Belton History
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This part of the Belton family is from North Wales, UK |
Belton Tree |
Belton Family |
Belton History |
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My father, Bill Belton, is the smiling man on the right. This picture was taken at a mountain hospital in India, which accounts for the other men looking so poorly. Dad was in 62 Squadron of the RAF and had previously been in Singapore. Click here to go to my 62 Squadron RAF page |
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My branch of the Belton family lived in Bwlchgwyn, Nr Wrexham, North Wales (UK). Other members of the family have traced the line back to approximately 1700 and the family tree (which I hope to reproduce eventually) is extensive. We believe that the Belton family may have come from Spain to work in the tin mines is Cornwall and that they then moved up to the Wrexham area to work in the lead mines in the small village of Minera. I always wondered why we had a village called Minera - pronounced the Welsh way, the second syllable is stressed, and the name had no English translation. Then I found that there are companies in South America with names similar to The Belton Mineral Company of S. America; these are huge mining concerns and the connection with the name Minera became so obvious - mineral! So it seems very likely that there is truth in these histories. Since then I have read that Minera was a name given to the area by the Romans who were also looking for mineral deposits - I'm not so convinced! Roman names, in general, don't seem to have survived very well in the area..... Bwlchgwyn is another small village just across the hill from Minera and it is home to silica quarries; Bwlchgwyn is translated as White Gap and refers to either the lime quarries or the silica quarries. In the census of 1881 and 1901 there are very few mentions of Bwlchgwyn, the village is more commonly referred to as being in the parish of Brymbo, and there are many, many variations on the spelling of Bwlchgwyn.....can't imagine why! |
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