Here lies Henry Pritchard
Henry Pritchard (d.1756)
Little is known about Henry Pritchard, who died aged 50. Please use the photo to identify his gravestone, which is flat on the ground and is unreadable.
His grave is of local interest because he appears to be the first of more than 3,000 people to be buried in the churchyard. Although the church was established back in 546AD, the first recorded burial on the site appears to have been in 1686, when Hugh Wynne, aged one day, was buried inside the church. His father, Colonel Hugh Wynne of Bodysgallen, raised at his own expense a regiment of foot soldiers to aid King Charles in the Civil War.
There was an upsurge in burials in the mid Victorian era, when many people from out of the area were interred here. Tourism had brought an influx of incomers, either to work or for holidays. They included industrialists who had grown wealthy in nearby areas of England and had second homes in North Wales, or commuted by train to their work in cities such as Manchester.