Flintshire
This article's lead section contains information that is not included elsewhere in the article. (October 2023) |
Flintshire
Sir y Fflint (Welsh) | ||
---|---|---|
NUTS 3 code UKL23 | | |
ONS code | 00NJ | |
Website | www.flintshire.gov.uk |
Flintshire (Welsh: Sir y Fflint) is a county in the north-east of Wales. It has a maritime border with Merseyside along the Dee Estuary to the north, and land borders with Cheshire to the east, Wrexham County Borough to the south, and Denbighshire to the west. Connah's Quay is the largest town, while Flintshire County Council is based in Mold.
The county covers 169 square miles (440 km2), with a population of 155,000 in 2021. After Connah's Quay-Shotton (23,000) the largest settlements are Flint (13,736), Buckley (16,127) and Mold (10,123). The east of the county is industrialised and contains the Deeside conurbation, which extends into Cheshire and has a population of 53,568. The adjacent coast is also home to industry, but further west has been developed for tourism, particularly at Talacre. Inland, the west of the county is sparsely populated and characterised by gentle hills, including part of the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley AONB.
The county is named after the historic county of the same name, which was established by the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284 and has notably different borders. The county is considered part of the Welsh Marches and formed part of the historic Earldom of Chester and Flint.
History
Flintshire takes its name from the historic county of Flintshire, which also formed an administrative county between 1889 until 1974 when it was abolished under the Local Government Act 1972. The re-establishment of a principal area in 1996 under the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 does not share the same boundaries and covers a smaller area.
Early history
At the time of the Roman invasion, the area of present-day Flintshire was inhabited by the Deceangli, one of the Celtic tribes in ancient Britain, with the Cornovii to the east and the Ordovices to the west. Lead and silver mine workings are evident in the area, with several sows of lead found bearing the name 'DECEANGI' inscribed in Roman epigraphy.[1] The Deceangli appear to have surrendered to Roman rule with little resistance. Following Roman Britain, and the emergence of various petty kingdoms, the region had been divided into the Hundred of Englefield (Welsh: Cantref Tegeingl), derived from the Latin Deceangli.
It became part of the Kingdom of Mercia by the 8th century AD, with much of the western boundary reinforced under Offa of Mercia after 752, but there is evidence that Offa's Dyke is probably a much earlier construction.[2] By the time of the Norman conquest in 1066 it was under the control of Edwin of Tegeingl, from whose Lordship the Flintshire coat of arms is derived.
Edwin's mother is believed to have been Ethelfleda or Aldgyth, daughter of Eadwine of Mercia. At the time of the establishment of the Earldom of Chester, which succeeded the Earl of Mercia, the region formed two of the then twelve Hundreds of Cheshire of which it remained a part for several hundred years.[3]
Flintshire today approximately resembles the boundaries of the Hundred of
Flintshire as a separate local authority remained in existence until 1974 when it was merged with those of Denbighshire and
Modern history
The current administrative area of Flintshire (a
- the former borough of Flint
- the urban districts of Buckley, Connah's Quay, Holywell, Mold
- the rural district of Holywell Rural District
- all of Hawarden Rural District except the parish of Marford and Hosley
The district of
Geography
Flintshire is a maritime county bounded to the north by the
Historic buildings and structures
-
Ancient Cross at Whitford
Railways
Located on the
.Industry
Parts of Flintshire have major manufacturing industries. Amongst these are an advanced
There are daily flights of the Airbus BelugaXL transport aircraft of Airbus wings from Broughton.
Flintshire is also known for its internet companies, the largest and most well known being Moneysupermarket.com based in Ewloe.
Flintshire included much of the North Wales Coalfield, with the last colliery at Point of Ayr closing in 1996.
Flintshire is home to Shotwick Solar Park, currently the largest photovoltaic solar array in the UK. It was built in 2016 and covers 250 acres of the south western edge of the Wirral Peninsula near the village of Shotwick. It has a maximum generating capacity of 72.2 MW and is connected directly to the largest paper-mill in the UK, UPM Shotton Paper.[needs update]
Flintshire was home to a thriving steel industry with many of the local communities and homes being built around this sector. Steelmaking came to an end in 1980 with the loss of 6500 on one day. The Shotton Steelworks site, now owned by Tata Steel, continues to produce coated steel products, mainly for the construction industry. [8]
Fairtrade
On 19 November 2004, Flintshire was granted
Education
Flintshire County Council is the
Four of the secondary schools have come together with Coleg Cambria to form the Deeside Consortium.
