Ruabon, Denbighshire, Wales Genealogy

Wales

Wrexham

Denbighshire Parishes

Ruabon

A guide to genealogy in Ruabon, with information on where to find birth, baptism, marriage, death and burial records; census records; wills; cemeteries; maps; etc.

Ruabon (Welsh: Rhiwabon) is a village, community and ecclesiastical parish in the Wrexham, Wales.

History

Substantial remains of Offa's Dyke (Welsh: Clawdd Offa) can be seen on the western outskirts of Ruabon. This massive earthwork, stretching from Chepstow in the south to Prestatyn in the north, was constructed in the late 8th century by Offa, King of Mercia, as a boundary between Saxon Mercia and Celtic Wales. Traces of an earlier dyke, Wat's Dyke, can be seen on the eastern side of the Ruabon. It would be several centuries before Ruabon and the lands to the east of Offa's Dyke would be returned to Wales.

The name is derived from the Welsh Rhiw Fabon, or "hillside of Mabon", a local saint. An older English spelling, Rhuabon, can sometimes be seen.

The ancient parish of Ruabon was made up of the townships of:

• Ruabon (which also included the hamlets of Belan, Bodylltyn, Hafod, and Rhuddallt)
• Cristionydd Cynrig (also known as Y Dref Fawr or Cristionydd Kenrick in English)
• Coed Cristionydd
• Dinhinlle Uchaf (also known as Y Dref Fechan or Cristionydd Fechan)
• Dinhinlle Isaf
• Morton Anglicorum (the “English Morton” or Morton Below the dyke)
• Morton Wallichorum (the “Welsh Morton” or Morton Above the dyke)

(Morton Anglicorum seems to be vaguely defined but within Morton Below.)

In 1844, Coed Cristionydd and part of Cristionydd Cynrig became part of the new parish of Rhosymedre; and Dinhinlle Uchaf and Moreton Above became part of the new parish of Rhosllannerchrugog. Later in 1879, Dynhinlle Uchaf and the remainder of Cristionydd Cynrig became the new parish of Penycae.

The area was, for centuries, under the influence of nearby Chirk Castle and, later, the Williams Wynn family of Wynnstay in Ruabon.

The Ruabon area was formerly heavily industrialised with large deposits of iron, coal and clay. Iron was worked in Gyfelia and Cinders as far back as the Middle Ages but heavy industry dominated the entire parish in the 18th and 19th centuries. Hafod Colliery, the last working colliery in the Ruabon coalfield, closed in 1968.

Iron was worked at Ruabon; Acrefair; Cefn Mawr and Plas Madoc; and zinc at Wynn Hall. In 1867 Robert Graesser, an industrial chemist from Obermosel in Saxony, Germany established a chemical works at Plas Kynaston in Cefn Mawr to extract paraffin oil and wax from the local shale. This was the start of the long association between the chemical industry. The site was later acquired by the American chemical company Monsanto, their first venture in Europe.

Much of the mineral wealth of the area was exported by canal over the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct on the Shropshire Union Canal, until the railway reached Ruabon in 1855.

Ruabon sat on vast deposits of clay. At Afongoch there were three clay companies very close together: "Monk & Newell", the “Ruabon Brick Terra Cotta Ltd." or "Jenks' Terracotta Works" (or "Gwaith Jinks") and the "Tatham Brick & Tile Works" or "Afongoch & Tatham Tileries". At Hafod, the Cornish engineer Henry Dennis founded a clay works next to the Hafod Colliery. The Dennis company became world famous for its tiles but closed in 2008. Other large brickworks existed at Pant, Rhosllannerchrugog, Acrefair and Newbridge. Today the village of Ruabon is a suburb of the town of Wrexham.

For more information on Rossett see: Ruabon at GENUKI

Ruabon Parish
Jurisdictions
County bef 1974	add here
County 1 Apr 1974-31 Mar 1996	add here
County 1 Apr 1996 -	add here
Civ Reg District	Wrexham (1881)
Reg Sub-district	Ruabon (1881)
Probate Court	add here
Diocese	St. Asaph (1864)
Rural Deanery	Wrexham (1864)
Chapelry	add here
Poor Law Union	Wrexham
Hundred	Bromfield
Province	Canterbury (1864)
Hamlets	add here

Administration

Years	County
pre 1536	Powys Fadog
1536 - 31 March 1974	Denbighshire
1 April 1974 - 31 March 1996	Clwyd
from 1 April 1996	Wrexham

Census
Year	Pop.	%±
1801		—
1811		—
1821		—
1831		—
1841		—
1851		—
1861		—
1881		—
1891		—
1901		—
1911		—
SOURCE

Resources

Census Records

Census records from 1841 to 1911 are available online. For access, see England Census Records and Indexes Online. Census records from 1841 to 1891 are also available on film through a FamilySearch Center or at the FamilySearch Library.

Church Records

Parish Registers

Church of Wales Chapels and Parish Registers
Parish		Baptisms		Marriages		Burials
PARISH NAME		[URL YEARS]		[URL YEARS]		[URL YEARS]
PARISH NAME		[URL YEARS]		[URL YEARS]		[URL YEARS]
PARISH NAME		[URL YEARS]		[URL YEARS]		[URL YEARS]
Bishop's Transcripts
Bishop Transcripts: Christenings, Marriages, Burials and Christenings and Burials		[URL YEARS]

Parish Chest

Vestry minutes (DATES) are at the [URL ARCHIVE].

Church warden accounts (DATES) are at the [URL ARCHIVE].

Tithe Records

The tithe agreement date for Ruabon was DATE.

Nonconformist Chapel Records

XXXX-XXXX denotes that the information has not been compiled yet.

Chapel	Denomination	Year Founded	Baptism	Marriage	Death
CHAPELNAME	DENOMINATION	[URL YEARS]	[URL YEARS]	[URL YEARS]	[URL YEARS]
CHAPELNAME	DENOMINATION	[URL YEARS]	[URL YEARS]	[URL YEARS]	[URL YEARS]
CHAPELNAME	DENOMINATION	[URL YEARS]	[URL YEARS]	[URL YEARS]	[URL YEARS]
CHAPELNAME	DENOMINATION	[URL YEARS]	[URL YEARS]	[URL YEARS]	[URL YEARS]
CHAPELNAME	DENOMINATION	[URL YEARS]	[URL YEARS]	[URL YEARS]	[URL YEARS]
CHAPELNAME	DENOMINATION	[URL YEARS]	[URL YEARS]	[URL YEARS]	[URL YEARS]
CHAPELNAME	DENOMINATION	[URL YEARS]	[URL YEARS]	[URL YEARS]	[URL YEARS]
CHAPELNAME	DENOMINATION	[URL YEARS]	[URL YEARS]	[URL YEARS]	[URL YEARS]

Civil Registration

The Civil Registration District for Ruabon is DATES AND NAMES CIV REG.

Poor Law Unions

Visit the England and Wales Poor Law Records page for more information.

Research Facilities

Maps and Gazetteers

• Ruabon at Vision of Britain
  

Bibliography

• A. N. Palmer, "The History of the Parish of Ruabon" reprint 1992
• G. G. Lerry, "Collieries of Denbighshire", reprint 1968
• T. W. Pritchard, "Remembering Ruabon - Cofio Rhiwabon", 2000

Websites

• Ruabon Parish Church at Clwyd FHS
  
• Ruabon War Memorial at Clwyd FHS
  
• Ruabon Parish Church at CPAT