Flintshire Freeze Players

, settlement_type = County
, image_skyline =
, image_alt =
, image_caption =
, image_flag =
, image_shield = Arms of Flintshire County Council.svg
, shield_size = 100px
, shield_alt =
, shield_link =
, image_blank_emblem =
, blank_emblem_alt =
, image_map = File: Flintshire UK location map.svg
, map_alt =
, map_caption = Flintshire shown within Wales
, coordinates =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name =
, subdivision_type1 = Constituent country
, subdivision_type2 = Preserved county
, subdivision_name1 =
, subdivision_name2 = Clwyd
, established_title = Established
, established_date = 1 April 1996
, seat_type = Administrative HQ
, seat = Mold
, seat1_type = Largest town
, seat1 = Connah's Quay
, government_type = Principal council
, governing_body = Flintshire County Council
, leader_title = Executive
, leader_name =
, leader_title1 = Leader
, leader_name1 = Ian Roberts (Labour)
, unit_pref = Imperial
, area_total_km2 = 438
, area_rank = 12th
, population_total =
, population_as_of =
, population_density_km2 =
, population_rank =
, population_blank1_title = Ethnicity
, population_blank1 = 97.8% white
, postal_code_type = Postcode areas
, postal_code = CH postcode area, CH
LL postcode area, LL
, area_code = 01352
01745
01244
, area_code_type = List of dialling codes in the United Kingdom, Dialling codes
, blank_name_sec1 = Government Statistical Service, GSS code
, blank_info_sec1 = W06000005
, website
www.flintshire.gov.uk
, leader_title2 = Chairman
, leader_name2 = Marion Bateman
, leader_title3 = Chief Executive
, leader_name3 = Colin Everett
, leader_title4 = List of MPs elected in the 2015 United Kingdom general election, MPs
, leader_name4 = Rob Roberts (politician), Rob Roberts (Conservative Party (UK), C)
Mark Tami (Labour Party (UK), L)
, timezone = Greenwich Mean Time
, utc_offset = +0
, timezone_DST = British Summer Time
, utc_offset_DST = +1
, blank2_name_sec1 = ISO 3166-2:GB, ISO 3166-2
, blank2_info_sec1 = GB-FLN
, blank3_name_sec1 = NUTS of the United Kingdom, NUTS 3 code
, blank3_info_sec1 = UKL23
, blank4_name_sec1 = ONS coding system, ONS code
, blank4_info_sec1 = 00NJ
, official_name =

Flintshire ( cy, Sir y Fflint) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It England–Wales border, borders England to the east, Denbighshire to the west and Wrexham County Borough to the south. It is named after the Flintshire (historic), historic county of the same name which has notably different borders. Flintshire is considered part of the Welsh Marches and formed part of the historic Earl of Chester, Earldom of Chester and Flint. The county is governed by Flintshire County Council which has its main offices in County Hall, Mold.

The largest town in the county is Connah's Quay, followed by Flint, Flintshire, Flint, Buckley, Flintshire, Buckley and Mold.

History

Flintshire takes its name from the Historic counties of Wales, historic county of Flintshire (historic), 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 (Midlands), 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. 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 Tegeingl, Englefield ( cy, 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. 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.

Flintshire today approximately resembles the boundaries of the Hundred of Atiscross as it existed at the time of the Domesday Book. Atiscross, along with the Hundred of Exestan, was transferred from the Earl of Chester, Earldom of Chester to the expanding Kingdom of Gwynedd from the west in the 13th century following numerous military campaigns. This region, as well as an exclave formed from part of the Hundred of Dudestan (known as English Maelor, Maelor Saesneg), later formed the main areas of Flintshire, established by the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284 under Edward I. It was administered with the County palatine, Palatinate of Chester and Flint by the Justice of Chester, Justiciar of Chester. The county was consolidated in 1536 by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542 under the Tudor King Henry VIII, when it was incorporated into the Kingdom of England; it included the detached exclave of Welsh Maelor.

Flintshire as a separate local authority remained in existence until 1974 when it was merged with those of Denbighshire and Edeyrnion Rural District to form the administrative county of Clwyd. Clwyd was abolished 22 years later and Flintshire reorganised in its present form in 1996. However, some parts of the historic country are not included within the present administrative boundaries: significantly English Maelor was incorporated into Wrexham County Borough, and St Asaph, Prestatyn and Rhyl into Denbighshire.

Modern history

The current administrative area of Flintshire (a unitary authority and Principal area) came into existence Local Government (Wales) Act 1994, in 1996, when the former administrative county of Clwyd was split into three smaller areas. The principal area was formed by the merger of the Alyn and Deeside (district), Alyn and Deeside and Delyn (district), Delyn districts. In terms of pre-1974 divisions, the area comprises:

*the former borough of Flint, Flintshire, Flint
*the urban districts of Buckley, Flintshire, Buckley, Connah's Quay, Holywell, Flintshire, Holywell, Mold
*the rural district of Holywell Rural District
*all of Hawarden Rural District except the parish of Marford, Marford and Hosley

The district of Rhuddlan (district), Rhuddlan, which was also formed entirely from the administrative county of Flintshire was included in the new Denbighshire instead. Other parts of the pre-1974 administrative Flintshire to be excluded from the principal area are the Maelor Rural District and the parish of Marford and Hoseley, which became part of the Wrexham Maelor district in 1974 and are now part of Wrexham County Borough.

