Flintshire

Parishes

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Rhyl

"This is a resort for sea-bathing, situated at the low sandy termination of the Vale of Clwyd, and near the outlet of the united rivers Clwyd and Elwy. ... It is altogether a modern creation, and still rapidly extending. ... Its recommendations are, easy access, good hotels and lodging-houses, and some agreeable objects within moderate drives."
[From Blacks Picturesque Guide to North Wales ; 1879]

Cemeteries Church History Church Records Civil Registration

(Monumental Inscriptions - see Cemeteries ) (Parish Registers - see Church Records) (Vital Records - see Civil Registration)

Cemeteries

Cemetery History

• When Holy Trinity church was built in 1835, no provision was made for burials on the site - many burials continued to take place at Rhuddlan. With the rapid expansion of the town, demand grew for a local burial ground - preferably a municipal (non-denominational) cemetery, in accordance with the wishes of the (majority) nonconformist population. However, their wishes were not met; and at 3.00 p.m. on Wednesday, 15 June 1859, a small plot of land in Morley Road (O.S. map reference SJ 012814) was consecrated by the Bishop of St. Asaph, to be the Church cemetery for Rhyl. The first burial, that of a young child, took place later the same afternoon.

  By the late 1880's, all available plots in the Morley Road cemetery had been taken - contemporary newspapers refer to overcrowding, with undignified scenes during funerals. The Rhyl Improvement Commissioners began negotiations to purchase 7½ acres of land in Dyserth Road (O.S. map reference SJ 025811), with the intention that the land should become a municipal cemetery, funded by the ratepayers. This provoked another dispute between "Church and Chapel", similar to that of thirty years earlier, but much more fiercely contested. It proved impossible to reach a satisfactory compromise, and eventually the Church authorities decided to buy a plot of land in Dyserth Road, directly opposite the intended site of the municipal cemetery (but smaller), to be used as a Church cemetery. The Bishop of St. Asaph consecrated this new Church cemetery on Monday, 1 June 1891.

  No new graves were opened at Morley Road after this date, but some burials continued in existing graves until the 1930's. The gravestones at Morley Road were removed in the late 1960's, and the area was landscaped to form a small park.

  After the opening of the Church cemetery in Dyserth Road, work on the municipal cemetery proceeded very slowly - it was another 18 months before it was ready for use. The opening ceremony took place on Monday, 28 November 1892 (by which time there had already been three burials!)

  The large "municipal" cemetery in Dyserth Road is now administered by Denbighshire County Council - Rhyl moved to Denbighshire in 1996 !
  The records date from the opening of the cemetery in 1892.
  The address to contact is :

  Sylvia Jones,
  Technical Services,
  Caledfryn (Council Offices),
  Smithfield Road,
  Denbigh.
  LL16 3RJ

  email : sylviakjones@denbighshire.gov.uk

Monumental Inscriptions

• When Morley Road cemetery was landscaped in 1967, the Monumental Inscriptions were recorded and indexed, and a plan was made. A Book of Remembrance was subsequently compiled from these records. The original survey and the Book of Remembrance are held in the Library and Arts Centre, Church Street, Rhyl.
  Mr Derek Bartley, of Clwyd FHS, has transcribed and indexed the Book of Remembrance, and copies are available for sale from Clwyd Family History Society.

• The Dyserth Road Church cemetery (directly opposite the much larger municipal cemetery) has 1532 burial plots, with well over 2200 burials.
  Mr Bartley has recorded and indexed the Monumental Inscriptions of the Church cemetery, and copies are available for sale from Clwyd Family History Society.

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Church History

Nonconformist Churches

Name of Chapel	Denomination	Number of "adherents"
Not named - English (85)	Baptist	85
Tabernacle - Welsh (185)	Baptist	185
Bethel, Vale Road (160)	Calvinistic Methodist	160
Clwyd Street (740)	Calvinistic Methodist	740
Mill Bank (80)	Calvinistic Methodist	80
Morfa Bach (80)	Calvinistic Methodist	80
Salem, Warren Road (234)	Calvinistic Methodist	234
Boy's Brigade Hall (200)	Congregational	200
Carmel - Welsh (226)	Congregational	226
Christchurch - English (500)	Congregational	500
Princes Street (250)	English Presbyterian	250
Brunswick - Welsh (390)	Wesleyan	390
Not named - English (470)	Wesleyan	470
Soar - Welsh (143)	Wesleyan	143

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Church Records

• Parish Registers

  Details of the Registers are given under the entries for the individual Churches (see Church History).
  However, Baptisms in all four of the Churches appear to have been entered in the Baptism Register for Holy Trinity.

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Nonconformist Records

• The following nonconformist registers for the Rhyl area are held at the Flintshire Record Office, Hawarden (FRO), at the Denbighshire Record Office, Ruthin (DRO), 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
Clwyd Street (not named)	Calvinistic Methodist	Baptisms	1855 - 1937	NLW
Clwyd Street (not named)	Calvinistic Methodist	Births, Baptisms, Marriages, Deaths and Burials	1938 - 1987	FRO
Salem, Warren Road	Calvinistic Methodist	Baptisms and Burials	1913 - 1921	DRO
Christchurch	Congregational	Baptisms and Marriages	1883 - 1888	FRO
Brunswick, Brighton Road	Wesleyan	Baptisms	1859 - 1978	FRO
Brunswick, Brighton Road	Wesleyan	Marriages	1971 - 1986	FRO

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Civil Registration

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

• Years 1837 - 1851: St. Asaph XXVII.nnn
• Years 1852 - 1946: St. Asaph 11b.nnn

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

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