Flintshire (), also known as the County of Flint, was one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It was located in the north-east of

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 ...

. Flintshire was first created in 1284 by the Statute of Rhuddlan, until all counties were re-organised in 1536 into the set of thirteen. Most of what was Flintshire was along the north-east coast of Wales, however the county was notable for having one of the few large county exclaves, the English Maelor (), to survive the Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844. The administrative county of Flint was abolished under 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 ...

on 1 April 1974, and became part of the new administrative area of Clwyd. The exclaves became part of Wrexham Maelor district – other parts formed the districts of Alyn and Deeside, Delyn and Rhuddlan. A

unitary authority A unitary authority is a type of local government, local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are ...

, also named

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. ...

, was formed in 1996 under the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994, consisting only of the Alyn and Deeside and Delyn districts – the Wrexham Maelor parts now form part of Wrexham County Borough, with the former Rhuddlan district forming the northernmost part of the current Denbighshire unitary authority.

Geography

The former county did not have the same boundaries as the current administrative county of

; in particular the former county included a large

exclave An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is s ...

called the English Maelor (); it also included Prestatyn, Rhyl and St Asaph which are now administered as part of modern-day Denbighshire, as well as Bangor-on-Dee and Overton-on-Dee, which are administered as part of Wrexham County Borough. Other exclaves of the historic Flintshire included the manors of Marford and Hoseley, Abenbury Fechan and Bryn Estyn, all on the outskirts of Wrexham, and also a small part of the parish of Erbistock around the ''Boat Inn''. These were all completely surrounded by the historic county of Denbighshire. Additionally, a small part of Flintshire, including the village of Sealand, was isolated across the River Dee when its course was changed to improve navigation. Flintshire was a maritime county bounded to the north by the

Irish Sea The Irish Sea is a body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel and to the Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland in the north by the North Ch ...

, to the north-east by the Dee estuary, to the east by

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 ...

and to the south and southwest by Denbighshire. The Maelor Saesneg was bounded on the north-west by Denbighshire, on the north-east by Cheshire, and on the south by

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

. A medium height range of hills, the Clwydian Range (part of the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is one of 46 areas of countryside in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Since 2023, the areas in England an ...

) ran in southeast-northwest direction along the border between the main part of Flintshire and Denbighshire, almost reaching the sea near Prestatyn. The Offa's Dyke Path ran along the crest of these hills. The highest point in the historic county ( county top) was found within these hills at Moel Famau, height , a notable viewpoint topped by the ruined remains of the Jubilee Tower, built in 1810 to commemorate the golden jubilee of King George III. Flintshire was the smallest of what are now known as the historic counties in Wales. The coast along the Dee estuary was heavily developed by industry and the north coast much developed for

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

. The Clwydian Mountains occupied much of the west of the county. The highest point was Moel Famau (1,820 feet / 554 metres). The chief towns were Buckley, Connah's Quay,

Flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...

, Hawarden, Holywell,

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 ...

, Queensferry, and Shotton. The main rivers were the Dee (the estuary of which forms much of the coast) and the Clwyd. The main industries were manufacturing of aircraft components (Airbus), engines (Toyota), paper (Shotton Paper), steel processing (Corus), agriculture and tourism. Places of special interest included castles in Flint, Hawarden, Rhuddlan and Ewloe, Greenfield Valley, St. Winefride's Well in Holywell and Wepre Country Park, in Connah's Quay.

Formation

The county was formed in 1284 under the terms of the Statute of Rhuddlan, following the defeat of the Principality of Wales. However, the region had been English since the 8th century, and formed part of

until it was captured by the Welsh in the late 12th century. In the 13th century, prior to its re-capture by the Normans, the region comprised: * Tegeingl (Mercian ''Englefield''), a Cantref in

Gwynedd Gwynedd () is a county in the north-west of Wales. It borders Anglesey across the Menai Strait to the north, Conwy, Denbighshire, and Powys to the east, Ceredigion over the Dyfi estuary to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. The ci ...

* certain Commotes within the Cantref of Maelor, in Powys Fadog: ** Maelor ''Saesneg'' (i.e., ''Saxon'' Maelor) ** Yr Hob - i.e., ''Hopedale'' ** Ystrad Alyn Yr Hob and Ystrad Alyn, which been part of Gwynedd earlier in the century, had become sufficiently Welsh that they were regarded as another part of ''Welsh Maelor'', rather than distinguished from it like ''English Maelor'' (''Maelor Saesneg''). They were not initially included in Flintshire, but instead became Marcher Lordships. Yr Hob became the ''Lordship of Hope'', while Ystrad Alyn was split in two - the Lordships of

and Hawarden. Following the Laws in Wales Act (1536), these three Lordships were merged into Flintshire.

Civil parishes

From the medieval period until 1974, Flintshire was divided into

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

es for the purpose of local government; these in large part equated to ecclesiastical parishes (see the table below), most of which still exist as part of the Church in Wales. Chapelries are in italics. ¹chapelry to Ellesmere in Shropshire ²chapelry to Malpas in Cheshire Most of these parishes are in the modern county of Flintshire, but those marked D are in Denbighshire, and those marked W are in Wrexham.

County offices

Flintshire County Council established 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) 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, known as County Hall, Mold, was completed in October 1967.

References

External links