Hope () is a small village and

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

Flintshire Flintshire () is a county in the north-east of Wales. It borders the Irish Sea to the north, the Dee Estuary to the north-east, the English county of Cheshire to the east, Wrexham County Borough to the south, and Denbighshire to the west. ...

, north-east

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. The village is located approximately from the Wales-England border, on the course of the

River Alyn The River Alyn () is a tributary of the River Dee in north-east Wales. It rises at the southern end of the Clwydian hills and the Alyn Valley forms part of the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The main tow ...

, and less than 5 miles from

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...

. Hope is one of several villages including Caergwrle, Abermorddu and Cefn-y-bedd which together form the

. At the 2001 Census, community the population was 2,522, increasing to 4,224 at the 2011 Census partly due to boundary changes. One of the major features in the area is Hope Mountain (), to the west of the village.

History

''Yr Hob'' was originally the name of a

commote A commote (, sometimes spelt in older documents as , plural , less frequently )'' Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru'' (University of Wales Dictionary), p. 643 was a secular division of land in Medieval Wales. The word derives from the prefix ("together" ...

within the

cantref A cantref ( ; ; plural cantrefi or cantrefs; also rendered as ''cantred'') was a Wales in the Early Middle Ages, medieval Welsh land division, particularly important in the administration of Welsh law. Description Land in medieval Wales was divid ...

of Maelor in the medieval

Kingdom of Powys The Kingdom of Powys (; ) was a Welsh successor state, petty kingdom and principality that emerged during the Middle Ages following the end of Roman rule in Britain. It very roughly covered the northern two-thirds of the modern county of Pow ...

. Both the Welsh and English language names are derived from an

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

word ''hop'' meaning "enclosed land in a marsh", a relic of

Mercia Mercia (, was one of the principal kingdoms founded at the end of Sub-Roman Britain; the area was settled by Anglo-Saxons in an era called the Heptarchy. It was centred on the River Trent and its tributaries, in a region now known as the Midlan ...

n settlement in the area.Owen, H. W. (2015) ''The Place-names of Wales'', UWP, p.53 In 1086, when the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

was compiled, Hope was listed as a very small settlement and it was within the hundred of Exestan and the county of

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

. The old parish of Hope was once divided into two parts by the River Alyn. One part, called Hope Medachied, was made up of the

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

s of Uwchmynydd, Cymau, Caergwrle and Rhanberfedd: the other was made of Hope Owen, Estyn and Shordley.Hope, Flintshire
GENUKI, accessed 03-10-18 In 1843 a large area of Hope Medachied was transferred to the new parish of Llanfynydd. The old parish, also known as "St Cyngar’s Church" in Hope, is built on top of an ancient “llan” - a raised circular Celtic enclosure. Suggesting that long before the Norman stone church was built, the site was already a site of Christian worship that pre-dates the 12th Century church. The village's long association with neighbouring Caergwrle has given rise to the local expression "Live in Hope, die in Caergwrle".''The AA touring guide to Wales'', Automobile Association, 1975, p.205

Facilities

The English-medium

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

Castell Alun High is located in the village. Hope has good transport links with local towns and cities, notably

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

and

Mold A mold () or mould () is one of the structures that certain fungus, fungi can form. The dust-like, colored appearance of molds is due to the formation of Spore#Fungi, spores containing Secondary metabolite#Fungal secondary metabolites, fungal ...

, with the Borderlands Line running directly through Hope railway station giving access to

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

via the

Wirral Peninsula The Wirral Peninsula (), known locally as the Wirral, is a peninsula in North West England. The roughly rectangular peninsula is about long and wide, and is bounded by the Dee Estuary to the west, the Mersey Estuary to the east, and Liverpo ...

. Hope has a library, a sports centre and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

and

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

clubs. The Castell Alun Colts Football Club play in the Welsh Football League system and are affiliated to the Football Association of Wales and the North East Wales Football Association. At present (2024/25 season) they play in the North East Wales Premier Division, the fourth level on the Welsh Football League pyramid. In 2017, work began on a community project to build a replica of a Roman fort in a disused quarry in the village. The project known as "Park in the Past" is set to become a centre for education and leisure activities.

Governance

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...

in the same name exists, which covers the village of Hope and elects one county councillor to

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 Tŷ Dewi Sant, Ewloe since 2025. It was previously based at County Hall in Mold. Elections take place ...

. This ward had a population of 2,605 at the 2011 census.

References

External links

Photos of Hope and surrounding area on geograph.org.uk
{{authority control Communities in Flintshire Villages in Flintshire Wards of Flintshire Commotes

History

Facilities

Governance

See also

References

External links