Flint, Flintshire

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Flint
Welsh: Y Fflint
240px
Flint Castle
Flint is located in Flintshire
Flint
Flint
 Flint shown within Flintshire
Population 12,953 (2011 Census)
OS grid reference SJ245725
Principal area Flintshire
Ceremonial county Clwyd
Country Wales
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town FLINT
Postcode district CH6
Dialling code 01352
Police North Wales
Fire North Wales
Ambulance Welsh
EU Parliament Wales
UK Parliament Delyn
Welsh Assembly Delyn
List of places
UK
Wales
Flintshire

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Flint (Welsh: Y Fflint) is a town in Flintshire, Wales, lying on the estuary of the River Dee. It was formerly Flintshire's county town, and is today the third largest town in the county. According to the 2001 Census the population of the community of Flint was 12,804,[1] increasing to 12,953 at the 2011 census.[2]

Transport

Flint railway station lies on the North Wales Coast Line, providing services between Manchester Piccadilly station and Llandudno railway station. A north-south service between Cardiff Central railway station and Holyhead also calls, as do selected West Coast Main Line railway stations between London Euston and Holyhead.[3]

Geography

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, due to the two bays/rivers in between, driving distance is almost twice as long.

History

File:William Turner - Flint Castle.jpg
Flint Castle by J. M. W. Turner
File:Wales, Pays de Galles, par John Speed, 1610, BNF Gallica.jpg
John Speed's map of Wales, made in 1610. The town of Flint can be seen at the top right

The origin of the name Flint is uncertain. It most likely comes from the Latin castellum super fluentum, meaning "castle on the river", though some claim it that it refers to the shape of the county, which resembles an ancient flint knife.[4] Flint has the oldest town charter in Wales, dating from 1284.[citation needed]

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 and Rhuddlan. 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 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.[5]

Governance

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

Culture and demography

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). Many people in Flint have some knowledge of the Welsh language, although competence does vary. English is the main spoken language to be heard across the town. There are more Polish language speakers in Flint since the relaxation of trade and immigration laws within the European Union. Many shops have English and Polish information displayed and there is a Polish shop (Polski Sklep) specialising in Polish products.

The Flint accent is most often mistaken for a Liverpool accent. It is in fact a unique combination of speech patterns shared with other Welsh speakers, old Irish settlers and those found in nearby Cheshire, Wirral and Merseyside.[6]

There are several songs associated with Flint.[7] 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.

Education

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.

Community

File:Footplate sculpture at Flint Station. - geograph.org.uk - 384656.jpg
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 are now transmitted 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 has a local football team Flint Town United. They play in the Cymru Alliance.

Brian Fell's sculpture footplate[8] 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 been renovated. Flint Retail Park has also expanded and now Flint is the only town in Flintshire with a Sainsbury's supermarket.

A lifeboat station was established in Flint in 1966, and is run by the RNLI. The lifeboat operates both inshore and inland.[9]

Notable people

  • 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.
  • Ron Hewitt - He starred in Wales' only FIFA World Cup appearance
  • Andy Holden - Former footballer, and nephew of Ron Hewitt
  • John Thomas - The chemist best known for his research into plant dyes[10]
  • Thomas Totty - An Admiral who served with Lord Nelson and inherited Cornist Hall, Flint.[11]
  • Ian Puleston-Davies - The actor best known for playing the role of Owen Armstrong in ITV's Coronation Street[12]
  • Tom Cruise's paternal great-great grandfather, Dylan Henry Mapother, emigrated to Louisville, Kentucky from Flint in 1850.[13]
  • Jade Jones - Olympic Taekwondo gold medal winner at London 2012, is from Flint and attended Flint High School.
  • Afon Bagshaw - Full-back U20s Welsh Rugby - Afon started playing rugby at Flint Rugby Club at the age of 5. He represented Flint up until the age of 16 and then moved to Llandudno. Afon has represented RGC from U12s through to U18s and was a member of the original RGC Academy intake where he attended Llandrillo College. At U18s Afon had the honour of being selected in the 52 man Wales training squad. He now plays for the RGC 1st team squad.

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Virgin Trains timetable, West Coast Main Line, Route D: http://www.virgintrains.co.uk/assets/pdf/timetables/vt-timetable-d-05-2013.pdf
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/northeast/sites/flintshire/pages/flintsongs.shtml
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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