St. Martin's, Shropshire Genealogy

The small border village of St. Martin's (Welsh: Llanfarthin) lies in the county of Shropshire in England but had strong connections with the county of Denbighshire across the border in Wales.

History
The ancient parish of St. Martin's was made up of the townships of Ifton, Wiggington, Bronygarth and Weston Rhyn. Each of these townships bordered Wales, with the River Ceiriog and the River Dee forming the border. However, in 1870 the townships of Weston Rhyn and Bronygarth were formed into the new parish of Weston Rhyn.

The church at St. Martin's is dedicated to St Martin of Tours and the parish was part of the Welsh Diocese of St Asaph until 1922 when it was transferred to the English Diocese of Lichfield.

The area was, for centuries, under the influence of nearby Chirk Castle and, later, the Trevor family of Brynkinallt (Welsh: Bryncunallt) in Chirk.

Census Records
The parish of St Martin's formed part of the Oswestry Registrar's District.

Civil Records
The parish of St Martin's formed a sub-district of the Oswestry Registration District and any entries for births, marriages or deaths from 1837 in St Martin's will appear as Oswestry in the GRO Indexes.