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Nercwys

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(The alternative - anglicised - spelling, "Nerquis", is often found in older documents)

Nercwys is regarded as being one of the ancient parishes of Flintshire; although it was a chapelry of the ancient parish of Mold until, on 27 May 1844, it officially became a separate parish, comprising the townships of Nercwys and Arddunwent.

In practice, Nercwys had long operated as a separate parish, although it was held jointly with Treuddyn until 1832.

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Bibliography

  • Doyle, Patrick J The Giffards of Nerquis Flintshire Historical Society journal, Vol. 24 1969/70 Welsh Journals Online
  • Griffiths, David. Nercwys - fy atgofion i = Nercwys as I knew it Caerwys : Gwasg Gwenffrwd, 1973.
  • Griffiths, Michael and Paul S. Parry. In search of the coal mines of Nercwys Greenfeild : Greenfield Valley Historical Society, [1997]
  • Jones, George, Sychtyn. Cofiant y Parch. John Davies, Nerquis Gwrecsam : Argraffwyd gan Hughes a'i Fab, 1907.
  • Jones, George.(Nerquis, gynt) George Ingman, Nerquis Yr Wyddgrug : Swyddfa J. Ll. Morris, 1885.
  • Nercwys : Nercwys 2000 Millennium Committee. Wrexham : Bridge Books, c2000.
  • Roberts, Gladys L. A stroll down memory lane in "Olde" Nercwys [Buckley] : [Gladys Lloyd Roberts] 1999.
  • Smith, B. & M. Blagojovic and J. Phillips. An afternoon visit to Coed Nercwys Proceedings of the Dyserth and district field club, (2004), p. 55-57.
  • Williams, Peter Howell. Elizabeth Giffard of Nerquis Hall. [Part 1] Clwyd Historian = Hanes Bro Clwyd. No. 27 (Autumn 1991), p. 2-11
  • Williams, Peter Howell. Elizabeth Giffard of Nerquis Hall. [Part 2] Clwyd Historian = Hanes Bro Clwyd. No. 28 (Spring 1992), p. 12-17
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Church History

Ordnance Survey reference SJ 234604.
The earliest reference to a church at Nercwys dates from 1291.
The church was extensively restored and enlarged in 1847, and again in 1883.

The Clwyd FHS website has a photograph of the church.

Nercwys church - on CPAT

ST MARY'S CHURCH, NERCWYS (Windows)  on the People's Collection Wales site

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

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 Nerquis (sic):

Name of Chapel Denomination Number of "adherents"
Zoar Calvinistic Methodist 194
Not named Wesleyan 72
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Church Records

  • The following nonconformist registers for the Nercwys 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 and the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth.
Name of Chapel Denomination Type of Record Years Covered I.G.I. Batch Number
Zoar Calvinistic Methodist Births and Baptisms 1829 C098411
  • The following nonconformist registers for the Nercwys 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 Chapel Denomination Type of Record Years Covered
"Baptisms by Revd. John Davies" Calvinistic Methodist Baptisms 1834 - 1879

"The earliest register begins with 1665, and had a narrow escape many years ago, when thieves broke into the church and carried away the iron box in which they were kept; and being disappointed at not finding the Communion plate, set fire to the registers."
[From The History of the Diocese of St. Asaph , Ven. D.R. Thomas, 1908]

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Civil Registration

When Civil Registration was introduced (on 1 July 1837), the parish of Nercwys was assigned to the No. 4 ("Mold") sub-district of the Holywell Registration District, which was co-extensive with the Holywell poor law Union.

In the GRO indexes to civil registration, entries for Nercwys 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 & Travel

Nercwys - on wikipedia

You can see pictures of Nercwys which are provided by:

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Gazetteers

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

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Land & Property

'Nercwys Hall as built in 1665' by Moses Griffith, 1777 (watercolour) on the People's Collection Wales site

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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

Map of the township of Nerquis in the parish of Mold in the County of Flint made for the commutation of tithes on the People's Collection Wales site

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SJ231610 (Lat/Lon: 53.140578, -3.151053), Nercwys which are provided by:

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Population

  • In 1831- Not quoted.
  • In 1901- the population was 803.
    [ Royal Commission on the Welsh Church - October 1907]
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Statistics

Archdeacon Thomas (1911) gives the area of the parish as 2280 acres.