Flint, Flintshire

Flint
Welsh: *Y Fflint*
Flint Welsh: Y Fflint;
Population	Expression error: "11,936 (2001 census)" must be numeric
OS grid reference	SJ245725
Principal area	Flintshire;
Preserved 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
UK Parliament	Delyn;
	List of places UK Wales Flintshire

Flint (Welsh: Y Fflint) is a town in Flintshire, North Wales, lying on the estuary of the River Dee. It was the county town of the historic county of Flintshire. It is the third largest town in Flintshire.

Geography and administration

Flint has the oldest town charter in Wales, dating from 1284.^{[citation needed]} It is sited on the banks of the River Dee's estuary with views over the estuary towards the Wirral Peninsula.

History

Flint is known for Flint Castle, on which Edward I of England began construction in 1277. The castle is where Richard II was handed over to his enemy Henry Bollingbroke in 1399, and is the setting for Act III, Scene III of the Shakespeare play Richard II. The castle was the first of Edward I's royal castles to be built in Wales and the format of its layout, serves as the basis for many of the larger royal castles such as Harlech and Rhuddlan.

The town did not have a wall, but a protective earthen and wooden palisade ditch, the outline of which remained virtually unaltered in the pattern of streets until the mid 1960s, although the medieval boundary can still be traced. A particular example of this can be seen in John Speed's map of Flintshire.

In 1969 Flint hosted the National Eisteddfod, the town consequently has its own circle of Gorsedd stones. In July 2006 the stones became centre stage in the National Eisteddfod Proclamation Ceremony which formally announced the 2007 host town of the event as Mold.^[1]

Famous links

One of American actor Tom Cruise's ancestors possibly lived in Flint.^[2] Legendary Liverpool striker and former Wales Captain Ian Rush went to school in Flint. His family live in the area. Other famous footballers from Flint include Ron Hewitt who played in Wales' only World Cup appearance and his nephew Andy Holden. Other famous people connected with the town include the chemist John Thomas, best known for his research into plant dyes^[3] and Thomas Totty, an Admiral who served with Lord Nelson and inherited Cornist Hall, Flint.^[4] The actor Ian Puleston-Davies also comes from Flint as does jazz pioneer Joe Cooper.

Present day

Welsh culture is in decline across the town with only 18% of the local population identifying themselves as Welsh (source: 2001 Census). Many people in Flint have some knowledge of the Welsh language, as Welsh language education is compulsory in Wales. English is the de facto official language of Flint.

Flint has its own low powered television relay transmitter, designed to provide improved coverage of Welsh channels in an area that would otherwise receive only English programming clearly.

Flint has a local football team Flint Town United F.C.. They play in the Cymru Alliance.

Flint Castle appeared on an ITV Granada Regional Weather Forecast around July 2001 giving weatherman Fred Talbot an excellent opportunity to meet the locals.

The Flint accent is most often mistaken for a Liverpool accent. Some would argue that, with a population of around 12,000 and the similarity of accents in surrounding towns both in England and Wales, it is not meaningful to discuss a Flint accent.

Brian Fell's sculpture Footplate 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 Labour MP for Delyn, David Hanson lives in Flint.

There are some flats near the town centre. The first two blocks were built in the 1950s and named Bolingbroke Heights and Richard Heights. The flats were used as a setting for act 3, scene 3 of Shakespeare's play Richard II. Both flats have had terrible problems with the lifts breaking down over the past few years. The third block of flats, Castle Heights, was built a short while after and doesn't have as much trouble with faulty lifts.

Royal Visits

Queen Elizabeth II, has visited Flint a few times. In 1984, she opened the Council Offices on Church Street, 'Delyn House', and returned in February 1998 to open the Flintshire Bridge. Travelling by royal train, she disembarked at Flint Railway Station with the Duke of Edinburgh (Prince Philip) and indulged in a short walkabout on the station's forecourt before light rain forced her into cutting her meet-and-greet session short. Both the Queen and Prince Philip then travelled by private car to the Flintshire Bridge in the nearby town of Connah's Quay.

Education

The town has two high schools; St Richard Gwyn Catholic High School and Flint High School. Primary schools in Flint include the Gwynedd School, Cornist Park School, Ysgol Croes Atti (Welsh Medium) and St Mary's Catholic Primary School.

Pubs and drinking

There are pubs in Flint, some have been renovated over the past decade with the most recent of the pubs to undergo a renovation being The Yacht in Oakenholt. The Swan is a pub in Flint, and people usually visit the establishment to exchange pounds sterling for beverages containing a quantity of ethanol which acts on the brain and nervous system. The sentence before this one highlights the large amount of redundancy within this article, as does this one. A survey issued in 1900, from the office in Mold, of the Chief Constable for Flintshire, listed a total of 35 licensed public houses and off-licensed premises.

References

External links

[1] BBC - North East Wales Slideshows - National Eisteddfod Proclamation

[2] BBC - North East Wales Flint - Contributions

[3] BBC - Scifiles - Interviews - Thomas the Pigment

[4] BBC - North East Wales Historical - Thomas Totty

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