England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Holt St Chad

The Parish

The parish of Holt lies in the extreme east of Denbighshire forming part of the border with neighbouring Cheshire and, therefore, England. In this complicated area of borders Holt also forms part of the border with the detached portion of Flintshire. Holt is a substantial village which forms a paired settlement with its English twin Farndon which sits immediately across the border, here formed by the River Dee. Holt is located about 5 miles northeast of the large industrial town of Wrexham and sits on the A634 road which connects Wrexham with Nantwich. Holt has an ancient history, a Roman way station, an outlier of Chester (Deva to the Romans) has been found whilst sponsored by King Edward 1 a castle was built here as part of the ring of such castles designed to contain the Welsh. The Dee is crossed here by a 15th century bridge of 8 arches topped by a defensive fortification clearly demonstrating Holt's importance as a border town. The local economy would have been dominated by arable farming, the soil is rich and fertile but rather heavy, the arable, if anything, has increased in recent times with the advent of heavy machinery. The Dee drains Holt northwards, passing through the city of Chester to reach the Irish Sea through the Dee's estuary. Holt is sited at between 6 and 20 metres above the sea in flat terrain where local heights rise only steadily to almost 80 metres within a mile or so to the west. Holt parish was fairly typically sized for this area, covering just over 2,700 acres it would have supported a population of a little over 1,600 parishioners. In Domesday times the Dee clearly marked the border as neighbouring Farndon is covered but Holt has no entry in common with most of Wales.

The Church

St Chad's church sits to the east of Bridge Street, the approach to that fine bridge, tucked way behind fronting properties. The church has received several alterations over the centuries and its earliest origins are thus unclear. Extensive work, initiated by the Stanley family holding the local lordship, in the late 15th century has obscured any early evidence of origin. The work that was done is, however, in the Decorated style of the early 14th century and, presumably , was done to match the style of the previous building. Later still is the western tower where documentary evidence indicates a completion date of close to 1679. Further work, still, took place by the Victorian hands in this case in the early 1870s when much work was done on the chancel, in particular. Bridge Street is sufficiently wide to allow parking close to the church which hides away behind the Ring O'Bells Inn accessed by a short tarred path leading to imposing wrought iron gates. Once within the churchyard is extensive and with few, if any, obstacles to photography.