BANGOR-IS-Y-COED

"BANGOR-IS-Y-COED, (or Bangor-iscoed), a parish partly in the hundred of Bromfield, in the county of Flint, partly in the hundred of Maylor, in the county of Denbigh, North Wales, 5 miles to the S.E. of Wrexham, its post town. This place is sometimes called Bangor-Monachaorwm, or "Bangor of the monks." Its usual name signifies "Bangor below the wood." It is situated on the border of Cheshire, in a rich and beautiful country on the river Dee. It is a place of considerable antiquity, and was, at a very early period, the seat of a large and important monastery. Two thousand one hundred monks are said to have been settled here, who divided their time between work and worship. On the occasion of .the mission of St. Augustine they made a daring stand against the claims of the Romish Church. The saint threatened them with some terrible manifestation of God's wrath if they remained obdurate, and within a few years the Northumbrian king, Ethelfrith, having won a victory over the British, committed a great slaughter of the monks of Bangor. The number massacred is stated by Bede to be 1,200, but in the Saxon Chronicle it is given as 200. The death of Augustine is said to have taken place previously. The fact of the massacre appears to be beyond doubt, and the monastery never recovered from the fearful blow. No traces of the buildings are now to be found. Pelagius was one of the numerous learned and pious teachers who were sent out from this monastery. The living is a rest.* in the diocese of St. Asaph, of the value with the curacy of Overton, of £1,200, in the gift of the Marquis of Westminster. The church is dedicated to St. Dinoth. It contains an ancient font, octagonal in form, and adorned with much curious and interesting sculpture. There is a free school for boys, endowed in 1728 by Lady Jeffreys, widow of Judge Jeffreys, with a revenue of £39, and some other charities.

[Transcribed from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland 1868]
by Colin Hinson ©2018