England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Cilcain St Mary

The Parish

The parish of Cilcain lies in western Flintshire forming a lengthy stretch of the county's border with neighbouring Denbighshire, here the border follows the summit ridges of the Clwydian Hills. Cilcain is located roughly 4 miles west of the market town of Mold and stands around 2 miles south of the A541 road which connects Mold through towards Denbigh. Cilcain is a crossroads village with most properties lying around the intersection of lanes from the cardinal points, it stands on the upper slopes of the valley of the fast-flowing Afon Alun with the subsidiary settlement of Pantymwyn sitting on its opposite bank. For much of its existence Cilcain functioned a simple pastoral farming parish, the lower parts of the parish being grazed by cattle whilst the slopes rising to the Clwydian range to the west were the territory for hardy sheep. During the 17th & 18th century the economy temporarily boomed due to mining of the local lead ore and coal, the majority of the extraction being dome by what became known as "farmer-miners" mixing farming with mining. The Afon Alun is fast-flowing and several crushing mills were located along its course. The ores were exhausted by the start of the Victorian period which saw the population crash from over 1,100 to around 350 over the remainder of the century. Today the economy relies upon tourism, especially outdoor tourism with hikers following the Offa's Dyke National Trail bringing some overnight stays. Modern developments have come and gone from the parish, the branch railway line from Mold to Denbigh once passed through but has closed and left only bridges & cuttings to mark its passing. Cilcain is drained northeast and then southeast by the Afon Alun which passes by Mold to reach the northern edges of Wrexham where it performs an abrupt about turn head once more northeast to meet the Dee, the later passes through Chester to reach the Irish Sea through ts estuary. Cilcain village is sited at around  220 metres above the sea in strongly undulating countryside, westwards and southwestwards the Cwydian Hills rose to the summit of Moel Famau topped by both the Offa's Dyke National Trail and King George III's Jubilee tower at 554 metres. Covering just over 6,300 acres Cilcain was an extensive upland parish which supported a growing population which reached close to 1,250 parishioners at the end of the transcript before falling steadily. Unlike most of Wales Flintshire has a few entries in Domesday Book, whilst Cilcain is not specifically mentioned there are 2 manors within the parish which returned entries, Llys-yCoed & Mechlas; both were tiny holdings of Earl Hugh of Chester each returning a single plough and some woodland.

The Church

St Mary's church sits a little to the west of the main junction within the village, a second lanes arrives from the southwest & the church sits at its junction with the village main street. St Mary began life as a single nave church in 13th century, the present north nave was the original church built in the Early English Gothic style, it came with a southern aisle which was replaced when the church began to expand in the early 14th century. The central division between the twin naves is in the Decorated style and replaced the early southern aisle. The greatest expansion, however, cam in the 15th century when the second, southern nave was added in the Perpendicular style together with the western tower which come with the almost obligatory battlements favoured at that time. The 15th or 16th century saw the creation of the church's stand-out feature its southern nave roof of alternating arched-braced and hammerbeam trusses, the story, perhaps legend, is that it came disassembled from Basingwerk Abbey following its dissolution and was reassembled within St Mary. The 18th century saw the northern window and doorway added but the next major work was the typical Victorian restoration, here in 1889, when the southern windows and southern porch were formed and the upper stages and buttresses added to the tower. Somewhat unusually part of the churchyard west of the tower has a wide entrance and is tarred allowing parking within the churchyard, the main problem for the photographer with this churchyard is its lack of depth being compact from north to south, add in a few trees and finding the better views requires some scouting around.