Flintshire

Parishes

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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.

Cemeteries Church History Church Records Description and Travel

Civil Registration Population Statistics

Cemeteries

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Church History

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

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

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

• 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
St. Mary's	1612 - 1973	1604 - 1985	1612 - 1988
St. John's	1880 - 1947	1886 - 1946	-

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

Baptisms	Marriages	Burials
1612 - 1812	1604 - 1812	1617 - 1812

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.

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

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.

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

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Nonconformist Records

• The following nonconformist registers for the Mold 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 and the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth.
  They have also been incorporated into the I.G.I., as part of an "official extraction" programme :

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

• The following nonconformist registers for the Mold 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 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

• Note - many of the Methodist chapels were grouped into "Circuits", with one set of registers serving the Circuit.
  It may not always be possible to identify the particular chapel in which the ceremony was performed.

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Description and Travel

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Civil Registration

In the GRO indexes to civil registration, entries for Mold 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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Population

• In 1831- the population was 9385.
• In 1901- the population was 5312.
  [Royal Commission on the Welsh Church - October 1907]

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Statistics

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

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