Mold, Flintshire
Historical Description
Mold, a town and a parish in Flintshire. The town stands in a fertile hollow, on the river Alyn, in the centre of a rich mineral region, near the S end of the Halkin Mountains, 1¼ mile W of Wats dyke, 4 miles E by N of the Moel Fammau summit of the Clwydian Hills, and 10¼ W by S of Chester; consists chiefly of four long streets at right angles to one another, and has a head post office, and a railway station on the L. & N.W.R. and the Wrexham, Mold, and Connah's Quay railway. The court-house or shire hall is a good recent edifice. The assizes and quarter sessions are held here. There is a good market-hall, including a fine assembly-room on the upper floor. There are also library and reading-rooms, two banks, a cottage hospital, a Jesuit college, a police station, and a cemetery. The church is mainly of the latter part of the 15th century, has a S aisle and a tower of later date, was restored and altered in 1856 by Sir G. Gilbert Scott, has windows of very rich and varied stained glass (one erected in 1894 in memory of the late Right Hon. Cecil Raikes, M.P., postmaster-general), and contains monuments of Bishop Warton Davies of Llanerch and Dr Wynn of Tower, and the grave of Wilson the painter. There are Congregational, Baptist, Calvinistic and Primitive Methodist, Wesleyan, and Roman Catholic chapels. An ancient castle stood on Bailey Hill, at the top of the town; is said to have been built by Eustace de Cruer; was stormed and taken in 1144 by Owen Gwynedd, was destroyed by Owen Glendower; was soon afterwards rebuilt; was taken in 1267 by a Welsh force, and again in 1322 by Sir Griffith Llwyd; was again restored; became the property of the Monaltos, who took their name from moits altus, or " the high hill," on which the castle stood; and passed from them to the Stanleys. The Earl De Montalt takes his title from Mold. This old title has recently been revived in the person of Viscount Hawarden in Ireland. A spot about a mile to the W, called Maes-Garmon, was the scene of a battle in 448, when the Britons under Germanus gained the " Victoria Alleluiatica " against the united forces of the Saxons and Picts. A stone column was erected here in 1736 to commemorate that victory, and a gold corslet, 3 feet 7 inches long, was found in 1833. Ehual House, adjacent to that battlefield, is a gabled structure of the 17th century. A weekly market is held in the town on Wednesday and Saturday, and fairs are held on the first Wednesday in the month. Woollen cloth was formerly manufactured, but the chief industry now is in connection with tin-plate works, collieries, and lead mines. Nailmaking and malting are carried on. The town is the seat of sessions and assizes, and in consequence of the removal to it of the assizes and county business it is now, for all practical purposes, the capital of Flintshire. It also unites with Flint, Holywell, Caergwrle, Caerwys, Overton, Rhuddlan, and St Asaph in sending a member to Parliament. Population, 4457.
The parish contains also the townships of Arddynwent, Argoed, Bistre, Broncoed, Gwemsfield, Gwysaney, Harts-heath, Hendrebifia, Leeswood, and Llwynegrin. Acreage, 15,091 of land and 66 of water; population of the civil parish, 12,397; of the ecclesiastical, 5497. Tower, Nerquis Hall, Gwysaney, Hartsheath, Pentrehobin, and Plas Teg are old seats. Tower stands I1 mile S of the town, belonged for a considerable time to the Wynnes, passed to the Eytons, is a tall macliieolated and embattled tower of the early part of the 15th century, on one side of which is a dwelling-house of the time of Queen Anne. Nerquis Hall was built by one of the Wynnes in 1638. Many acres of land here, previously of small value, were planted with different kinds of trees by the late Dr Thackeray of Chester. There are numerous tumuli. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of St Asaph; net value, £217 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of St Asaph. Bistre, Gwemsfield, Nerquis, Tryddyn, and Font Bleiddyn form separate ecclesiastical parishes.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
| Registration district | Holywell | 1837 - 1894 |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Flintshire is available to browse.
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following newspapers online: