Denbighshire

Contents

Parishes

Wrexham / Wrecsam

"A market town, a parliamentary borough, the head of a Union, and a parish, chiefly in the hundred of Bromfield, county of Denbigh; 26 miles (SE by E) from Denbigh, 18 (ESE) from Ruthin, and 187½ (NW) from London; ..... and containing 12,921 inhabitants, of whom 5818 are in the townships of Wrexham Abbot and Wrexham Regis, forming the town."
[A Topographical Dictionary of Wales, 1849, Samuel Lewis]

The ancient parish of Wrexham comprised the townships of Abenbury Fawr, Abenbury Fechan, Acton, Bersham, Bieston, Broughton, Brymbo, Borras Hwfa, Esclusham Above, Esclusham Below, Gourton, Minera, Stansty, Wrexham Abbot and Wrexham Regis.
The townships of Erddig and Erlas, which were surrounded by other Wrexham townships, were in fact detached parts of the parish of Gresford.

On 23 May 1844, by an Order in Council (gazetted on 6 December 1844) the townships of Minera and Esclusham Above went to the new parish of Minera.
On 6 December 1844, by an Order in Council, the township of Brymbo and part of the township of Broughton went to the new parish of Brymbo.
In 1851, the township of Borras Hwfa was transferred to Gresford; and the townships of Erddig and Erlas were transferred from Gresford to Wrexham.
In November 1851, part of the township of Stansty went to the new parish of Gwersyllt.
In 1865, by an Order in Council, that part of the township of Bersham which lay west of Offa's Dyke was added to the parish of Minera.
In 1879, by an Order in Council, the townships of Erddig, Esclusham Below, and a portion of Esclusham Above went to the new parish of Esclusham.
In 1886, by an Order in Council, the townships of Acton, Bieston and Gourton went to the new parish of Rhosddu.
On 15 February 1909, by an Order in Council, part of the township of Broughton went to the new parish of Broughton.
On 7 May 1921, parts of the townships of Bersham and Stansty went to the new parish of Southsea.
In 1934, further parts of the same townships went to the new parish of Bersham.

Archives Church History Church Records

Civil Registration Population

Archives

The Local Studies Library is at the Library and Arts Centre, on Rhosddu Road.

Church History

Nonconformist Churches

Name of Chapel	Denomination	Number of "adherents"
Bradley Road	Baptists (English language)	100
Chester Street	Baptists (English language)	180
Penybryn	Baptists	200
Rhosddu	Baptists	58
Bersham Road	Calvinistic Methodists (English language)	320
Hill Street	Calvinistic Methodists (English language)	300
Smithfield Road	Calvinistic Methodists (English language)	150
Victoria Hall	Calvinistic Methodists (English language)	420 (plus 68 at Pentrefelin)
Zion	Calvinistic Methodists	500
Chester Street	Congregationalists (English language)	235
Pen y Bryn, Salusbury Park	Congregationalists (English language)	400
Queen Street	Congregationalists	350
Lord Street	FC (sic) (English language)	100
Brynyffynnon	Wesleyans (English language)	375
Hampden Road	Wesleyans	95
Hightown Mission	Wesleyans (English language)	221
Jerusalem, Egerton Street	Wesleyans	258
Talbot Road	Primitive Methodists (English language)	130
King Street Mission House	Christians (English)	70

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Church Records

Parish Registers

• The following Parish Registers have been deposited at the Denbighshire Record Office, Ruthin.
  They may be viewed on microfilm at the Denbighshire and Flintshire Record Offices, at the A.N. Palmer Library, Wrexham, and at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth.
  These microfilms are not available elsewhere.

	Baptisms	Marriages	Burials
All Churches	1618 - 1988	1632 - 1989	1620 - 1977
St. John's	1977 - 1985	1975 - 1985
St. Mark's	1870 - 1930
St. Michael's (Renamed as All Saints in 1986)		1979 - 1986 1986 - 1992
St. Peter's	1973 - 1985	1979 only

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

Baptisms	Marriages	Burials
1618 - 1812	1632 - 1813	1620 - 1812

Bishop's Transcripts

• Bishop's Transcripts for the years shown below have been deposited in the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth.
  Around the year 1951, most of the Bishop's Transcripts which had been deposited at that time 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 Denbighshire and Flintshire Record Offices, and at the National Library of Wales.
  In general, the Bishop's Transcripts are less complete than the parish registers.

Deposited at the National Library of Wales	Microfilmed copies
1662 - 1858	1711 - 1823

• Bishop's Transcripts for 1858 to 1870 have been deposited in the Denbighshire Record Office, Ruthin.

I.G.I.

• There are no official I.G.I. entries for Wrexham.

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Nonconformist Records

• The following nonconformist registers for the Wrexham area are held at the Public Record Office, Kew.
  They may be viewed on microfilm at LDS Family History Centres; and at the Denbighshire Record Office, the Flintshire Record Office and the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth.
  The baptisms have also been incorporated into the I.G.I., as part of an "official extraction" programme :

Name of Chapel	Denomination	Type of Record	Years Covered
Abbot Street	Calvinistic Methodist	Births and Baptisms	1811 - 1837
Old Meeting House, Chester Street	Independent / Baptist	Births and Baptisms	1779 - 1837
Pentrefelin	Independent	Births and Baptisms	1832 - 1837
Pen y Bryn	Independent	Baptisms	1784 - 1837
Wern	Independent	Births and Baptisms	1808 - 1837
Brynffynnon	Wesleyan	Births and Baptisms	1818 - 1837
Salop Road	Wesleyan	Baptisms	1813 - 1837

• The following nonconformist registers for the Wrexham area are held either at the Denbighshire Record Office, Ruthin (DRO) or at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth (NLW).
  The Denbighshire and Flintshire Record Offices have photocopies of those registers which have been deposited in the National Library.
  These registers 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
Rhosddu Cemetery, Chester Street	Baptist	Burials	1864 - 1904	DRO
Abbot Street	Calvinistic Methodist	Baptisms	1811 - 1888
Seion, Regent Street	Calvinistic Methodist	Baptisms	1707 - 1718	NLW
Seion, Regent Street	Calvinistic Methodist	Baptisms	1811 - 1960
Seion, Regent Street	Calvinistic Methodist	Burials	1715 - 1718	NLW
Victoria Hall	Calvinistic Methodist	Births and Baptisms	1958 - 1981
Ebeneser, Queen Street	Congregational	Marriages	1982 - 1984	DRO
Poyser Street	Methodist	Baptisms	1965 - 1966	DRO
Poyser Street	Methodist	Marriages	1912 - 1972	DRO
"Circuit"	Primitive Methodist	Baptisms	1843 - 1884	DRO
"Circuit"	Wesleyan	Baptisms	1855 - 1896	DRO
Brynffynnon	Wesleyan	Marriages	1863 - 1889 1899 - 1970	DRO

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Civil Registration

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

• Years 1837 - 1851: Wrexham XXVII.nnn
• Years 1851 - 1930: Wrexham 11b.nnn

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

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Population

• In 1831- the population was 11,521.
• In 1901- the population was 15,821.
  [Royal Commission on the Welsh Church - October 1907]

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