Flint

Flint, a maritime county of North Wales, bounded on the NE. by the river Dee, on the E. by Cheshire, on the S. and W. by Denbighshire, and on the N. by the Irish Sea. The main portion of the county is 26 miles long by 10 to 12 broad, and the detached hundred of Maelor, lying 8 miles SE. of the main part, measures 9 miles by 5. Flintshire is the smallest of the Welsh counties, its area being 289 sq. m. The coast is low and sandy, but along the Dee estuary fertile. The county is bisected by a low range of hills, stretching almost due north. The geological basis consists of rocks of the Carboniferous series. Coal, iron, lead, copper, calamine, zinc, and limestone are the chief mineral products. Some chemical works and potteries of coarse clay give employment. There are numerous well-watered and picturesque valleys, the soil of which is for the most part fertile and well cultivated. The uplands afford good pasturage. The Dee in the east and the Clwyd in the west of the county are the principal rivers. The Chester and Holyhead Railway skirts the east and north shores. Pop. (1801) 39,469; (1881) 80,587; (1891) 77,189. Flintshire returns one member to parliament; its county council consists of fifty-six members. The chief towns are Flint, Mold, St Asaph, Holywell, and Hawarden. Flintshire has traces of Roman lead-mines, and is traversed by Watt's and Offa's Dykes. In the 7th century Saxon invaders massacred all the Christian monks of the monastery of Bangor-iscoed (q.v.). Several barrows and menhirs occur in the county. See D. R. Thomas, History of the Diocese of St Asaph (1874).