Hawarden

Hawarden

Glynne Way, the east of the main high street
Hawarden
Hawarden shown within Flintshire
Population 1,887 (Ward 2011)[1]
OS grid reference SJ315655
Community
  • Hawarden
Principal area
Ceremonial county
Country Wales
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town DEESIDE
Postcode district CH5
Dialling code 01244
Police North Wales
Fire North Wales
Ambulance Welsh
EU Parliament Wales
UK Parliament
Welsh Assembly

Hawarden /ˈhɑːrdən/ (Welsh: Penarlâg), Flintshire, Wales is a village, community and electoral ward in part of the Deeside conurbation on the Welsh/English border and was historically significant settlement in the area, see Hawarden Castle. At the 2001 Census, the population of Hawarden Ward was 1,858 (892 males, 966 females).[2] increasing to 1,887 at the 2011 census. The total population for the greater community of Hawarden, which comprises also Ewloe (which also has a castle), Mancot and Aston, was 13,539, increasing to 13,920 at the 2011 census.[3] The scenic, wooded Hawarden Park forms the southern part of the community. Hawarden Bridge is the industrial development that lies across Shotton/Queensferry and the Dee.[4] The west of the main street is called The Highway, its start marked by the crossroads with the fountain in the middle, near which are public houses, some centred on restaurants.[n 1]

Hawarden is located 6.7 miles from Chester and is 4 miles from the English border.

In 2014 Hawarden was named in The Sunday Times’ annual Best Places To Live List.

Monument to William Gladstone

History

The 1848 Topographical Dictionary of Wales led by Samuel Lewis (publisher) states Hawarden is of remote antiquity and was called "Pennard Halawg," or more properly "Pen-y-Llwch", the headland above the lake.[n 2] The hill forts such as the huge remains next to the medieval Hawarden Castle and Trueman's Hill motte were it records locally believed to date to the time of fortifications against incursions of the Cornavii tribe and the Romans.[6]

The Normans recorded the Saxons called the place Haordine where, east of today's village, was the principal manor of the Saxon Hundred of Atiscros.[6] William the Conqueror granted the lands and manor to Hugh Lupus as it formed part of the County Palatine of Chester whereupon Hawarden Castle was built that later proved key to Welsh history, at that time lived in by Roger Fitzvalerine, then the Montaults, or de Montaltos, barons of Mold, who held it as seneschal.[6]

1157, Henry II., having assembled a formidable army at Chester, advanced into Flintshire with a view to the conquest of Wales, and encamped his forces on Saltney marsh, in the parish. To repel this attack, Owain Gwynedd, Prince of North Wales, marched his forces to Basingwerk near Holywell, where he took up his station within a few miles of the royal army. The boldness of Owain's movements inducing Henry to hope that the natives intended to risk a general engagement, in which he expected that the superior number and discipline of the English would ensure success, the king despatched a chosen body of troops, under the command of his principal barons, to bring the Welsh to action, or to dislodge them from their post. This party, having to pass through the narrow defile of Coed-Eulo, in the parish of Hawarden, were suddenly attacked in that dangerous pass by Davydd and Cynan, sons of Owain, who, with a strong body of forces, had been placed in ambush to surprise them. The English, from the suddenness and impetuosity of the assault, and the difficulties of the ground on which they had to contend, were routed with great slaughter, and the few who escaped the carnage retired, in the utmost disorder, to the main body of the army. Henry, exasperated by this unexpected discomfiture, immediately collected the whole of his forces, and pursued his march along the sea-coast into the heart of the enemy's country; and Owain, breaking up his camp, retired with his forces to St. Asaph.[6]

Efforts to subdue north Welsh territory into a degree of fiefdom followed intermittently, with no great success. In the castle Llewellyn of Wales who was in possession negotiated peace with Simon de Montford in 1264 who led a brief rebellion against Henry III of England and agreed to betroth to Llewllyn his daughter in exchange for restoring the de facto Welsh castle to Robert de Montault. The rebellion failed. Accordingly, by 1280 the castle became a crown asset, listed as a Castrum Regis. Later, due to Edward's successful campaign (imposing exacting terms on the Welsh, building Flint Castle and strengthening others) in 1282 Llewellyn's brother Davydd slew the garrison to wrench the castle back and took Roger de Clifford to remote Snowdon. This second recapture of the castle triggered Edward's slaying of Llewellyn and annexation of Wales. The castle was a prized possession onward, see Hawarden Castle.

The village of Saltney (focussed next to Chester, but in Wales) was part of the parish.[6][7]

19th Century

Prime minister William Ewart Gladstone (1809–1898) born in Liverpool, later lived in Hawarden Castle, the home of his wife's family, the Glynne baronets as in the Glorious Revolution, Serjeant Glynne acquired it.[6] In 1847 water was brought into the place at an expense of upwards of £1000 to be recouped by the River Dee Company.[6] In the nineteenth century the economy of the large parish (today's community is about 1/3 of the size) involved the markets, many useful seams of coal, the making of tiles, bricks and drainage pipes and chemical, particular Glauber salts and ivory black making.[n 3]

In 1886 the curate of Hawarden, the Rev. Harry Drew, married Mary Gladstone, the second daughter of the Prime Minister, at St. Margarets Church, Westminster - a society wedding attended by the Prince of Wales.[8]

Gladstone bequeathed his library, now known as Gladstone's Library (having been renamed from St Deiniol's Library in 2010), to the town.

