Flintshire

Parishes

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Threapwood

"An extra-parochial district, said to be partly included in the hundred of Broxton, county of Chester, but chiefly in that of Maelor, county of Flint, 3 miles WSW from Malpas, containing 477 inhabitants. It is surrounded by the parishes of Malpas, Hanmer and Worthenbury, and, until of late years, formed a tract of waste common, which, on account of its extra-parochial exemption from all local jurisdiction, was long the resort of abandoned characters of every description, and especially of women of loose or blemished morals, who made a transient abode here, to be freed clandestinely from the consequences of illicit amours. ..... The inhabitants, considering themselves beyond the reach of all legal authority, opposed, even with force, the execution of the assize and other laws within their precinct. Some years ago, however, a chapel was erected here ....."
[A Topographical Dictionary of Wales, S. Lewis, 1834]

Full details of the village and parish are to be found on the GENUKI Cheshire pages.

Late Victorian maps show the village of Threapwood as being partly in Flintshire (on the northern border of Maelor Saesneg), and partly in Cheshire. In 1896, under the "County of Chester (Threapwood) Order", the county boundary, which passes through the village, was adjusted slightly in favour of Cheshire.

The ecclesiastical parish of Threapwood was formed in 1817, from parts of the parishes of Worthenbury, in Flintshire, and Malpas, in Cheshire.
It was initially in the diocese of Chester, but was transferred to the diocese of St. Asaph, by an Order in Council, on 30 July 1849.
By order of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, it was transferred back to the diocese of Chester on 22 April 1920, shortly after the disestablishment of the Church in Wales.

An Order in Council, dated 26 August 1968, states :

"The area comprising the extra-parochial place of Threapwood shall become and be a separate and distinct parish for ecclesiastical purposes"

Church History Church Records Civil Registration

Population Statistics

Church History

The Clwyd FHS website has a photograph of the church.

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Church Records

Parish Registers

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

Baptisms	Marriages	Burials
1817 - 1944	1837 - 1966	1829 - 1989

• The registers of baptisms for the nearby parish of Worthenbury appear to support the scurrilous allegations quoted in the above introduction. For a period of about 100 years, from 1720 to 1820, a significant proportion of Threapwood children are described as "base" - the name of the father is rarely given, and often even the name of the mother is missing.
  The frequent mention of a small number of places of residence - for example, "Welsh Ned's" - may be of relevance.
  The registers of burials at Worthenbury show that a disproportionate number of these children died in infancy.
  The Threapwood baptism register, for a number of years from 1817 onwards, also indicates an unusually high illegitimacy figure. In many cases, although the "abode" of the mother is given as Threapwood, her "quality, trade or profession" is given as "stranger".

Bishop's Transcripts

• Bishop's Transcripts for the years shown below have been deposited in the Cheshire Record Office, Chester.
  In September 1989, 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
1817 - 1840

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Civil Registration

In 1896, the parish of Threapwood was transferred to Chester Registration District.

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

• Years 1837 - 1851: Wrexham XXVII.nnn
• Years 1851 - 1896: Wrexham 11b.nnn
• Years 1896 - 1937: Chester 8a.nnn

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

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Population

• In 1831- the population was 477.
• In 1901- the population was 305.
  [Royal Commission on the Welsh Church - October 1907]

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Statistics

Archdeacon Thomas (1908-1913) gives the area of the parish as 240 acres.

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