GENUKI : Flintshire, Overton, St. Mary the Virgin

Overton

"Overton, a small village about a mile beyond the bridge, situated on a lofty ridge, is remarkable for the commanding and almost unparalleled prospect, from a bank in the vicinity. On one side an extensive flat, consisting of rich meadows, varied, enlivened by the windings of the Dee; and bounded in front with fertile well-wooded slopes; while the naked, rusty-coloured mountains soar above in the distance; and close the diversified scene. On the other, a grand contrast is presented to the eye, by the two fertile expanses, the vale royal of Cheshire, and the plain of Salop."
[From The Beauties of England and Wales, Rev. J. Evans, 1812]

The parish of Overton lies in Maelor Saesneg, which is the detached part of Flintshire. It consists of the townships of Overton Villa, Overton Foreign and Knolton.
Overton was granted Borough status by Edward I on 20th July 1292. In July 1992, Her Majesty the Queen planted a young yew tree in the churchyard, to commemorate her visit to Overton as part of the 700th anniversary celebrations.
The earliest ecclesiastical reference is believed to be a note in the Public Records of 1402, in which Overton was declared to be a Chapelry of the parish of Bangor-on-Dee. It was in the diocese of Lichfield until 1541, when it was transferred to the newly created diocese of Chester. In 1849, it was transferred to the diocese of St. Asaph, where it remains.
On 20th December 1867, Overton was constituted as a separate parish, and endowed with its own tithes, under the patronage of the Duke of Westminister. The new parish consisted of the townships of Knolton, Maesgwaelod, Maeslewis, Overton Foreign and Overton Villa.

Bibliography
Church History
Church Records
Civil Registration

Description and Travel
Maps
Population
Statistics

Bibliography

Done, Brian and Betty Williams. Overton in times past : edited by Jean Balderson, Martin Barnfather. [Overton] : [Overton on Dee 700th Royal Charter Celebrations Committee], 1992.
Book of reference to the plan of the Parish of Overton, Hundred of Maylor, det. no. 5, in the county of Flint (det. no. 7) : Major-General Sir Henry James, Director-General of the Ordnance Survey. London : Eyre & Spottiswoode for H.M.S.O., 1874.
Evidence of Mr. Henry Taylor ... given before the Municipal Corporation Commissioners, on the unreformed Flintshire corporations of Caergwrle, Caerwys, Overton, & Rhuddlan, etc. Flint : Thos. Jones, [1877.]
Jones, Kath. The eternal yew trees of Overton Country Quest, November 207, p. 16-17
Martin, Douglas. A visit to Overton, a village in Flintshire, Wales Hel achau, No. 64 (May 2000), p. 33-35.
Pike, L Elgar. The official guide to Overton Rural District, Flintshire Croydon : Home Publishing Co., [n.d.]
Roberts, Raymond. The Overton six [Connah's Quay] : [Raymond Roberts], 1992.

Church History

Ordnance Survey reference SJ 373418.
The Church, which is dedicated to Saint Mary the Virgin, may well be on the site of a wattle and daub structure dating back as far as the seventh century. The first stone church, of which no trace now remains, was probably built in the late twelfth century. In the late fourteenth century a church was built on the present site, consisting of a tower and nave. In the late fifteenth century the nave was demolished and a larger one was built. The Hanoverian chancel was added in 1710. In 1819 the north aisle was widened, and a vestry was built on the south side of the tower. The south aisle was added in 1855. The church was extensively restored in 1868/1869, and was re-opened on 9 August 1870.

The Clwyd FHS website has a photograph of the church.

St Mary the Virgin

A new cemetery and "mortuary chapel" were consecrated on the 17th June 1872, a short distance along the road to Wrexham.

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 Overton :

Name of Chapel	Denomination	Number of "adherents"
Not named	Methodist Free Church	60
Cloy	Primitive Methodist	69
Not named	Primitive Methodist	59

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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
1602 - 1859	1602 - 1934	1602 - 1957

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

Baptisms	Marriages	Burials
1602 - 1812	1602 - 1837	1602 - 1812

Bishop's Transcripts

Bishop's Transcripts for the years shown below have been deposited in the Cheshire Record Office, Chester.
In 1990, these Bishop's Transcripts 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 Cheshire Record Offices.

Microfilmed copies of BT's
1604 - 1838

Nonconformist Records

The following nonconformist registers for the Overton area are held at the Shropshire Record Office, Shrewsbury.
They have not been incorporated into the I.G.I. :

Name of Chapel	Denomination	Type of Record	Years Covered
Knolton	Primitive Methodist	Baptisms	1867 - 1973

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Civil Registration

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

In the GRO indexes to civil registration, entries for Overton are in the format :

Years 1837 - 1851: Ellesmere XVIII. nnn
Years 1851 - 1930: Ellesmere 6a. nnn

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

Description and Travel

Overton-on-Dee - on wikipedia

Overton - on geograph.org.uk

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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

In 1831- the population was 1746.
In 1901- the population was 1111.
[ Royal Commission on the Welsh Church - October 1907]

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Statistics

Archdeacon Thomas (1911) gives the area of the parish of Overton as 4398 acres.

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Last Updated 8 Jan 2013 - Gareth Hicks