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

The Parish

The parish of Whitford lies in northern Flintshire forming a lengthy stretch of the county's northern coastline, here with the outer estuary of the Dee. Whitford is located about 7 miles southeast of the coastal resort of Prestatyn and sits a little over a mile north of the A55 road, the North Wales Expressway between Chester and Bangor. Whilst Whitford village gives its name to the parish it is but one of the settlements that make up the parish, a small crossroads village that would have made up only a small percentage of the total parish population. Many settlements line the banks of the Dee Estuary notably Maes-Pennant, Mostyn and Fynnongroyw whilst Berthengam and Gorsedd inland also held substantial numbers. The wealth of the parish came largely from coal and other extractive industries. From time immemorial lead, copper & zinc have been extracted from the hills of the parish but coal dominated in the time of this transcript. The port of Mostyn, created by the family of that name, exported to the industrial cities of adjacent Lancashire as well as more widely, the coal being of the highest quality. The wider parish was also farmed albeit largely by pastoral methods except in some sheltered coastal places. The parish has a lengthy history of human settlement and is dotted with archaeological remains including traces of Offa's boundary dyke, the trail, however, taking a more westerly route hereabouts. Modern developments have come aplenty, the Dee coastline serving as the logical route for the railway line between Chester & Bangor no longer granting Mostyn a station, however. More modern developments have upgraded the A55 to a fast dual-carriageway speeding tourist to the coastal resorts and to Snowdonia. Today some visitors will pass through on the new Wales National Coastal Trail which utilises the coastal see banks of the estuary as part of its route around Wales. Various small streams drain the parish into the nearby Dee Estuary, including Afon Garth & Nant-Felin-Blwm. Whitford is sited on a rising site from around 110 to 140 metres along its main street, the highest ground in the parish carries the tower on Garreg topping out at 247 metres, a height not exceeded until the Clwydian Hills. Whitford parish consisted of almost 6,900 acres of which some 3,500 were unimproved rough grazing, the parish would have supported a population of around 4.000 parishioners. Unlike most of Wales Domesday penetrates into Flintshire, Whitford's entry records a tiny community of just 9 households with a single plough but with a fishery, a tiny place indeed at that time, afurther 12 households are recorded too at Mostyn with similarly few assets.

The Church

St Mary's church stands just northwest of the main crossroads of the village on the western side of that lane headed northwestwards. Sadly most of the medieval has been lost from St Mary with the only significant fabric remaining from early times being the northern aisle and that only partly old. The aisle shows windows in both Decorated and Perpendicular styles showing an origin in the 14th century. Also medieval and from the same era is the 6-bay arcade also showing the late 14th century Perpendicular style. Everything else dates from 19th century build funded by the coal-wealth of the Mostyn & Pennant families. The 1840s saw the bulk of the work in two phases over a 5 year period from 1842 to 1846 so the church would not be recognisable to the participants in these marriages. A Perpendicular style has been utilised in created the traditional structure, here the nave and chancel are one with no separation, a western tower and aisles completes the design. Despite the late construction there has been time for a restoration, that of 1888 being noted by Pevsner without comment as to its objectives. The lane passing the church is narrow and parking should be sought on the villages main street, a short walk takes you to the arched stone lychgate granting entry. A few conifers are dotted about in inconvenient locations for the photographer but these can be effectively avoided.