Bersham, Denbighshire, Wales Genealogy

Bersham (Welsh: Y Bers) is a village and ecclesiastical parish in the county borough of County Borough of Wrexham in Wales. Bersham is part of the community of Esclusham.

History
BERSHAM-DRELINCOURT, a chapelry, in the parish and union of Wrexham, hundred of Bromfield, county of Denbigh, North Wales, 2 miles (W. by N.) from Wrexham. In or near this chapelry are extensive paper-mills, situated upon the river Clywedog; and the whole district abounds with valuable mines of iron and coal. The chapel, known by the local name of "Capel Madam," is situated at the southwestern extremity of the township of Broughton.

The area had been rich in iron, lead, and coal which had been extracted for several centuries but it became an important centre in the Industrial Revolution and was one of the most important iron manufacturing centres in the world. Here in 1761, John Iron Mad Wilkinson, a pioneer of the Industrial Revolution, set up his ironworks in the valley of the Afon Clywedog.

Bersham Colliery, the last working coal mine in the former Denbighshire coalfield, was not actually in Bersham but situated nearby in the village of Rhostyllen in Esclusham.

Formerly a chapelry in the parish of Wrexham, the new parish of Bersham was created in 1934 from parts of the parishes of Rhosddu and Wrexham. The parish church was built in 1742 and was consecrated in 1759.

For more information on Bersham see:


 * Genuki - Bersham

Census Records
The parish of Wrexham, and later the parish of Bersham, formed part of the Wrexham Registrar's District.

Civil Records
Births, marriages and deaths in Bersham are recorded in the GRO indexes as:

Poor Law Union
The Wrexham Union was created on 30 March 1837 and the parish of Wrexham formed part of this. A workhouse was built at Croesnewydd in Wrexham. The records of the Wrexham Union are now held at Denbighshire Record Office in Ruthin.

Websites

 * Ordnance Survey map of Bersham
 * Berse Parish Church at Clwyd FHS.