| To Continue:- Page 4 Christ Church To celebrate the centenary of the Consecration of Mostyn Parish Church,
the Rev. David Thomas, former vicar of Mostyn from 1931 – 1940, compiled
a souvenir booklet detailing the history of the Church. Placed on sale in
1945, price 1/-, it contained thirty six pages and covered the subject
comprehensively, making most interesting reading. As many residents
will still have a copy, I will outline the history of Christ Church more briefly
than would otherwise have been necessary. The Parish of Mostyn has existed since the 3rd of June 1844 when
confirmation of the ‘Order of Council’ appeared in the London Gazette,
it having formerly been a part of the Parish of Whitford. Early in the 1840’s it was realised at last, that the Parish Church of Whitford
was not at all well placed to serve the Mostyn community and following an
inaugural meeting at the Lletty on the 29th of March 1842, a committee of local
dignitaries was formed to re-align the Whitford Parish boundaries and from
this, create the Parish of Mostyn. Tenders were called for the building of a
new church by a circular dated the 2nd of April 1842 and at a further meeting
the following week, it was decided to call the proposed church
‘Christ Church Mostyn’. The contractor engaged for the work (but not to include the spire) was
Mrs. Harriet Parry of Holywell. Work started the Rev. Thomas tells us, in March
1842. As this date can only have been a day or two after the inaugural meeting
and before tenders were called for, the land,
previously owned by Downing Estate) must have been earmarked for the
church some time before a committee was convened and plans made well in
advance of this first meeting on the 29th of March 1842. Why such an
unorthodox route was taken to establishing Mostyn Parish Church,
we can only speculate upon. In April 1842 the Quarry behind the Lletty Inn was re-opened to provide stone
for the building and before the month end, beautifully dressed stone was
already on its way to the site of the church. In due course, the quarrying of
the stone unfortunately necessitated the demolition of the old ‘ cottage like’
Summer House which belonged to Bychton Hall, at the time of which it was
tenanted by Elizabeth Jones, who was awarded £2 for the inconvenience
of being evicted. At the end of November this same year, a load of dressed
stone which had been delivered to the site at Glan y don was damaged,
obviously deliberately. The number of stones chipped and broken was
considerable and it would have taken more than one person to achieve this.
Despite the noise which they must have made and the proximity to the
Squares, no one was ever apprehended in connection with the incident.
The motive can only be guessed at. The laying of the foundation stone was performed by the Rev. Richard
Brisco B.D.,the Vicar of the Parish and in the stone was placed a sealed
bottle containing a parchment and 1/-, 6d, and 4d pieces. Surprisingly,
nearly 100 children from the Roman Catholic School at Lime Bank sang
appropriate hymns at the ceremony. Just three and one half years later, on the 12th of August 1845, Bishop
Bethell of Bangor performed the ceremony of Consecration. It is interesting to remember just how completely the Welsh language was
used in the village in the mid-nineteenth century and this fact was reflected
in the services at the new church. For the first forty years, there was only
one service each month held in English. Gradually over the next fifty years,
and many Irish and English work people settled in Mostyn, this situation
changed until a mixture of the two languages was more commonly used. Some accounts for the building work have survived and from them it is
interesting to note that the cost of the spire (built under a separate contract
by a Mr. Thomas), was £275.16s.9d in 1844. The first organ does not seem
to have been installed until about 1890. It was built by Messrs. Bellamy of
Denbigh and Owen Roberts,the headmaster of the Church School at this
time, was to be the first organist. The present organ was built Messrs.
Poyser of Chester and was dedicated in memory of the men from Mostyn
who fell in the 1914-1918 war. It was so dedicated on the 16th of July 1930. In 1907, Thomas Glasfryn Jones B.A., S.D.C., was ordained and became
Curate of Mostyn. He served as a Chaplain in the forces and in 1917 he
received a fatal wound in France. His service to the village was remembered
by Mr. Bithell whose family he lodged with in Mostyn before he joined the
forces/ When Mr. Bithell built his new home in Rhewl in 1925, he named it
Glasfryn in honour and remembrance of his and his family’s friend.
A memorial tablet at the east end of the Church to the memory of the
Rev. Jones was erected by public subscription, together with a tablet
bearing the names of all the men of the parish who lost their lives in the first
world war, the Great War. Thomas Cliff T. Glasfryn Jones J. Thomas D. Dennis T.S.Jones S. Whitley W.T.Edwards R.J.Lancelott E. Irving Williams J. Hayes Bertie S. Lee G.T.Williams W.H.Hughes C.F.Malbon T.W.Williams Peter Jones Ben Osler W.T.Williams Isaac Jones W.H.Parry Herbert Wynne Isaac Jones J.Pulford .J.E.Wynne J.Owen Jones Early in the Great War, following the overrunning of Belgium by the
Germans, requests were made through the Church and other Civic bodies,
for accommodation to be made available for housing Belgian refugees.
The only response to this appears to have come from Lord Mostyn who
provided a cottage (probably Tan y Coed, close to the police station near
Marsh Farm) to house refugees. Whether any did actually take up residence
in Mostyn is doubtful. | 
