Erbistock ( cy, Erbistog) is a village and

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, ...

in Wrexham County Borough,

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. The village lies on the banks of the River Dee. The community area, governed by Erbistock Community Council ( cy, Cyngor Cymuned Erbistog) also includes the small villages of Crabtree Green and Eyton; it had a total population of 409 at the 2001 census,Erbistock Community
Office for National Statistics falling to 383 at the 2011 Census.

History

Erbistock was one of the ancient

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, C ...

s of the Lordship of Bromfield. In 1086 it was mentioned in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

as a small settlement lying within the hundred of Exestan and in the county of Cheshire. It later became one of the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

es of

Denbighshire Denbighshire ( ; cy, Sir Ddinbych; ) is a county in the north-east of Wales. Its borders differ from the historic county of the same name. This part of Wales contains the country's oldest known evidence of habitation – Pontnewydd (Bontnewy ...

but a part lay in the detached part of

Flintshire , settlement_type = County , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = , image_flag = , image_shield = Arms of Flint ...

known as the

Maelor Saesneg English Maelor ( cy, Maelor Saesneg) comprises one half of the Maelor region on the Welsh side of the Wales-England border, being the area of the Maelor east of the River Dee. The region has changed counties several times, previously being part ...

, the Denbighshire portion having been attached to the Maelor Gymraeg. The Wrexham historian

Alfred Neobard Palmer Alfred Neobard Palmer (10 July 1847 – 7 March 1915) was a chemist and local historian. He published several books concerning the local history of Wrexham and north Wales. Biography Alfred Neobard Palmer was born in Thetford, Norfolk, Englan ...

noted that this division was very old, and resulted from the desire of

Edward I of England Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vas ...

to strengthen English influence in the border borough of Overton. In April 1300 a writ was issued to Richard de Massey, the justice of Chester, to bargain with "certain Welshmen" holding lands in Overton with the offer of exchanging them with parts of the king's demesne lands in Erbistock.Palmer, A. N. ''A History of Ancient Tenures of Land in North Wales and the Marches'', 1910, p.122 A

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

dedicated to Saint Erbin was mentioned as far back as the 13th century but the present church, dedicated to Saint Hilary, was constructed in 1860. Palmer suggested that the name derives from "''Erbin's stoke''" meaning ''Erbin's stockaded ford''. The corresponding

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

of Erbistock absorbed the neighbouring parish of Eyton in 1935.Wrexham Registration District

GENUKI GENUKI is a genealogy web portal, run as a charitable trust. It "provides a virtual reference library of genealogical information of particular relevance to the UK and Ireland". It gives access to a large collection of information, with the emphas ...

According to Palmer, Eyton was mentioned as early as 1043, when it was given by Leofric, earl of

Mercia la, Merciorum regnum , conventional_long_name=Kingdom of Mercia , common_name=Mercia , status=Kingdom , status_text=Independent kingdom (527–879) Client state of Wessex () , life_span=527–918 , era= Heptarchy , event_start= , date_start= , ...

, to the minster he had founded at

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...

, and at the time of the Domesday Book survey was held by the bishop of

Lichfield Lichfield () is a cathedral city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated roughly south-east of the county town of Stafford, south-east of Rugeley, north-east of Walsall, north-west of Tamworth and south-west o ...

.Palmer, 139 The village and its picturesque surrounding area have been defined as the ''Erbistock Village and Conservation Area'' by Wrexham county borough council.

Important buildings

Erbistock has two popular pubs. The ''Cross Foxes'' at Overton Bridge, dating back to 1748, was built by the Wynnstay Estate for its workers. The famous 17th century ''Boat Inn'' stands beside the River Dee. The inn takes its name from the hand-operated chain ferry which once crossed the river at this point, with remnants of the pull mechanism still existing nearby. On the riverbank next to the ''Boat'' is the Grade II listed St. Hilary's Church. It was built in 1860, replacing a Georgian structure which had itself replaced an earlier timber-framed and thatched building, and was funded by Caroline Boates of Rose Hill and her daughter. Members of the Boates family also contributed the elaborate stained glass windows; the church contains an 18th-century chandelier and a font bowl that may be Norman in origin.Church of St Hilary, Erbistock
Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust
Wrexham County Borough Council The Churchyard Extension contains the

war graves War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regu ...

of a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

officer and an officer and noncommissioned officer of the army from the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

.
CWGC Cemetery Report, details from casualty record. Erbistock Hall is a grade II listed Georgian country house which stands on rising ground overlooking the River Dee. The house was built in 1770 and belonged to the Wynn family of Wynnstay. Originally built in brick in three storeys, it was later reduced to two. It has a notable

topiary Topiary is the horticultural practice of training perennial plants by clipping the foliage and twigs of trees, shrubs and subshrubs to develop and maintain clearly defined shapes, whether geometric or fanciful. The term also refers to plants w ...

garden. The house was acquired by Sir Charles Lowther, 4th Baronet circa 1930. It was also owned at one time by the Brancker family.

Notable people

*St. Richard Gwyn – (1535–1584), Welsh schoolmaster during the

Elizabethan era The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personific ...

, composer of

Welsh poetry Welsh poetry refers to poetry of the Welsh people or nation. This includes poetry written in Welsh, poetry written in English by Welsh or Wales based poets, poetry written in Wales in other languages or poetry by Welsh poets around the world. ...

, one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales, and

Patron Saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Wrexham The Diocese of Wrexham, is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Wales. The diocese is a suffragan in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Cardiff. History The diocese was erect ...

. While living in Erbistock with his family, Gwyn secretly set up the Welsh equivalent to an Irish

hedge school Hedge schools ( Irish names include '' scoil chois claí'', ''scoil ghairid'' and ''scoil scairte'') were small informal secret and illegal schools, particularly in 18th- and 19th-century Ireland, designed to secretly provide the rudiments of ...

inside a deserted barn, where he secretly taught the children of local Catholic families. T.H. Parry-Williams (1930), ''Carolau Richard White'', Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru. Page 69.

Bibliography

Alfred Neobard Palmer, "A History of Ancient Tenures of Land in North Wales and the Marches" (1910)

References

External links