Michael Owen

The professional footballer Michael Owen (b. 1979) who, although born a few miles away in Chester and thus eligible to play for England, was raised in Hawarden and, in his later career, lived 4 miles (6.4 km) west at Northop[5] until his transfer to Real Madrid in the summer of 2004. He moved back to the area after transferring to Newcastle United and subsequently Manchester United, often commuting by helicopter. Owen famously bought a small street of houses for his extended family in the larger village of Ewloe. He also owned a house in the area and grew up on Cromwell Close nearby.[9]

Education and Economy

Rector Drew Junior School, renamed in 2016 to Hawarden Village Church School is the junior school of the village. Hawarden High School is a high school which dates back to 1606 and was attended not only by Michael Owen, but also Gary Speed, the former manager of the Wales national football team.

Queensferry consists predominantly of industrial, commercial and storage businesses by the River Dee and is situated to immediately northeast of the community - the village is residential.[10] HSBC (closed in 2016), moneysupermarket.com have significant premises at St David's Park by the main A55 in Ewloe.

Hawarden Airport sometimes Hawarden (Chester) Airport, which with adjoining Hawarden Industrial Park is in nearby Broughton.

Visitor attractions

There are three pubs in Hawarden; The Fox and Grapes, The Blue Bell and The Glynne Arms with The Crown And Liver a near fourth. There is a restaurant and a cafe and dining at the pubs and at Gladstones Library's 'Food For Thought'.

Transport

Close towns include Connah's Quay 3 miles, Mold 6 miles, Flint 7 miles and Wrexham 11 miles.

Hawarden railway station is on the Borderlands Line with services direct to Birkenhead and Liverpool to the north and to Wrexham to the south.

There are three interchanges with local roads onto the major A55 road linking North Wales to Chester and the major A494 road linking Dolgellau via Mold to the Wirral where it divides into the roads towards Liverpool and Manchester (the M53 and M56 motorways) - the village has a choice of three routes towards Chester city centre.

Hawarden Airport lies some 2 miles east of the town.

Famous Residents

See also

Notes and references

Notes
  1. ↑ The Fox and Grapes, The Blue Bell and the Glynne Arms
  2. ↑ The name referring perhaps to the estuary as the terrain slopes unusually become much steeper along the straightened lower Dee's long channel with steeper sides here being within 3 miles (4.8 km) of the estuary - most of the village and Ewloe is at over 80 metres - compared to up to 20 metres on both sides nearer to Chester and Broughton above ordnance datum (sea level).[5]
  3. ↑ The 1848 Topographical dictionary states 16,444 acres, whereof 1292 are common or waste...It abounds with coal in various parts, the strata of which lie under freestone, and shale of a saponaceous quality, with occasional beds of ironstone and gravel. The upper seam of coal, called the Hollin coal, is from six to seven feet in depth; the second, called the Brassy coal, about three feet in thickness; the third, called the rough coal, also about three feet thick; and the fourth and lowest seam, called the main coal, ten feet in thickness. This last, which is of very superior quality, is in great request for the Dublin and other markets. Collieries are worked on an extensive scale, in various parts of the parish; and there are large works for making fire-bricks, tiles, and draining-pipes; also potteries for the manufacture of the coarser kinds of earthenware. A laboratory for the making of Glauber salts, sal ammoniac, and ivory-black, was established in the township of Saltney, in the year 1781, and is conducted on an extensive scale, but for the manufacture of ivory-black only. The river Dee, or Chester channel, passes on the north-east of the town; and there are two tramroads for the conveyance of produce from the various collieries and potteries to the river. The Chester and Holyhead railway runs for about seven miles through the parish, parallel with the river Dee; and in 1847 an act was passed for the construction of a line from the Holyhead railway in the parish of Hawarden to the town of Mold, with branches to the Upper King's Ferry on the Dee, and the Frith lime-works near Hope. Several schooners and flats are employed in the transport of coal, bricks, and other articles produced here; and two smacks are engaged in a fishery off the Isle of Man, which is conducted by inhabitants of the parish. The market is on Saturday; and fairs, principally for cattle, are annually held on April 28th and October 22nd.
References
  1. ↑ "Ward population 2011". Retrieved 24 May 2015.
  2. ↑ "2001 Census: Hawarden Ward". Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 30 May 2008.
  3. ↑ "Community population 2011". Retrieved 24 May 2015.
  4. ↑ "2001 Census: Hawarden Community". Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 30 May 2008.
  5. 1 2 Grid Ref Finder measurement tools
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Lewis, Samuel (1833). A Topographical Dictionary of Wales. II (1st ed.). London: S. Lewis and Co. Retrieved 2011-03-21.
  7. ↑ Samuel Lewis (1849). "Halghston - Hawarden". A Topographical Dictionary of Wales. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
  8. ↑ The Times, February 3, 1886
  9. ↑ "Star's old home for sale". BBC News. 12 January 2004. Retrieved 3 April 2008.
  10. ↑ Openstreetmap see building use.
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