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Mold / Yr Wyddgrug

"Mold is a market town situated in a small but fertile plain, surrounded by rugged hills, richly productive of mineral treasure. It consists principally of one long and spacious street, comprising 682 houses, and has a population amounting to 4235. On the north side is a mount, partly natural, and partly artificial, from where is a fine view of of the circumjacent country, with Moel-y-famma (sic) rising proudly pre-eminent among the Clwydian hills".
[From North Wales, Rev. J. Evans, 1812]

Mold is one of the "ancient parishes" of Flintshire, and originally comprised the twenty-five townships of Arddunwent, Argoed, Birchenald, Bistre, Broncoed, Cilrhedynnen, Groesonnen, Gwernaffield, Gwernymynydd, Gwysanau, Hartsheath, Hendebifa, Leeswood, Llai, Llong, Llwynegrin, Nercwys, Pantymwyn, Pontbleiddyn, Pentre, Rhual, Rhydgoli, Tre'r Beirdd, Treuddyn and Waunyrwyddfid.
Both Nercwys and Treuddyn became chapelries at an early date, and by the nineteenth century they were effectively separate parishes, although until 1832 they were administered jointly.
On 23 May 1844, the new parish of Bistre was created, from the township of Bistre and part of the township of Argoed.
On the same date, the new parish of Gwernaffield was created from the townships of Gwernaffield and Hendrebifa; and the new parish of Pontbleiddyn was created from the township of Hartsheath and part of the township of Leeswood.
On 27 May 1844, Nercwys was officially recognised as a separate parish, comprising the townships of Nercwys and Arddunwent.
In 1865, part of the township of Gwysanau was lost to the new parish of Rhydymwyn.

Bibliography

Cemeteries

The churchyard of the parish church, St.Mary's, is now closed to further burials. There is a large public cemetery in Gas Lane, opened about 1877 and still in use. Copies of the burial registers, from 1877, have been deposited in Flintshire Record Office.
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Church History

See Welsh Chapels and Churches for a photograph of ;

Ordnance Survey reference SJ 236642.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, has a history of at least 700 years - the list of known Clergy dates back to 1253. The building has been extensively repaired and restored, especially in 1773 and 1857.

The Clwyd FHS website has a photograph of the church.

The daughter church of St. John, a short distance from the parish church, was consecrated on 27 April 1878, specifically to serve the Welsh-speaking population. The building now functions as St. Mary's church hall.

The daughter church of St. James, in the village of New Brighton to the north of Mold, was opened in 1893, and is still in use.

Nonconformist Churches - Mold Urban District

"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 "Mold Urban District" :
Name of Chapel Denomination Number of "adherents"
Ebenezer - Welsh Baptist 210
Maesydre - English Baptist 50
Bethesda, New Street Calvinistic Methodist 600
Pentre Calvinistic Methodist Not stated
Sion, Maesydre Calvinistic Methodist 140
Bethel - Welsh Congregational 350
Westminster Road - English Congregational 130
Not named English Presbyterian 275
Not named Primitive Methodist 130
English Wesleyan Wesleyan 90
Pendref - Welsh Wesleyan 315
Tabernacle, Broncoed - Welsh Wesleyan 34

Nonconformist Churches - Mold Rural District

"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 "Mold Rural District":
Name of Chapel Denomination Number of "adherents"
Bethania, Leeswood - Welsh Baptist 68
Penyfron - Welsh Baptist 40
Bethel, Leeswood Calvinistic Methodist 300
Bethesda, Gwernaffield Calvinistic Methodist 80
Ebenezer, Mynydd Isa Calvinistic Methodist 140
Not named, Gwernymynydd Calvinistic Methodist 79
Llyn y pandy Calvinistic Methodist 73
Llong - Welsh Congregational 60
Soar, Pantybuarth - Welsh Congregational 106
Not named, Gwernymynydd - Welsh Wesleyan 150
Horeb, Leeswood - Welsh Wesleyan 308
Not named, Leeswood - English Wesleyan 60
Not named, Pantymwyn - Welsh Wesleyan 51
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Church Records

"The Registers date from 1611, and are complete throughout the Commonwealth, having been kept by the curate, Mr Ellis, whilst the Rector was obliged to absent himself, as he tells us, in regard of the violence used in those parts then."
[From The History of the Diocese of St. Asaph , Ven. D.R. Thomas, 1908-1913]

Parish Registers

  Baptisms Marriages Burials
St. Mary's 1612 - 1973 1604 - 1985 1612 - 1988
St. John's 1880 - 1947 1886 - 1946 -
Baptisms Marriages Burials
1612 - 1812 1604 - 1812 1617 - 1812

Bishop's Transcripts

Deposited at the National Library of Wales Microfilmed copies
1664 - 1856 1678 - 1856

I.G.I.

Type of Record Years Covered I.G.I. Batch Number
Baptisms 1817 - 1834 C056651
Marriages None -

Nonconformist Records

Name of Chapel Denomination Type of Record Years Covered I.G.I. Batch Number
Bethesda Calvinistic Methodist Births and Baptisms 1807 - 1837 C098441
Llynypandy Calvinistic Methodist Births and Baptisms 1827 - 1837 C098421
Bethel Congregational / Independent Baptisms 1813 - 1837 C098451
Name of Chapel Denomination Type of Record Years Covered
Bethel, Leeswood / Coed Llai Calvinistic Methodist Baptisms and Marriages 1866 - 1985
Ebeneser, Mynydd Isa Calvinistic Methodist Baptisms 1869 - 1886
1902 - 1909
"Circuit" Wesleyan Methodist Baptisms 1840 - 1971
Pendref Wesleyan Methodist Marriages 1899 - 1982
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Description and Travel

Mold - on wikipedia

Visit Mold

Mold Town Council

Mold Community site

Mold photographs - on geograph.org.uk

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Civil Registration

When Civil Registration was introduced (on 1 July 1837), the parish of Mold 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 Mold are found under:

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

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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

Population

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Statistics

Archdeacon Thomas (1911) gives the area of the parish of Mold as 5312 acres.
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