SHROPSHIRE PARISH REGISTERS.

ST. ASAPH DIOCESE.
VOL. I.

ISSUED BY
The Shropshire Parish Register Society.

SHROPSHIRE PARISH REGISTERS.
Diocese of St. Asaph.
VOL. I.

GENERAL EDITOR:
W.P.W. PHILLIMORE, M.A., B.C.L.

PRIVATELY PRINTED FOR THE
SHROPSHIRE PARISH REGISTER SOCIETY.
1906.

Note for the Reader.

THE volume of Shropshire Registers now completed must be regarded as one of more than ordinary interest, since the parishes to which it refers belong to the Welsh diocese of St. Asaph. It is the first volume of this series devoted to the parish records of that see. As is well known, this part of Shropshire was in the Marches of Wales till the time of Henry VIII, and may still be regarded as more distinctively Welsh than English, as indeed might be inferred from the fact that it forms part of the Welsh see. Thirteen parishes are included in the Shropshire portion of the diocese of St. Asaph, and it may be convenient in this first volume to append a list thereof:- Oswestry, Whittington and Halston, St. Martin's, Kinnerley, Selattyn, Melverley, Knockin, Llanymynech, Llanyblodwel, Frankton, Moreton, Trefonen, Weston Rhyn. Of these the four last are modern parishes and have no registers before 1812.

Of these places the town of Oswestry is obviously the most important; and it must be regarded as a matter of congratulation that, owing so largely to the energy of the late Mr. Stanley Leighton, it has been found possible to make substantial progress with the Oswestry parish registers. The extent of these registers has, however, precluded us from issuing them, as might seem more suitable, as the first volume of the St. Asaph series.

vi NOTE FOR THE READER.

The registers are not printed verbatim et literalim, and, accordingly, mere verbiage has been omitted, and the following abbreviations have been freely adopted:-

A capital letter after " of " or "p." denotes the parish whose particular Register is being printed (thus "of S."=of Selattyn).

Thanks are due to the clergy, the custodians of the respective registers, for leave to print them, and for facilities afforded in transcription. Their names are mentioned in the respective registers:

The present Hundred of Oswestry, which in the main accords with the Domesday Hundred of Mersete, includes other parishes than those which belong to St. Asaph diocese. Though its chief was the head of the great house of FitzAlan, who rendered no acknowledgement save homage and fealty, it must be regarded as Welsh, since it was exempt from the course of English law. How strongly pronounced the Welsh element still is in this district is very well exemplified by the registers in the present volume, in which Welsh names - it would hardly be correct to call them surnames - evidently predominate. The way in which these names should be indexed was a matter of some difficulty, but it was settled,

NOTE FOR THE READER. vii

on the suggestion of Archdeacon Thomas, that the name appearing after the first 'ap' or 'verch' should, for indexing purposes, be regarded as the surname. Some difficulty was experienced in obtaining an indexer, but ultimately Miss Hughes has successfully accomplished the tedious task of indexing the Selattyn Register, and the thanks of the reader are due therefor.

The services of those who have assisted in transcribing or collating are mentioned at the end of each introduction.

W.P.W.P.
February, 1906.

INDEXES TO MELVERLEY AND SELATTYN.