Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for Flintshire

Flintshire, maritime co. of N. Wales; is bounded N. by the Irish Sea, NE. by the estuary of the Dee, E. by Cheshire, and S. and SW. by Denbighshire; is 26 miles long, and from 10 to 12 miles broad; the detached hundred of Maelor (8 miles to the SE. of the rest of the cp., and surrounded by Cheshire, Shropshire, and Denbighshire) is 9 miles long and 5 miles broad; area, 161,807 ac., pop. 80,587. Flintshire is the smallest county of Wales, and, next to Glamorgan, the most populous in proportion to its extent. The coast is generally low, and skirted by sands. A range of hills intersects the county SW. and NE., and there are numerous well-watered and fertile valleys, including a portion of the Vale of Clwyd. Agriculture is advancing. Wheat and oats are grown in the plains and valleys; the uplands afford excellent pasture, and considerable quantities of butter and cheese are made. (For agricultural statistics, see Appendix.) Flintshire is situated chiefly on the Coal Measures and other members of the Carboniferous rocks group, and is rich in minerals. There are numerous collieries, and the lead mines are the most productive in Britain. Copper, zinc, calamine, and limestone are also worked, and there are some coarse clay potteries. The Chester and Holyhead Ry. runs all along the coast, which is lined by works for coal, iron, copper, lead-smelting, chemicals, shipbuilding, &c. Flintshire comprises 5 hundreds, 37 pars, and parts of 4 others, and the Flint Boroughs (Caergwrle, Caerwys, Flint, Holywell, Mold, Overton, Rhuddlan, and St Asaph -- 1 member), and the mun. bor. of Flint. It is mostly in the diocese of St Asaph. It returns 1 member to Parliament.


(John Bartholomew, Gazetteer of the British Isles (1887))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "maritime county"   (ADL Feature Type: "countries, 2nd order divisions")
Administrative units: Flintshire AncC
Place: Flintshire

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