Flintshire history

Sep 24 2008

Flintshire is the smallest historic county in Wales.

Flintshire, or Sir y Fflint in Welsh, is bordered by the Irish Sea and the Dee estuary in the north, Denbighshire to the south and west and Cheshire to the east. Edward I began work on Flint Castle in 1277 as the site had been a traditional battleground between the Celts and Romans, British and Saxons and Welsh and Normans. Edward was subsequently responsible for dividing up north and west Wales into counties through the statute of Rhuddlan in 1284 and Flintshire was established at this time.

The historic county was distinctive in having a number of exclaves (such as Maelor Saesneg) which were surrounded by Denbighshire.  In 1831 the total area covered was 184,905 acres (748.28 square kilometres). Flintshire was abolished in 1974 and became part of Clwyd, emerging again in 1996 as a county in its own right. 

The Romans established a number of markets in Flintshire and settlements grew up around them. As a result, the county's main market towns are Connah's Quay, Flint, Holywell and Mold. Flintshire's industries include aircraft-part manufacture at Broughton, the Toyota car plant and paper manufacturing at Deeside, steel processing at Shotton, internet companies (the largest of which is based in Ewloe), agriculture and tourism. There has also been an RAF base at Sealand since 1917. The Dee estuary is predominantly industrial in nature while tourism is important for the rest of the coastal area and the Clwydian range of hills.