586 - 1830	1586 - 1830

Bishop's Transcripts

• Bishop's Transcripts for the years shown below have been deposited in the Flintshire Record Office, Hawarden.
  In general, the Bishop's Transcripts are less complete than the parish registers.

Deposited in the Flintshire Record Office, Hawarden	Microfilmed copies
1755 - 1872	None

I.G.I.

• The following have been incorporated into the I.G.I., as part of an "official extraction" programme.

Type of Record	Years Covered	I.G.I. Batch Number
Baptisms	1771 - 187?	C098661
Marriages	None	-

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Nonconformist Records

• The following nonconformist registers for the Hawarden area are held either at the Flintshire Record Office, Hawarden (FRO) or at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth (NLW).
  They have not been filmed; and they have not been incorporated into the I.G.I. :

Name of Chapel	Denomination	Type of Record	Years Covered	Held at
Not named, Ewloe Green	Calvinistic Methodist	Marriages	1960 - 1991	NLW
"Circuit"	Methodist	Baptisms	1902 - 1989	FRO
Not named, Broughton	Primitive Methodist / Methodist	Baptisms	1902 - 1989	FRO
Not named, Ewloe	Primitive Methodist / Methodist	Baptisms	1902 - 1989	FRO
Not named, Hawarden	Methodist New Connexion / Methodist	Marriages	1927 - 1986	FRO
Zion, Queensferry	Methodist	Baptisms	1949 - 1984	FRO
Queensferry ("Circuit")	Methodist	Baptisms	1911 - 1960	FRO
Not named, Sandycroft	English Presbyterian	Marriages	1965 - 1969 1971 - 1983	NLW

• Note - many of the Methodist chapels were grouped into "Circuits", with one set of registers serving the Circuit; and it may not always be possible to identify the particular chapel in which the ceremony was performed.
  Over the years, there have been several re-organisations of these Circuits in the eastern part of Flintshire. It is therefore advisable to also search the Methodist registers for the Buckley and Connah's Quay areas.

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Civil Registration

In 1853, the poor law Union of Hawarden was created, and the parish of Hawarden became part of that Union - but for purposes of civil registration, it remained in the Hawarden sub-district of Great Boughton registration district.

On the 1st January 1870, the Great Boughton registration district was re-structured, and re-named as "Chester".

On 1 January 1903, the sub-district of Hawarden was upgraded to a Registration District in its own right.

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

• Years 1837 - 1851: Gt. Boughton XIX.nnn
• Years 1852 - 1869: Gt. Boughton 8a.nnn
• Years 1870 - 1902: Chester 8a.nnn
• Years 1903 - 1946: Hawarden 11b.nnn

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

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Population

• In 1831- the population was 5414.
• In 1901- the population was 7949.
  [Royal Commission on the Welsh Church - October 1907]

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Statistics

The "ancient" parish of Hawarden was approximately 17,300 acres in extent.

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