County Hall ( cy, Neuadd y Sir Yr Wyddgrug) is a municipal facility at Raikes Lane in

Mold, Flintshire Mold ( cy, Yr Wyddgrug) is a town and community in Flintshire, Wales, on the River Alyn. It is the county town and administrative seat of Flintshire County Council, as it was of Clwyd from 1974 to 1996. According to the 2011 UK Census, it had ...

. It was the headquarters of the old

Flintshire County Council Flintshire County Council is the unitary local authority for the county of Flintshire, one of the principal areas of Wales. It is based at County Hall in Mold. Elections take place every five years. The last election was on 5 May 2022. Histor ...

from 1967 to 1974, the headquarters of

Clwyd County Council Clwyd County Council ( cy, Cyngor Sir Clwyd) was the county council of the non-metropolitan county of Clwyd in north-east Wales, from its creation in 1974 to its abolition in 1996. It came into its powers on 1 April 1974. The county council was ba ...

from 1974 to 1996 and has been the headquarters of the new

since 1996.

History

Following the implementation of the

Local Government Act 1888 Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States * Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administrat ...

, which established county councils in every county,

set up its base at the old County Hall in Chester Street in Mold. Additional facilities acquired included a local militia barracks (originally designed by

Thomas Mainwaring Penson Thomas Mainwaring Penson (1818–64) was an English surveyor and architect. His father and grandfather, who were both named Thomas Penson, were also surveyors and architects. His grandfather Thomas Penson (c. 1760–1824) worked from an office ...

) which was converted for use as council offices in the late 1880s. After finding, in the 1930s, that the Chester Street facilities were too cramped, county leaders decided to procure modern facilities: the site they selected formed part of the Llwynegrin Hall estate which was acquired for the purpose. The new building, which was designed by the county architect, Robert Harvey, in the brutalist style and influenced by the work of

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...

, was completed in October 1967. The design for the seven-storey building, which involved a series a parallel wings, featured continuous rows of windows, every second of which had a heavy concrete surround: it was officially opened as the Shire Hall by

Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, (Margaret Rose; 21 August 1930 – 9 February 2002) was the younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and the younger sister and only sibling of Queen Elizabeth ...

in May 1968. An extension to the building was opened by

Princess Anne Anne, Princess Royal (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise; born 15 August 1950), is a member of the British royal family. She is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the only sister of K ...

in July 1972. After the implementation of the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

, the new building became the home of

in 1974. On 1 April 1996, under the

Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 The Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 (c. 19) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which amended the Local Government Act 1972 to create the current local government structure in Wales of 22 unitary authority areas, referred to as ...

, Clwyd County Council was broken up and the building was acquired by the new

who subsequently renamed it County Hall. The new Flintshire County Council also inherited the former Alyn and Deeside Borough Council Civic Offices, which had been built in 1992 at St David's Park in

Ewloe Ewloe (; cy, Ewlo, ) is a village and electoral ward in the community of Hawarden in Flintshire, Wales. It is situated close to the Flintshire/ Cheshire sector of the Wales-England border. The A55 expressway passes through Ewloe and its mos ...

in the

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...

Hawarden Hawarden (; cy, Penarlâg) is a village, community (Wales), community and Wards and electoral divisions of the United Kingdom, electoral ward in Flintshire, Wales. It is part of the Deeside conurbation on the Wales-England border and is home ...

. The building at Ewloe was leased to

Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy drink, t ...

for some years and was renamed "Unity House". By 2018, County Hall was proving very costly to maintain, while Unilever's lease of Unity House had ended and the council had tried to sell it without success. The council therefore decided to move several departments to Unity House, which it renamed "Ty Dewi Sant" ('' en, St David's House''). The rear wings of County Hall were then demolished in 2020, retaining only the front part of the building which includes the council chamber and some office space. County Hall therefore continues to serve as the council's official headquarters and meeting place, but many of the council's staff are now based at Ty Dewi Sant.

Notes

References

External links

* {{commons category-inline, Shire Hall, Mold, County Hall, Mold Buildings and structures in Flintshire M Government buildings completed in 1967