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Ffordun / Forden

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"FORDEN, a parish in the lower division of the hundred of CAWRSE, county of MONTGOMERY, NORTH WALES, 3 miles (N.) from Montgomery, containing 856 inhabitants. The Danes are said to have stationed themselves in this neighbourhood in the year 894, and to have been driven from it by the Saxons, after a long siege and severe conflict : their encampments are still visible on the Long Mountain and near Buttington. ... The House of Industry for the united district of Montgomery and Welshpool is situated in this parish : this district, which is about eighteen miles square,  ... The church, which is situated about half a mile to the west of the road from Welshpool to Montgomery, is built in the ancient style of English architecture, and was enlarged in 1830, ... [A Topographical Dictionary of Wales by Samuel Lewis, 1833]

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Bibliography

Blockley, Kevin. Excavations in the vicinity of Forden Gaer Roman fort, Powys, 1987. Montgomeryshire Collections (Transactions of the Powys-land Club) 78 (1990), p. 17-46 Parish of Forden: Parish Church of St.Michael, Ebenezer Conregational Chapel, Forden Union Workhouse: memorial inscriptions. [S.1.] : Montgomeryshire Genealogical Society, 1999. 106p

Morris, J Griffith and Mary Newill Owen          Forden Union during the Napoleonic Wars 1795-1816; being extracts from the minute books of Forden Union          Collections historical & archaeological relating to Montgomeryshire   Vol 37  1915   Welsh Journals Online     

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Census

Victorian Powys for schools site - Census figures for Forden parish 1841-1901

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Church History

Church and chapel data from The Religious census of 1851 : A Calendar of the returns relating to Wales, Vol 11, North Wales. Ed. by Ieuan Gwynedd Jones, UWP,   1981. The names given towards the end of each entry are those of the informants.

Parish statistics; Area 5270 acres; Population 485 males, 395 females, total 880

  • Forden Parish Church      Attendance - morning 153 + 64 scholars, afternoon 42 + 61 scholars                W Jones Thomas, Curate
  • Chapel of the House of Industry of the Montgomery and Pool Union             Attendance - morning 32 + 12 scholars       "The number of Inmates is few at present and many sick or infirm"      Edwd. D Green Chaplain
  • Independent        Chapel and house        Erected 1826                   Attendance - afternoon 35, evening 46                James Hamer, Deacon
  • Wesleyan Methodists           Not used exclusively as a place of worship           Attendance - morning 23          "The schedule is for two houses, in which the same Congregation worships alternately morning and evening, and occasionally in the afternoon"    Edward Watson, Wesleyan Minister, Welshpool

See John Ball's site Welsh Churches and Chapels Collection for a photograph/data re Ebenezer Ind Chapel, Forden

    Church of St Michael, Forden on the Montgomeryshire Churches Survey site

    Rees, Thomas & John Thomas   Hanes Eglwysi Annibynnol Cymru   (History of the Welsh Independent Churches), 4 volumes (published 1871+). Here is the entry from this book for Forden chapel (in Welsh )  - with translation by Maureen Saycell (Aug 2009)

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    Church Records

    Detailed information on deposited registers and transcripts for this parish is given on the Powys Archives page Montgomeryshire parish registers

    As a guide only, the principal extant parochial church records for this parish span the dates shown below (as detailed in Parish Registers of Wales, NLW 2000) but exact current holdings should be confirmed with the individual Archives;

    • Baptisms 1598-1748, 1751-1807, 1813-1878; Marriages 1598-1748, 1751-1980; Burials 1598-1748, 1751-1807, 1813-1920.
      House of Industry-  Baptisms 1795-1863; Burials 1795-1864
      Parish Registers, or copies, for all or part of these dates are held at the NLW, and/or Powys Archives.  
      Bishops Transcripts for various periods are held at the Herefordshire Archives
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    Description & Travel

    Various landscape photographs of the area and surrounds - on the People's Collection Wales site

    You can see pictures of Ffordun / Forden which are provided by:

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    Gazetteers

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    Land & Property

    Details of extant records on Archives Network Wales for the following;

    • Bartlett, E. W. S., deeds  "Deeds relating to property in Forden, Leighton and Trelystan, Montgomeryshire, 1931-1932"
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    Maps

    Map of Montgomeryshire parishes on Montgomeryshire Genealogical Society's site - shows dioceses

    You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SJ235016 (Lat/Lon: 52.607051, -3.131662), Ffordun / Forden which are provided by:

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    Poor Houses, Poor Law

    Victorian Powys for schools site - The Workhouse at Forden

    Forden Workhouse - on the People's Collection Wales site

    Montgomery and Pool (Forden from 1870) Workhouse - on Peter Higginbotham's site

    Details of extant records on Archives Network Wales for the following;

    • Forden Poor Law Union records  1870-1930
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    Public Records

    Details of extant records on Archives Network Wales for the following;

    • Forden Rural District Council, records  1954-1974  
    • Montgomeryshire Highway Boards, records.       Including "Records of Pool and Forden Highway Board, 1874-1895......."