Denbighshire

Denbighshire
Sir Ddinbych
County and Principal area

Coat of arms

Denbighshire shown within Wales
Sovereign state  United Kingdom
Constituent country  Wales
Preserved county Clwyd
Established 1 April 1996
Administrative HQ Ruthin
Government
  Type Principal council
  Body Denbighshire County Council
  Executive TBA (council NOC)
  Leader Hugh Evans (Independent)
  Chairman Gwyneth Kensler
  Chief Executive Mohammed Mehmet
  MPs Dr James Davies (C)
David Jones (C)
Susan Jones (L)
Area
  Total 326 sq mi (844 km2)
Area rank 8th
Population (2011)
  Total 93,700
  Rank 16th
  Density 300/sq mi (115/km2)
  Ethnicity 99.3% white
Time zone Greenwich Mean Time (UTC+0)
  Summer (DST) British Summer Time (UTC+1)
GSS code W06000004
ISO 3166-2 GB-DEN
NUTS 3 code UKL13
ONS code 00NG
Website www.denbighshire.gov.uk

Denbighshire (Welsh: Sir Ddinbych) is a county in north-east Wales. It is named after the historic county of Denbighshire, but has substantially different borders. Denbighshire has the distinction of being the oldest known inhabited part of Wales. Pontnewydd (Bontnewydd-Llanelwy) Palaeolithic site has remains of Neanderthals from 225,000 years ago. There are several castles in the region: Denbigh Castle, Rhuddlan Castle, Ruthin Castle, Castell Dinas Bran and Bodelwyddan Castle. One of Britain's smallest cathedrals is at St Asaph, itself one of the smallest cities.

Formation

The present principal area was formed on 1 April 1996, under the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994, from various parts of the county of Clwyd. It included the district of Rhuddlan (which was formed in 1974 entirely from Flintshire), the communities of Trefnant and Cefn Meiriadog from the district of Colwyn (which was entirely Denbighshire) and most of the Glyndŵr district. The part of the Glyndŵr district included the entirety of the former Edeyrnion Rural District, which was part of the administrative county of Merionethshire prior to 1974 which covered the parishes of Betws Gwerfil Goch, Corwen, Gwyddelwern, Llangar, Llandrillo yn Edeirnion and Llansanffraid.

Other principal areas containing part of historic Denbighshire are Conwy, which picked up the remainder of the 19741996 Colwyn, and also the Denbighshire parts of the 19741996 Aberconwy, and Wrexham, which corresponds to the pre-1974 borough of Wrexham along with most of the Wrexham Rural District and also several parishes from Glyndŵr.

The post-1996 Powys includes the historic Denbighshire parishes of Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant, Llansilin and Llangedwyn, which had formed part of Glyndŵr district.

Geography

See List of places in Denbighshire for a list of towns and villages.

The area is mostly hilly moorland, with the Clwydian Range in the east, the Hiraethog Moors (Mynydd Hiraethog) in the west and the Berwyn range adjacent to the southern boundary. The broad, fertile Vale of Clwyd runs south to north in the centre, and there is a narrow coastal plain in the north. Average temperatures are 2°C in January and 19°C in July.

Population

Denbighshire's total population at the United Kingdom Census 2001 was 93,065, increasing to 93,734 at the 2011 census,[1] with the largest towns on the coast at Rhyl (2001 population c. 25,000) and Prestatyn (2001 population c. 18,000). The inland towns are much smaller, Denbigh having a 2001 population of 8,500, Ruthin of 5,000, and Llangollen of 3,300. Welsh is spoken as a first language by 28% of the population, mainly in the upland area and the Vale of Clwyd. The county has seen a substantial influx from across the border to the extent that 38% of the population were born in England.

Economy

Since the 20th century demise of the coal and steel industries in the Wrexham area, there are no heavy industrial sites in the county although most of the towns have small industrial parks or estates for light industry, the economy of the area being based on agriculture and tourism. A large proportion of the working population is employed in the service sector. The uplands support the rearing of sheep and beef cattle, while in the Vale of Clwyd dairy farming and the growing of wheat and barley crops predominates.

On 19 November 2004 Denbighshire was granted Fairtrade County status.

Denbighshire is home to Wales' largest Medieval Festival, staged annually over the second weekend in August at Bodelwyddan Castle. It attracts re-enactment groups from all over the country.

Notable residents

See also

References

  1. "Local Authority population 2011". Retrieved 22 May 2015.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Denbighshire.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Denbighshire.

Coordinates: 53°05′12″N 3°21′16″W / 53.08667°N 3.35444°W / 53.08667; -3.35444

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, December 20, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.