Hide

Meliden (Allt Melyd)

hide
Hide

"Meliden comprises an extensive tract of rich arable and pasture land, which is in a high state of cultivation: the surface is in general flat, and the whole district, extending to Rhuddlan, is remarkably fertile" [A Topographical Dictionary of Wales, S. Lewis, 1834]

Meliden is one of the ancient parishes of Flintshire. An early recorded reference is in the "Lincoln Taxation" of 1291, but it was also recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. The parish originally comprised the townships of Meliden, Prestatyn and Nant; but Prestatyn and Nant were lost to the new parish of Prestatyn in 1860.

Hide
topup

Bibliography

  • Book of reference to the plan of the Parish of Meliden (Hundred of Prestatyn) in the county of Flint : Major-General Sir Henry James, Superintendent of the Survey London : Eyre & Spottiswoode for H.M.S.O., 1872
  • Edwards, Thos. Historical guide to Prestatyn, Dyserth, Meliden, Newmarket, Gwaenysgor, Llanasa, Talacre, etc Prestatyn : John T. Burrows, [1905]
  • Howe, Marjorie. Memories of old Meliden Rhyl : Marjorie Howe, [1996]
  • Hughes, J. and J. Phillips. The 'Barbara Allen' nature walk at Craig Fawr SSSI, Meliden Proceedings of the Dyserth and district field club, (1995), p. 26-30
  • Jones, W Hugh A strike at Talgarth lead-mine one hundred years ago Flintshire Historical Society journal, Vol.16 1956 Welsh Journals Online
  • Scarll, P. and J. Phillips. Circular walk - Meliden to Gop Hill Proceedings of the Dyserth and district field club, (2003), p. 19-21
  • Thomas, John. Meliden Church Hel achau, No. 52 (May 1997), p. 10-11.
  • Thompson, Trefor. Old Prestatyn and Meliden Rhuddlan : Charter Publications, 1981.
  • Thompson, Trefor. Prestatyn and Meliden in old photographs Rhuddlan : Charter Publications, c1979.
  • Williams, George Ewart. Some memories of old Meliden Hel achau, No. 91 (Ionawr / January 2007), p. 24-25
topup

Church History

Ordnance Survey reference SJ 063811.
Some parts of the church fabric are believed to date from the thirteenth century; but the building was extensively restored in 1884. The dedication is to St. Melyd.

The Clwyd FHS website has a photograph of the church.

 'Meliden Church' by Moses Griffith, c. 1770-1800 (watercolour)  on the People's Collection Wales site

The Parish of Meliden

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 Civil parish of Meliden :

Name of ChapelDenominationNumber of "adherents"
Mynydd SionCalvinistic Methodist75
Salem - WelshWesleyan171
topup

Church Records

  • The following nonconformist registers for the Meliden area are held at the Flintshire Record Office, Hawarden.
    They have not been filmed; and they have not been incorporated into the I.G.I. :
Name of ChapelDenominationType of RecordYears Covered
SalemWesleyanBirths and Baptisms1856 - 1971
topup

Civil Registration

When Civil Registration was introduced (on 1 July 1837), the parish of Meliden was assigned to the No. 1 ("St. Asaph") sub-district of the St. Asaph Registration District, which was co-extensive with the St. Asaph poor law Union.

In the GRO indexes to civil registration, entries for Meliden are found under:

  • Years 1837 - 1851: St. Asaph XXVII. nnn
  • Years 1852 - 1946: St. Asaph 11b. nnn

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

topup

Description & Travel

Meliden - on wikipedia

You can see pictures of Meliden (Allt Melyd) which are provided by:

topup

Gazetteers

The transcription of the section for this place from the National Gazetteer (1868), provided by Colin Hinson.

topup

Maps

"North-East Wales Churches and Ancient Parish Boundaries" produced by Clwyd Record Office in 1994, published by Genuki with the permission of Flintshire Record Office and Denbighshire Archives

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

Plan of the parish of Meliden in the County of Flint c1830s  on the People's Collection Wales site

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SJ067821 (Lat/Lon: 53.327949, -3.402929), Meliden (Allt Melyd) which are provided by:

topup

Population

  • In 1831- the population was 720.
  • In 1901- the population was 478.
    [ Royal Commission on the Welsh Church - October 1907]
topup

Statistics

Archdeacon Thomas (1911) gives the area of the parish as 1484 acres.