In December 2022, the Climate Change Committee met and Buckley Bistre West councillor Carolyn Preece recommended weekly vegan school meals in the local schools to combat climate change.[10]
Media
Flintshire's local newspapers include two daily titles, North Wales Daily Post and The Leader.
There are two radio stations broadcast in the area –
An online news website covering the Flintshire area, Deeside.com, operates from Deeside.
Politics and government
Flintshire has been traditionally a Labour Party stronghold, but in the 2019 general election, the Welsh Conservatives won the Delyn constituency.[11]
The Alyn and Deeside constituency is a historically and still is a Welsh Labour Party constituency, which is represented by Mark Tami.[12]
Notable people
See Category:People from Flintshire
- Gareth Allen (born 1988 in Mynydd Isa, near Buckley), former professional snooker player.
- Saint Asaph, 6th century Christian saint, the first Bishop of St Asaph
- Claire Fox (born 1960), writer, journalist, lecturer and politician; grew up in Buckley
- William Ewart Gladstone (1809–1898), 12 years as Prime Minister; retired to Hawarden Castle.[13]
- Jade Jones (born 1993 Bodelwyddan), taekwondo athlete; 2012 and 2016 Olympic gold medallist
- Michael Owen (born 1979), footballer with 362 club caps and 89 for England went to school in Hawarden
- Ian Rush (born 1961 in St Asaph), footballer with 602 club caps and 73 for Wales
- Gary Speed (1969 in Mancot – 2011), footballer and manager with 677 club caps and 85 for Wales
- Frances Williams (c. 1760–1801), first Welsh woman to settle in Australia[14]
International relations
Flintshire has one formal
See also
- List of Lord Lieutenants of Flintshire
- List of High Sheriffs of Flintshire
- List of Scheduled Monuments in Flintshire
- List of churches in Flintshire
References
- ^ "The Celtic tribes of Britain". Roman Britain Organisation. Archived from the original on 26 December 2001. Retrieved 3 May 2014.
- ^ "Offa's Dyke: built by multiple kings?". Current Archaeology. XXV, No. 3 (291): 6. June 2014.
- ISBN 0-7190-3160-5.
- ^ "Index of /search/". domesdaymap.co.uk. Archived from the original on 23 April 2014. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
- ^ Harris & Thacker (1987, pp. 340–341)
- ^ Francis, Jo (1 November 2022). "Eren Paper's plans for Shotton gain green light". Printweek. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
- ^ "Airbus in the United Kingdom". Airbus. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
- ^ "Events that shook North Wales: How Shotton steelworks closure saw 6,500 jobs lost in one day". The Daily Post. 21 July 2018. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
- ^ "Flintshire celebrates Fairtrade Fortnight". Retrieved 5 March 2015.
- ^ Sheehan, Rory (2022-12-01). "Vegetarian or vegan school dinner days should be mandatory, says councillor". North Wales Live. Retrieved 2022-12-14.
- ^ Mosalski, Ruth (2019-12-13). "General Election 2019 result for Delyn". walesonline. Retrieved 2019-12-13.
- ^ "Mark Tami for Alyn and Deeside in the UK Parliament elections". WhoCanIVoteFor?. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
- Russell, George William Erskine (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 12 (11th ed.). pp. 66–72. .
- ^ Collins, Hayley (2011-11-08). "Flintshire Woman Shipped to Australia for Stealing Clothes". The Leader. Retrieved 2023-09-10.
- ^ "Flintshire". menden.de (in German). Menden (Sauerland). Retrieved 2020-05-06.
Sources
- Harris, B. E.; Thacker, A. T. (1987), The Victoria History of the County of Chester. (Volume 1: Physique, Prehistory, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, and Domesday), Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-722761-9
External links
- Flintshire at Curlie
- Flintshire archaeological information
- Chester Recognizance Rolls calendar surname-indexed with scans
- Things to do in Flintshire