Flintshire
Flintshire (Welsh: Sir y Fflint) is a county in the north-east of Wales. It has a maritime border with Merseyside along the Dee Estuary to the north, and land borders with Cheshire to the east, Wrexham County Borough to the south, and Denbighshire to the west. Connah's Quay is the largest town, while Flintshire County Council is based in Mold.
Flintshire
Sir y Fflint (Welsh) | |
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County | |
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Coat of arms | |
Flintshire shown within Wales | |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Constituent country | Wales |
| Preserved county | Clwyd |
| Established | 1 April 1996 |
| Administrative HQ | Mold |
| Largest town | Connah's Quay |
| Government | |
| • Type | Principal council |
| • Body | Flintshire County Council |
| • Executive | TBA (council NOC) |
| • Leader | Ian Roberts (Labour) |
| • Chairman | Marion Bateman |
| • Chief Executive | Colin Everett |
| • MPs | Rob Roberts (C) Mark Tami (L) |
| Area | |
| • Total | 169 sq mi (438 km2) |
| • Rank | 12th |
| Population (2021) | |
| • Total | 155,076 |
| • Rank | 7th |
| • Density | 910/sq mi (353/km2) |
| • Ethnicity | 97.8% white |
| Time zone | UTC+0 (Greenwich Mean Time) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+1 (British Summer Time) |
| Postcode areas | |
| Dialling codes | 01352 01745 01244 |
| GSS code | W06000005 |
| ISO 3166-2 | GB-FLN |
| NUTS 3 code | UKL23 |
| ONS code | 00NJ |
| Website | www.flintshire.gov.uk |
The county covers 169 square miles (440 km2), with a population of 155,000 in 2021. After Connah's Quay-Shotton (23,000) the largest settlements are Flint (13,736), Buckley (16,127) and Mold (10,123). The east of the county is industrialised and contains the Deeside conurbation, which extends into Cheshire and has a population of 53,568. The adjacent coast is also home to industry, but further west has been developed for tourism, particularly at Talacre. Inland, the west of the county is sparsely populated and characterised by gentle hills, including part of the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley AONB.
The county is named after the historic county of the same name, which was established by the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284 and has notably different borders. The county is considered part of the Welsh Marches and formed part of the historic Earldom of Chester and Flint.