The village of Bodfari is set in the Vale of Clwyd and has been a settlement for thousands of years. It is said that the Roman General Varius chose a commanding site overlooking the lovely Vale of Clwyd for his villa which became known as "Botvarius " (House of Varius) and a thousand years later the village of Bodfari is mentioned in the Doomsday Book.

Bodfari is just across the river from Aberchwiler and although our branch of the ‘Prichard’ family never lived there Michael and Mary were married in the parish church in 1803 and all of their children were baptised there.  Michael was buried in the churchyard in 1857 and Mary in 1860.

Bodfari gives its name to the "ancient parish" which comprises the townships of Bodfari, in old Flintshire, and Aberchwiler, in old Denbighshire. The parish is generally regarded as being in Flintshire today for family history purposes. The Offa's Dyke footpath built by Offa King of Mercia in 757AD runs through Bodfari.

The parish church is named for St Stephen and parts of it pre date the Norman conquest the first foundation being laid in the early medieval period. At the time that Michael & Mary Prichard were having their children baptised the church building would have been in a very dilapidated condition. Between 1827 and 1834 repairs were carried out and the whole of the inside walls were limewashed. However, despite these repairs, a report on the dilapidated fabric of the church in 1862 stated that it was beyond repair and a new church was built by 1865. So today we see the old tower with a 19^th century church. The church like the parish has tended to move from county to county and was in Flintshire until 1974; and in Clwyd from 1974 until 1996. It is now in "new" Denbighshire.