Trefonen, Oswestry, Shropshire
(from Post Office Directory of Shropshire, 1870)
Trefonen is a township and ecclesiastical district, with the townships of Treflach and Tref-ap-Clawdd, in the Northern division of the county, parish, hundred, union, county court district and rural deanery of Oswestry, and archdeacon ray and diocese of St. Asaph, 2.25 miles southwest from Oswestry. The church (name unknown) is a plain stone structure, capable of seating about 500 persons, and was built and consecrated in 1821 as a chapel of ease for the Welsh portion of the inhabitants of Oswestry, the service to be conducted in the Welsh language; but owing to the increase and prevalence of the English language, the services are now performed alternately in the Welsh and English languages : though the church was consecrated in the year 1821, it was not till the year 1842 that a district was assigned to it, at which time by an Order in Council, the above named townships were consolidated and formed into a district, to be called the Trefonen district: the land on which the church is built was given by the late Sir Watkin Williams Wynn, bart., father of the present baronet. The living is a rectory, yearly value £110, in the gift of the Earl of Powis, and held by the Rev. David Lloyd, B.D., of St. David's College, Lampeter. A parsonage has been built. Here is a Parochial school, principally supported by subscriptions, and the average attendance is about 140 scholars. The Independents and Welsh Calvinistic Methodists have each a small chapel here. The Earl of Powis is lord of the manor. The land is principally the property of Sir W. W. Wynn, Bart., M.P., and abounds in minerals, coal and lime, and on the Moelydd, lead, calamine and copper ores, are found. The chief crops are wheat and hay. The district contained in 1861 a population of 1,248; the area is 935 acres.