Sealand is a

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. ...

and

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 ...

, 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 ...

, on the edge of 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 ...

. It is west of the city of

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 ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, and is part of the

Deeside Deeside () is the name given to a predominantly industrial conurbation of towns and villages in Flintshire and Cheshire on the England–Wales border, Wales–England border lying near the canalised stretch of the River Dee, Wales, River Dee t ...

conurbation A conurbation is a region consisting of a number of metropolises, cities, large towns, and other urban areas which, through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban or industrially developed area. In most ...

on the Wales-England border. At the 2001 Census, it had a population of 2,746 (1,342 males, 1,404 females), increasing to 2,996 at the 2011 census. The community includes the villages of Garden City and Sealand, and the settlements of Higher Ferry, Sealand Manor and Sealand Road. Sealand Manor was established by the Welsh Land Settlement Society in 1937 as an agricultural settlement. The local Society was wound up in 1961, after which the leases of the homes passed to Hawarden Rural District Council. Sealand is on flat land formed by

land reclamation Land reclamation, often known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new Terrestrial ecoregion, land from oceans, list of seas, seas, Stream bed, riverbeds or lake ...

of part of the head of the

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime enviro ...

of the River Dee which had become heavily silted-up. It is on the A548 road, near the Chester dormitory communities of

Blacon Blacon is a suburb that is predominately a council estate on the outskirts of Chester, England. It was once one of the largest council housing estates in Europe. Geography Blacon is next to the England–Wales border, Welsh border, on a hill o ...

and

Saughall Saughall is a village in the civil parish of Saughall and Shotwick Park, in the unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. Located between Shotwick and Blacon, it is approximately nor ...

and is a popular place of residence for people from both sides of the Welsh/English border. Welsh-medium primary education is available three miles away at Ysgol Croes Atti's Shotton site (opened in 2014) whilst Welsh-medium secondary education is available nine miles away in

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 ...

at the long established Ysgol Maes Garmon. The River Dee flowed to the sea along the current border between Wales and England, until in the 18th century it was diverted into its present channelized course to try to improve ship access from the sea to Chester. That led to extensive

in the head of the Dee estuary. The River Dee Company (1741-1902) had a right to reclaim the marshes and build embankments following the re-alignment of the Dee.

Timeline

* 1732: Nathaniel Kinderley proposed the scheme. * 1735-1736: Nathaniel Kinderley & Company cut the new Dee channel from Chester to Golftyn. * 1737: The new Dee channel was opened for shipping. * 1740: Kinderley's company became known as the River Dee Company. * 1753: First

polder A polder () is a low-lying tract of land that forms an artificial hydrology, hydrological entity, enclosed by embankments known as levee, dikes. The three types of polder are: # Land reclamation, Land reclaimed from a body of water, such as a ...

made: (the land where now are the) Shooting School, Sealand Manor, Garden City, about as far as Hawarden Bridge. * 1754: Polder made: Ferry Lane Industrial Estate, Thornleigh Park, Sealand Nursery, Deeside House. * 1768: Polder made: Bank Farm, Birchenfields Farm. * 1790: Polder made: Yewtree Farm, Church Farm, Sealand village, Waterloo Farm, Willow Farm. * 1826: Polder made: Old Marsh Farm, rest of low land east of where the

A550 road List of A roads in zone 5 in Great Britain starting north/east of the A5, west of the A6, south of the Solway Firth The Solway Firth is an inlet on the west coast of Great Britain, forming part of the border between England and Scotland ...

is now. * 1857: Polder made: where the Deeside Industrial Park is now. (In the 20th century this area was raised 2.5 meters / 8 feet by sand pumping.) * 1861: The thousands of acres of reclaimed marshlands around Sealand and

Saltney Saltney is a town straddling the counties of Flintshire and Cheshire on the England–Wales border. The local government Community (Wales), community of Saltney lies entirely in Wales, while the English areas are Unparished area, unparished. The ...

were raising £8000 in annual rent. * 1865-1867: St Bartholomew's Church, Sealand was built. * About 1880: West of the Dee, a polder including Beeches Farm (a little north of Hawarden Airport) was made. * 1892: Polder made: the Shotton

steelworks A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. It may be an integrated steel works carrying out all steps of steelmaking from smelting iron ore to rolled product, but may also be a plant where steel semi-fini ...

. ::Boundaries of these polders show as old

dikes Dyke or dike may refer to: General uses * Dyke (slang), a slang word meaning "lesbian" * Dike (geology), formations of magma or sediment that cut through and across the layering of adjacent rocks * Dike (mythology), ''Dikē'', the Greek goddess ...

across the farmland.

Airfield

RAF Sealand was originally a civilian airfield and was taken over by the military in 1916 for training. No. 30 Maintenance unit was formed there in 1939. In 1951 the station was taken over by the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

, and then handed back to the RAF in 1957. As a result of defence cuts announced in 2004, RAF Sealand was closed in April 2006. There is a housing estate on the land and a planned Industrial estate.

In popular culture

Though not about the community, the 1981 song " Sealand" by Wirral band

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) are an English electronic music, electronic band formed in Meols, Merseyside in 1978 by Andy McCluskey (vocals, bass guitar) and Paul Humphreys (keyboards, vocals). Regarded as pioneers of electronic musi ...

took its title from the RAF base there. For songwriter Andy McCluskey, the name seemed to evoke the image of "a place between the land and the sea".

References

External links

Photos of Sealand and surrounding area on geograph.org.uk

Google Earth view of Sealand
* http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/wal/FLN/Hawarden/Sealand/ * http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/8807 * https://sealandcommunitycouncil.co.uk/about/local-history/ History of Sealand * https://www.angelfire.com/fl/shotton/history5.html, History of Shotton, including a map showing dates when land areas in the Sealand area were reclaimed. * http://www.saughall.gov.uk/?page_id=821, History of

and Shotwick Park, including how the Sealand land reclamation affected Saughall. {{Authority control Villages in Flintshire Polders

Timeline

Airfield

In popular culture

See also

References

External links