Geography

Flintshire is a maritime county bounded to the north by the Dee Estuary, Dee estuary, to the east by Cheshire, to the west by Denbighshire and to the south by Wrexham County Borough. The coast along the Dee estuary is heavily developed by industry and the north coast much developed for tourism. The Clwydian Range occupies much of the west of the county. The highest point is Moel Famau (1,820 feet/554 metres). The chief towns are Buckley, Flintshire, Buckley, Connah's Quay, Flint, Wales, Flint, Hawarden, Holywell, Flintshire, Holywell, Mold, Queensferry, Wales, Queensferry, and Shotton, Flintshire, Shotton. The main rivers are the River Dee, Wales, Dee (the estuary of which forms much of the coast), and the River Alyn.

Historic buildings and structures

File:Flint Castle 01.JPG,
File:The corner.jpg,
File:New Hawarden Castle.JPG,
File:Ewloe Castle.JPG,
File:Maen Achwyfan 655181.jpg,
File:Flintshire bridge.jpg,
File:Jubilee Bridge - Queensferry, Wales (2015).jpg,
File:Llyfrgell Sant Deiniol and Gladstone's Library Hawarden Penarlâg 07.JPG,

Railways

Located on the North Wales Coast Line (Holyhead railway station, Holyhead to Chester railway station, Chester) with services run by Avanti West Coast and Transport for Wales Rail, Transport for Wales specifically calling at Flintshire stations such as Flint railway station, Flint and Shotton railway station, Shotton with an interchange at Shotton with the Borderlands Line, which links other Flintshire stations with the Liverpool area.

Industry

Parts of Flintshire have major manufacturing industries. Amongst these are an advanced Toyota plant that manufactures engines, UPM (company), UPM Shotton Paper, and Airbus UK, making the wings for the Airbus A330, A330 and the Airbus A380, A380 at Broughton, Flintshire, Broughton.

There are daily flights of the Airbus Beluga transport aircraft of Airbus wings from Broughton, Flintshire, Broughton for the smaller aircraft. The wings for the A380, which are too large to be transported by air, use a multi-modal transport using Flintshire's roads, the River Dee, Wales, River Dee and the port of Mostyn, also in Flintshire.

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 Solar power in the United Kingdom, 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 (company), UPM Shotton Paper.

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.

Fairtrade

On 19 November 2004, Flintshire was granted Fairtrade County status.

Education

Flintshire County Council is the Local Education Authority of Flintshire. It runs 72 primary schools, 2 special schools and 11 secondary schools. Six of the primary schools and one comprehensive are Welsh medium schools.

Four of the secondary schools have come together with Coleg Cambria to form the Deeside Consortium.

In December 2022, the Climate change, Climate Change Committee met and Buckley, Flintshire, Buckley Bistre West councillor Carolyn Preece recommended weekly Vegan school meal, vegan school meals in the local schools to combat climate change.

Media

Flintshire's local newspapers include two daily titles, Daily Post (North Wales), North Wales Daily Post and ''The Leader (Welsh newspaper), The Leader''.

There are two radio stations broadcast in the area – Communicorp station Heart FM and Global Radio station Capital (radio network), Capital North West and Wales broadcast from ''the studios'' based in Wrexham. Whilst BBC Cymru Wales runs a studio and newsroom for their radio, television and online services located at Glyndŵr University but does not base their broadcasting there.

An online news website covering the Flintshire area
Deeside.com
operates from Deeside.

Politics and government

Flintshire has been traditionally a Labour Party (UK), Labour Party stronghold, but in the 2019 United Kingdom general election, 2019 general election, the Welsh Conservatives won the Delyn (UK Parliament constituency), Delyn constituency.

The Alyn and Deeside (UK Parliament constituency), Alyn and Deeside constituency is a historically and still is a Welsh Labour, Welsh Labour Party constituency, which is represented by Mark Tami.

Notable people

See :People from Flintshire, ''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 of the United Kingdom, Prime Minister; retired to Hawarden Castle (18th century), Hawarden Castle.
* Jade Jones (taekwondo), 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 national football team, England went to school in Hawarden
* Ian Rush (born 1961 in St Asaph), footballer with 602 club caps and 73 for Wales national football team, Wales
*Gary Speed (1969 in Mancot – 2011), footballer and manager with 677 club caps and 85 for Wales national football team, Wales

International relations

Flintshire has one formal Town twinning, twinning arrangement with:

* Menden, Germany

See also

* Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire, List of Lord Lieutenants of Flintshire
* High Sheriff of Flintshire, List of High Sheriffs of Flintshire
* List of Scheduled Monuments in Flintshire
* List of churches in Flintshire

References

External links

*
Flintshire archaeological informationChester Recognizance Rolls
calendar surname-indexed with scans

Things to do in Flintshire

{{Authority control

Flintshire,
Counties of Wales
Principal areas of Wales
History of Flintshire
History of Cheshire,