Rhos Farm Llanferres

[patvp1]

Does anyone have any information on Rhos Farm. civil parish Llanferres. County - Denbighshire. Reg District - Ruthin. Sub reg dist - Llanarmon.

My g/grandfather was farm bailiff there in 1881, name of James McKay from Perthshire in Scotland with his wife Jane and at the time four children 2 of whom were born there..could possible have still been in Wales in 1891..maybe in the general area but cannot find on any census.
All help appreciated..thankyou..patvp

[Barry1936]

Rhos is/was a small hamlet just outside Llanferres, although the two have merged.  It is on the Mold Ruthin main road on the Mold side of the village.   I am fairly certain there is no farm there and I have researched all of the houses in the greater Llanferres area searching for my William's family homes in the 1800's.  There was a Rhos Cottage on one side of the road and the National School on the other but not much else at that time.   Where did you obtain the information that your g/grandfather was there?  If you can give any more info I will see what I can find in my files.  These two sites are good for early OS maps

http://www.british-history.ac.uk
http://www.old-maps.co.uk

[patvp1]

Thanks Barry for that info - my information comes from the 1881 census, gathered it could not have been too big a place, also on the census is
John Davies at the Schoolhouse, Rhos Cottage is the Chaloner family and he is a police constable, the Griffith family he is a farmer of 100 acres altho cannot read name of the farm, the Hill family at the Druid Inn (trust there to be a "pub") and the Bellis family at Red Lion Cottage and of course the McKay family at Rhos Farm, as I said two of the children were born in Llanferres Robert Duncan McKay in 1879 and Maggie in 1882.  I have no idea where the family were in 1891 but they were back in Scotland in 1901.  Do u know if any photo's of the area exsist as would dearly love to have some..thanks..It's a bit difficult doing research from Australia and am now kicking myself that I did not have this information last year when I was visiting the U.K. what makes it worse I did a tour of North Wales..dammit..patvp

[Barry1936]

Good morning again.  Sorry patvp but I am at a loss.  I had a look at the census image (if you do not have access to this I can e-mail you a copy) because the enumerator often worked sequentially and I thought that might give a clue to where the farm was geographically.  Sadly it is plumb between the Schoolhouse and Rhos Cottage so that was no help, although it does narrow it down a little because Llanferres was divided into two districts for the census and Rhos Farm was in District 6 west of the river.   The 1871 census lists Ross Farm (cottage) in which lived a lead mine clerk and Rhos (farm) in which lived a retired farmer.  The 1891 census does not list Rhos Farm but does show Rhos Cottage in which lived a farmer so I am wondering if it was one building in 1882 and subsequently converted into a single dwelling.   1891 also lists a house called Upper Rhos in which also lived a farmer.  Now the land rises sharply to the west behind Rhos up to Fron Hen and there are several houses along a lane so the other possibility is that Upper Rhos in 1891 was the Rhos Farm of 1881 and has since been renamed again - but the OS map does not show it!  I do return to Llanferres a couple of times a year researching and next time I will have a good look for you and see if I can find any clues - but it might not be for a while as our winter weather is not conducive to driving a whole 250 miles!!!

I have never found any old photos in the Ruthin Records Office although the Druid did have a few on the wall but mainly the village.  Incidentally, there are two pubs - not bad for a peak population of 800 people!  The vestry also used to meet in the Druid!!  If you want a 'today' photo I will do that next time I visit.

Barry

[patvp1]

Thanks Barry - Yes I do have the census image for 1881, I would not mind except can't find the family for 1891 but will keep searching as I said they were back in Scotland in 1901 so lord knows where they were in '91.
Don't blame you for not wanting to travel in that sort of weather  we are starting to get HOT now and it will soon be time to turn on the air-conditioner LOL..
I don't suppose the Druid pub is still there ?? would be interesting to know what happened to the old photo's of the village
My family tree is getting larger and larger, have been doing this for about four years now and it is surprising how widespread one's "family"is.  Certainly would appreciate photo's when you are on your "travels""  Regards Pat

[Paul]

Hello Pat.
I looked up the baptisms of the two Mckay children born in Llanferres.

Feb 16 1879. Robert Duncan. S/O James & Jane Mckay. Abode, Nant Plymog.
Fathers Occ. Game Keeper.
Aug 7 1881. Margaret ?. D/O. James & Jane Mckay. Abode,            .
Fathers Occ. Game Keeper & Bailiff.

Margaret had a second name but I (we, I asked other people in the search room for their opinion) couldn't make it out.
 Does Henderson ring any bells?

After all that I forgot to get their abode which might have helped Barry pin point them. I'm sure it wasn't Nant Plymog. I'll look for it next time.

Paul

[Barry1936]

That was a good piece of detective work Paul and probably throws most of what I said into doubt!!!  Plymog is nowhere near Rhos, being at the opposite end of Llanferres (south) and much further out.  (The Nant in Plymog refers to the stream - hope I am not doing the proverbial grandmother and eggs!).  As rhos is Welsh for moor and as it is all moor on that side of the Ruthin-Mold road it could be that Rhos Farm isn't in the hamlet of Rhos at all?  On the other hand, it was enumerated sequentially with The School House and Rhos Cottage in the census.   I have also looked at the 1878 OS map and cannot find a Rhos Farm anywhere so I am drawn to the conclusion that Rhos Cottage and Rhos Farm were two dwellings in a single building - but then it is so easy to jump to the wrong conclusions in genealogy.  Perhaps the missing abode for Margaret's baptism is key!.

Barry

[patvp1]

    
Thank you both.  Yes Paul, James mother was Margaret Henderson..so we have a hit there.
So Barry this puts a whole new slant on things looks like we shall have to wait for more info from Paul...how marvellous..thanks again Pat..if it makes it any easier my e mail address is pat26438@hotmail.com 

[chris_49]

And the Druid pub is definitely still there! Chris