Flintshire

Parishes

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Northop / Llaneurgain

"This place, which has obtained its present appellation in contradistinction to East, or Queen's Hope, was by the Welsh called "Llan-Eurgain," from the dedication of its first church to St. Eurgain, niece of St. Asaph, the second bishop of the see which from him derived its name. The parish, which is of very considerable extent, is situated on the estuary of the Dee, by which it is bounded on the north-east, and is traversed by the roads from Chester to Holyhead, and from Mold to Holywell, which cross each other near the church. .... The village, which is large, is pleasantly situated in a fertile and beautiful tract of country, abounding with finely varied and highly picturesque scenery, and is surrounded on all sides by elegant villas and handsome seats, inhabited by opulent families. .... The parish is rich in mineral treasure: coal and lead-ore have been worked here for several centuries; an extensive colliery is still carried on in the hamlet of Soughton, and several shafts are now being sunk on the Northop Hall estate, in the hamlets of Northop and Kelsterton."
[ A Topographical Dictionary of Wales, S. Lewis, 1834]

Northop is one of the ancient parishes of Flintshire, and originally consisted of the eight townships of Caerfallwch, Golftyn, Kelsterton, Leadbrook Major, Leadbrook Minor, Northop, Soughton (or Sychtyn) and Wepre.
In 1844, the townships of Leadbrook, Kelsterton, Golftyn and Wepre went to the newly created parish of Connah's Quay.
(In 1872, the two townships of Leadbrook were transferred from Connah's Quay to Flint.)
In 1865, part of the township of Caerfallwch went to the newly created parish of Rhydymwyn.
In 1876, the remainder of the township of Caerfallwch went to the newly created parish of Caerfallwch.

Bibliography

• Bartlett, J.  and K. M. Ellis.       Remembering the dead in Northop:        Journal of Contemporary History, 34 (April 1999)
• Devlin, Mike.          Tranquillity and infamy in Northop         Country Quest. (September 2005), p. 14-15
• Evans, David Sir           Price Davies, Rector of Blisland Parish: Two letters, 1763, 1765         Flintshire Historical Society journal, Vol. 24 1969/70      Welsh Journals Online 
• Hawkes, G I.   The Astbury family of Hawarden parish and of Galchog Hall, Northop        Buckley: the magazine of the Buckley Society. No. 18 (Spring 1994), p. 16-31
• Jennings, J M     Further notes on the Reverend Price Davies              Flintshire Historical Society journal, Vol. 24 1969/70      Welsh Journals Online
• Jones, P. Bryan.            Life in Starkey Lane, Northop and Flint Mountain 1914-1936 (with special reference to the Carter family) from the diaries of the Revd. J.A.M. Sheal      Hel achau, No. 98 (September 2008), p. 17-18
• Lloyd, George      Owen Jones of Northop              Flintshire Historical Society journal, Vol. 21 1964     Welsh Journals Online
• Phillips, J.         A circular walk from Northop including part of Wat's Dyke         Proceedings of the Dyserth and district field club, 2009, p. 92-94
• Pritchard, T W            Northup Grammar school         Flintshire Historical Society journal, Vol. 29  1979/80    Welsh Journals Online  
• Rawsthorne, Lawrence.        The library of the Bankes family of Soughton Hall and Mynachlog, in Northop, Clwyd :        Mold : Clwyd County Council Library and Information Service, c1994
• Sheal,  John Allen.   The Rev John Allen Sheal's diaries       Hel achau, No. 98 (September 2008), p. 18-26
• Sheal,  John Allen.      The Rev. John Allon [sic. Allen] Sheal's diaries, 1911-1937 at Ty Gwyn, Starkey Lane, Northop, Flintshire      Clwyd Historian = Hanes Bro Clwyd. No. 55 (Autumn 2006), p. 24-28
• Smith, P and P Hayes            Llyseurgain and the tower          Flintshire Historical Society journal, Vol. 22 1965/6     Welsh Journals Online    

Church History

See Welsh Chapels and Churches for a photograph of Northrop Hall, English Presbyterian Chapel

Ordnance Survey reference SJ 246685.
There is evidence of a church at Northop as early as the 6th century. The present building was extensively re-built in 1840, and underwent further alterations in 1877.
The church is dedicated to Saints Peter and Eurgain.

The Clwyd FHS website has a photograph of the church.

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 Northop :

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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.

• 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 Northop 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 Northop 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. :

• Note - This Wesleyan Methodist chapel was grouped into a "Circuit", 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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Civil Registration

In the GRO indexes to civil registration, entries for Northop 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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Description and Travel

Northop Village site

Northop - on wikipedia

Maps

Population

• In 1831- the population was 3026.
• In 1901- the population was 1550.
  [ Royal Commission on the Welsh Church - October 1907]

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Statistics

Archdeacon Thomas (1911) gives the area of the parish as 3260 acres.

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Last Updated 9 April 2012 - Gareth Hicks