Gazetteer of
British Place Names

Flintshire (Sir y Fflint) is a maritime county in north Wales. The main part of Flintshire lies along the Dee estuary and on the Irish sea. The coast is marked with holiday resorts, notably Prestatyn and Rhyl. St Asaph, on the River Clwyd, is a small cathedral town, the seat of the ancient bishopric of St Asaph. Elsewhere Flintshire has secondary industrial and distribution centres amidst what is otherwise rural countryside. In the centre of Flintshire is a backbone of modest hills, the Clwydian Range and in the western edge of the county the Clwyd Valley. The rural Maelor Saesneg area is separated from the rest of the county by a tract of Denbighshire.
Portrait of Flintshire

Place Type: Historic County
Alternative name(s): Sir y Fflint
Lat, Long: 53.233655,-3.177644
Grid Reference: SJ214713
Country: Wales

GBPNID: 305786
Entry Type: Main listing (P)
URL: https://gazetteer.org.uk/place/Flintshire,_305786

 Explore Flintshire on Wikishire

The Clwydian Hills run from the far south-west of the main body of Flintshire up to close to Prestatyn on the north coast. Much of the western border with Denbighshire lies among the hills. The highest hill in the range, Moel Famau, is the county top and lies on the Denbighshire border.

The hills are named after the River Clwyd, whose Vale marks their western edge. The lower reaches of the river are in Denbighshire, but it meets Flintshire a few miles west of Bodfari and forms the county border for a few miles before heading into Flintshire. In this northern Flintshire part of the Vale of Clwyd lies St Asaph. This small city is best known as the site of St Asaph Cathedral, the seat of the ancient bishopric of St Asaph, which in the early Middle Ages was the spiritual centre of the Kingdom of Powys.


St Asaph Cathedral

The town of Rhuddlan lies on the east bank of the Clwyd. Twthill is a 'motte and bailey' castle erected by Robert of Rhuddlan in 1073, later replaced by Rhuddlan castle, built by Edward I from 1277 to 1282. The Statute of Rhuddlan was promulgated from here on 19 March 1284. This provided the constitutional basis for the government of the Principality of Wales until 1536. The Statute introduced English common law to Wales but also permitted the continuance of Welsh legal practices. Flintshire itself was created by this statute, The region had been English since the 8th century, and formed part of Cheshire until it was captured by the Welsh in the late 12th century. The county as created by the 1284 statute was primarily comprised of the centref of Tegeingl re-captured from Gywnedd. The cantrefs of Yr Hob, Ystrad Alyn and Maelor Saesneg - re-captured from Powys Fadog - became Marcher lordships and did not become part of Flintshire until The Laws in Wales Act 1535.


Rhuddlan Castle

In its final stretch, the River Clywd again forms the Flintshire-Denbighshire border, flowing into the Irish Sea by the Marine Lake at the western end of the resort town of Rhyl. Once an elegant Victorian resort, the town's fortunes declined after the Second World War but its seafront has more recently seen much regeneration. Along the north Flintshire coast lies the county's other main resort town, Prestatyn. A fishing village for hundreds of years, the arrival of the railways brought the holidaymakers and "Sunny Prestatyn" became famous for its beach, clean seas and promenade entertainers.

The Point of Ayr marks where the northern coast of Flintshire meets it eastern coast on the Dee estuary. This eastern coast is relatively undeveloped as far south as the county town of Flint. The land between the coast and the Clwydian Hills is rural and agricultural. In this area lies the Maen Achwyfan Cross, a fine Anglo-Saxon slab-cross fashioned from one large stone.


Maen Achwyfan Cross

King Edward I began Flint Castle in 1277: the first of his 'iron ring' of royal castles. Inland from the Dee, the town of Holywell takes its name from the St Winefride's Well. The well has been known since at least the Roman period, and has been a site of pilgrimage since about 660 when Saint Winefride was beheaded there by Caradog. The well is one of the traditional Seven Wonders of Wales. Basingwerk Abbey is a ruined 12th-century Cistercian abbey near Holywell.


St Winefride's Well, Holywell

Around the southern end of the Dee estuary is an industrial area. North of the Dee, close to the Cheshire border is the Deeside Industrial Park, a major employer for the towns in the area. South of the Dee lies Connah's Quay, the county's largest town. Top-y-Fron Hall is a Grade II* listed structure from the Georgian era. Shotton lies at the southern end of the Grade II listed Hawarden Bridge, opened in 1889. Contiguous with Shotton is Queensferry.

To the south is Ewloe. Ewloe Castle was one of the last fortifications to be built by the native Princes of Wales, It was abandoned during the invasion by Edward I in 1277. In the nearby village of Hawarden lie the ruins of Hawarden Old Castle, possibly an Iron Age fort then a Norman motte-and-bailey castle, replaced in the 13th century and slighted on the orders of Oliver Cromwell. New Hawarden Castle is an 18th-century country house which once belonged to William Ewart Gladstone.


Hawarden Old Castle

The county's second largest town, Buckley, is Anglo-Saxon in origin. The Buckley Jubilee is an annual celebration on the second Tuesday of July. The Royal Buckley Brass Band, one of only two in the UK to receive sanction to use 'Royal' in their name, lead the Jubilee.

Mold lies on the River Alyn, west of the Deeside towns. The town grew up around Mold Castle, now in ruins. About a mile west is Maes Garmon (The Field of Germanus) the traditional site of the Alleluia Victory by British forces led by Germanus of Auxerre over invading Picts and Scots.

The Maelor Saesneg region is entirely rural. At Bangor-on-Dee, the five-arched stone arch bridge across the River Dee dates from about 1660 and it is believed to have been built by Inigo Jones. Bangor-on-Dee Racecourse, in a bend in the Dee, is one of only two racecourses in Wales. In Overton-on-Dee, the churchyard of St Mary the Virgin is famous for twenty-one very ancient yew trees, traditionally one of the Seven Wonders of Wales. At 1,500 to 2,000 years old, the oldest tree predates the church.


Ancient yew trees in St Mary the Virgin churchyard, Overton-on-Dee

The Flintshire flag derives from the arms attributed to the local Dark Age ruler, Edwin of Tegeingl. The arms bore a black engrailed cross, i.e. a cross with scalloped edges, on a white field between four choughs, a bird once likely to have been widespread in the vicinity, in black and red.


Flintshire flag