Flintshire

Parishes

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Saltney / (Lache-cum-Saltney)

Present-day Saltney, as generally perceived, is a suburb of the City of Chester, lying a mile or so to the west of the City centre, and straddling the Flintshire / Cheshire border. This is, however, a relatively recent development, which began in the mid Victorian period.
"Saltney" as a place name is of considerable antiquity, the earliest references dating from the early thirteenth century; in which context it was the name of the broad stretch of marshland, within the parish of Hawarden, which extended some 5 miles from the Wepre Brook (present-day Shotton / Connah's Quay) to the Cheshire border. Following the canalisation of the Dee in 1737, this area was reclaimed, and became fertile farmland.
As a general rule, the many references to "Saltney" in the parish registers of Hawarden, and of its district church, Broughton, apply to the whole of this large area of reclaimed land. The same usage is seen in the Census returns; and, confusingly, it was continued when Civil Parishes were created towards the end of the Nineteenth century.
The area of the present suburb of Saltney, which at first was sparsely populated, was administered for ecclesiastical purposes by the Rector of Hawarden, through the district church of Broughton.
However, in 1855, an accommodation was reached between the parishes of Hawarden and St. Mary on the Hill, Chester; whereby the new parish of Lache-cum-Saltney was created, within the Diocese of Chester.

"Formation of Saltney and Lache into a parish of itself, detached from those of Hawarden and St. Mary, Chester :
At the Court of Balmoral, the 24th day of September, 1835 (sic), the Queen's most excellent Majesty in Council. Her Majesty was pleased, by and with the advice of her Privy Council, to order, and it is hereby ordered, that the consolidated chapelry of Lache-cum-Saltney be formed, and that the rights of presentation and nomination to the said church shall belong to and be exercised by the Bishop of the Diocese of Chester for the time being ....
Accordingly, this district henceforth falls under the charge of its own incumbent, receiving an annual payment out of the tithes from the two rectors; all other parochial relations remaining at present undisturbed by this arrangement."
[From the Chester Chronicle of 27 October 1855]

In 1890, the London and North Western Railway Company opened a large sorting yard at Saltney Ferry, Flintshire (also known as Mold Junction); and a small housing estate was built to accommodate the railway employees and their families. At the time, this area was in the parish of Hawarden; but it was agreed to transfer it to the parish of Lache-cum-Saltney :

"The L. and N.W.R. Co. have now definitely proposed, in reference to their new Colony at Saltney Ferry, that it should be transferred by voluntary agreement between the Rector of Hawarden and the Vicar of Saltney, to the care and supervision of the latter. There is no doubt a great deal to recommend this plan. It has been submitted to the Bishops of St. Asaph and Chester, as well as to the two Incumbents concerned. ..."
[From the Hawarden Parish Magazine of September 1891]

Church History Church Records

Civil Registration

Church History

Holy Epiphany
Ordnance Survey reference SJ 381642.
On 20th June 1853, a plot of land (2,440 square yards) was made available on the Flintshire / Cheshire border for the building of a new church - in what was, at that time, a rural area, some distance from the centre of population. The new church, Holy Epiphany, was consecrated on Tuesday, 9th January 1855, and the first Sabbath services were held on 14th January 1855.
The church was in Cheshire. Had it been built on the other side of the road, it would have been in Flintshire - the parish includes parts of both Flintshire and Cheshire.
The site of the church is now a residential area.

St. Mark
Ordnance Survey reference SJ 389650.
On 22 June 1892, a plot of land (2,071½ square yards) was made available for a replacement church, closer to the centre of population.
Building work began immediately, and the present parish church, dedicated to St. Mark, was consecrated in 1893, replacing the church of Holy Epiphany.
In 1931, a chapel of remembrance was added in memory of those who died in the 1914-1918 War.

St. Matthew
Ordnance Survey reference SJ 369652.
The district church, which was dedicated to St. Matthew, was built in 1911. It was approximately 1 mile to the west of St. Mark's, at Saltney Ferry (sometimes known as Mold Junction), in Flintshire.
St. Matthew's closed on Sunday, 4th June 2000.

Nonconformist Churches

Name of Chapel	Denomination	Number of "adherents"
Not named (66)	Calvinistic Methodist	66
Saltney Ferry (250)	English Presbyterian	250
Sandycroft (150)	English Presbyterian	250
Bretton (65)	Methodist New Connexion	65
Saltney (150)	Primitive Methodist	150
Sandycroft (55)	Primitive Methodist	55
Queensferry (250)	Primitive Methodist	250
Pentre, Queensferry - Welsh (100)	Wesleyan	100
Queensferry - English (200)	Wesleyan	200

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Church Records

Parish Registers

• The following Parish Registers have been deposited in the Cheshire Record Office, Chester:

	Baptisms	Marriages	Burials
Holy Epiphany	1853 - 1893	1857 - 1893	-
St. Mark	1893 - 1984	1893 - 1981	-
St. Matthew	-	1925 - 1955	-

Bishop's Transcripts

• Bishop's Transcripts for the years shown below have been deposited in the Cheshire Record Office, Chester.
  In August 1989, these Bishop's Transcripts were microfilmed by the LDS - under the incorrect name of "Lache-cum-Saltley"; 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
1873 - 1898

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Nonconformist Records

• The following nonconformist registers for the Saltney area are held at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth :

Name of Chapel	Denomination	Type of Record	Years Covered
Not named, Saltney Ferry	English Presbyterian	Baptisms	1895 - 1899

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Civil Registration

On the 1st January 1870, the Great Boughton registration district was re-structured, and re-named as "Chester".

On the 1st August 1871, the Cheshire part of Saltney was transferred to the Chester Castle sub-district - the Flintshire part remained with the Hawarden sub-district.

On 1 January 1903, the sub-district of Hawarden was upgraded to a Registration District in its own right.

In the GRO indexes to civil registration, entries for the Flintshire portion of Saltney are found under:

• Years 1837 - 1851: Gt. Boughton XIX.nnn
• Years 1852 - 1869: Gt. Boughton 8a.nnn
• Years 1870 - 1902: Chester 8a.nnn
• Years 1903 - 1946: Hawarden 11b.nnn

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

The majority of the registers for the Flintshire portion of Saltney, from 1837 onwards, are now held by the Superintendent Registrar of the East Flintshire district at Hawarden; but it is understood that some earlier marriage records have remained with the Superintendent Registrar of the Chester and Ellesmere Port district.

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