Flint, Flintshire

Flint is located in north-east Wales, adjoining the River Dee, to the north of the town of Mold. Across the River Dee, the Wirral can be seen from Flint and views to the south of the town include Halkyn Mountain. As the crow flies, Flint is located less than 12 miles from the English urban area of Liverpool, and even closer to its metro area. However, the two bays / rivers in between make the driving distance almost twice as long.

Flint Castle by William Turner

John Speed's map of Wales, made in 1610. The town of Flint can be seen at the top right

The name refers to the stony platform on which the castle was built, and was first recorded in 1277 in the French form le Chaylou (cf modern French caillou, "gravel").[4]

Edward I began to build Flint Castle in 1277, during his campaign to conquer Wales. Both castle and town were attacked by the forces of Madog ap Llywelyn during the revolt of 1294–95; the defenders of the town burnt it in order to deny its use to the Welsh.

Richard II was handed over to his enemy Henry Bolingbroke in the castle in 1399. As a consequence, it is the setting for Act III, Scene III of the Shakespeare play Richard II. The castle was the first of Edward I's 'iron ring' of royal castles to be built in Wales, and the design served as the basis for larger castles such as Harlech Castle and Rhuddlan Castle. Owain Glyndŵr unsuccessfully assaulted it at the commencement of his revolt in 1400.

The town did not have a wall, but a protective earthen and wooden palisaded ditch. The outline of this remained visible in the pattern of streets until the mid-1960s, and the medieval boundary can still be traced now. This can be seen in John Speed's map of Flintshire.

In 1839, the new Town Hall was erected, after the previous was demolished due to it being so decayed and deemed unsafe. The new building was completed in 1840 at a total cost of £1,734.8.6, and the first meeting of the Town Council was held there on 10 February 1840. The Town Hall in Flint is a splendid and imposing building in the Tudor-Gothic style at the very centre of the town. The architect responsible for the design was Mr. John Welsh. It is built of sandstone on two storeys, which forms a rectangular gabled structure, flanked at both ends by octagonal embattled turrets and has a balcony.[5]

In 1969 Flint hosted the National Eisteddfod, and so the town has a circle of Gorsedd stones in the field adjacent to Gwynedd County Primary School. In July 2006 the stones were centre stage in the National Eisteddfod Proclamation Ceremony which formally announced Mold as the 2007 host town of the event.[6] The Urdd Eisteddfod was held in Flint in 2016.

Flint is within the British parliamentary constituency of Delyn and the town is part of the Welsh Assembly constituency of Delyn. At local government level, Flint is a community administered by Flintshire County Council.

In 2001 18% of the local population self identified themselves as Welsh, although the census had no tick box allowing them to do so. (source: 2001 Census). In the Census of 2011 Welsh identity was included as an option and 57.1% stated they had Welsh, Welsh and British, or Welsh and other combined identity.[7], which is higher than many places much further west. Many people in Flint have some knowledge of the Welsh language, although competence varies. Implementation of the European Union's freedom of movement provisions has led to a noticeable increase in the numbers of Polish-language speakers in Flint. Several retail businesses display information in Polish as well as in English and Welsh and the town has a number of Polskie sklepy (Polish shops) specialising in Polish products.

The Flint accent is frequently misidentified with that of Liverpool, although it has arisen in fact as a unique blending of the speech patterns of the area's Welsh speakers, earlier Irish settlers, and the residents of nearby Cheshire, Wirral, and the wider Merseyside region.[8]

There are several songs associated with Flint.[9] The most widely sung is "The Yard". Another popular song is "Fifty German bombers over Flint", which tells the story of a wartime bombing raid over nearby Liverpool that accidentally targeted the town of Flint instead. Verses describe the arrival of the bombers over Flint, and how they were shot down by the "Bagillt Navy". Eventually, the ill-fated German aircrew were fished out by the "Greenfield Fishers". The song is often sung in a drunken, friendly manner to the accompaniment of much hand clapping and revelry.

Flint railway station lies on the North Wales Coast Line and is served by Transport for Wales services from Manchester Piccadilly to Llandudno. A north-south service between Cardiff and Holyhead also calls, as do selected Avanti West Coast services between London Euston and Holyhead.[10] Bus services are operated by Arriva Buses Wales.

The town has three high schools: St Richard Gwyn Catholic High School, Flint High School and Ysgol Maes Hyfryd. Primary schools in Flint include the Gwynedd School, Cornist Park School, Ysgol Croes Atti (Welsh medium), St Mary's Catholic Primary School and Ysgol Pen Coch.

Footplate sculpture at Flint railway station, designed by Brian Fell.

Flint once had its own low-powered television relay transmitter, designed to provide improved coverage of Welsh channels in an area that would otherwise receive only English television signals. Since 2009, signals have been transmitted digitally from Storeton transmitting station on the Wirral.

Perhaps one of the town's most striking images, in addition to the castle, is the group of three tower blocks of flats near the town centre. The first two blocks were built in the 1960s and named Bolingbroke Heights and Richard Heights, with a third, Castle Heights, added shortly afterwards.

Flint's local football team is Flint Town United. They play in the Cymru Premier, the top tier of Welsh football.

Brian Fell's sculpture footplate[11] can be seen at Flint railway station. Initially it was thought to be an imitation of the famous Monty Python foot drawn by Terry Gilliam.

The library, leisure centre (renamed in 2012 as the Jade Jones Pavilion), and the town centre have all been renovated. Flint Retail Park has also expanded and Flint is the only town in Flintshire to have a Sainsbury's supermarket.

A lifeboat station was established in Flint in 1966, operated by the RNLI.[12]

• Paul Draper – Songwriter and musician, formerly of Mansun, now a solo artist whose first album "Spooky Action" was released in August 2017. Went to St Richard Gwyn Catholic High School.
• Ron Hewitt – Starred in Wales's only FIFA World Cup appearance.
• Andy Holden – Former footballer, and nephew of Ron Hewitt.
• Jade Jones – 2012 and 2016 Olympic taekwondo gold medalist is from Flint and attended Flint High School.
• Ian Puleston-Davies – Actor best known for playing the role of Owen Armstrong in ITV's Coronation Street.[13]
• Ian Rush – Former Liverpool F.C. striker and Wales football captain Ian Rush attended St Richard Gwyn Catholic High school in Flint; some of his family live in the area.
• Thomas Totty – Admiral who served with Lord Nelson and inherited Cornist Hall, Flint.[14]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Flint, Wales.

• BBC Wales's Flint website
• www.cefnpennar.com : Flint historical & genealogical records list
• www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Flint and surrounding area
• Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust - Flint in the prehistoric, Roman and early medieval periods