Flintshire

Parishes

Contents

Ysceifiog

"This parish, which is situated on the roads from Denbigh to Mold and Holywell, comprises a very considerable tract of good arable and pasture land, which is enclosed and cultivated; and a portion of hilly ground, which is too elevated for culture. .... The village, which is small, is seated on an eminence, commanding some finely varied and extensive prospects; and the surrounding scenery presents many interesting features.
Lead abounds in the parish, and several mines, which had been worked for many years with great advantage, have been recently discontinued, in consequence of the present low price of the metal. ....
On the high ground in this parish are the remains of a Roman encampment; and at Bryn Sion was found, in the year 1816, a very beautiful torque of pure gold, measuring fifty-two inches in length, and weighing twenty-four ounces; which was purchased by the Marquis of Westminster for three hundred guineas."
[ A Topographical Dictionary of Wales, S. Lewis, 1834]

Ysceifiog is one of the "ancient parishes" of Flintshire. It originally comprised the eight townships of Batingen, Garneddwen, Gellilyfdy, Pen Ucha'r Plwy, Prys (or Prysau), Trefraith, Tre'r Llan Isaf and Tre'r Llan Uchaf.
On 27 June 1848, parts of the townships of Garneddwen, Tre'r Llan Uchaf and Pen Ucha'r Plwy went to the new parish of Rhesycae.
On 19 August 1853, part of the township of Gellilyfdy went to the new parish of Gorsedd.
In 1854, parts of the townships of Pen Ucha'r Plwy and Prys went to the new parish of Brynford.

Bibliography

• Death of the Reverend Canon Williams M.A., Rector of Ysceifiog and Rural Dean of Holywell.          Holywell : W. Morris, pr., 1854.
• Emery, Gordon.        Ysceifiog   ; with additional illustrations by David Bell.   Rev. ed.         Chester : Gordon Emery, 1999.
• Lloyd, Nesta       John Jones, Gellilyfdy            Flintshire Historical Society journal, Vol. 24 1969/70      Welsh Journals Online
• Roberts, Enid Pierce             Llys Coedymynydd; the activities of younger sons and minor gentry           Flintshire Historical Society journal, Vol. 36    2003   Welsh Journals Online  
• Roberts, Raymond.          The Ysceifiog six            Connah's Quay : Clwydian Walks, c1996.
• Smith, P & M Bevan-Evans          A few reflections on Gellilyfdy and the renaissance in north-east Wales     Flintshire Historical Society journal, Vol. 24 1969/70      Welsh Journals Online
• Walls, L J & M Bevan-Evans            Pentre, Lixwm - a Jacobethan hall house            Flintshire Historical Society journal, Vol. 25 1971/72     Welsh Journals Online

Church History

The Clwyd FHS website has a photograph of the church.

St Mary's - on CPAT

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 Ysceifiog :

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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.
  In general, the Bishop's Transcripts are less complete than the parish registers.

I.G.I.

• There are no official I.G.I. entries for St. Mary's, Ysceifiog.

Nonconformist Records

• The following nonconformist registers for the Ysceifiog 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 Ysceifiog area are held at the Flintshire Record Office, Hawarden :

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Civil Registration

In the GRO indexes to civil registration, entries for Ysceifiog 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

Ysceifiog - on wikipedia

Ysceifiog photographs - on geograph.org.uk

Maps

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 1860.
• In 1901- the population was 935.
  [ Royal Commission on the Welsh Church - October 1907]

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Statistics

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Last Updated   8 Jan 2013 - Gareth Hicks