The Flintshire Coalfield in north-east

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

is one of the smaller

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

coalfields. It is in the county of

Flintshire , settlement_type = County , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = , image_flag = , image_shield = Arms of Flint ...

and extends from the

Point of Ayr :''There are two other similarly named points in the British Isles: Point of Ayre, Isle of Man and Point of Ayre, Orkney, Scotland.'' Point of Ayr ( cy, Y Parlwr Du) is the northernmost point of mainland Wales. It is situated immediately t ...

in the north, along the

Dee Estuary The Dee Estuary ( cy, Aber Dyfrdwy) is a large estuary by means of which the River Dee flows into Liverpool Bay. The estuary starts near Shotton after a five-mile (8 km) 'canalised' section and the river soon swells to be several mile ...

through

Connah's Quay Connah's Quay ( cy, Cei Connah), known locally as "The Quay" and formerly known as Wepre, is a town and community in Flintshire, lying within the Deeside conurbation along the River Dee, near the border with England. It is the largest town in ...

Caergwrle Caergwrle () is a village in the county of Flintshire, in north east Wales. Approximately from Wrexham and situated on the A541 road, it is contiguous with the villages of Abermorddu and Hope, though in parts Caergwrle and Hope are separated by ...

in the south. A small part extends onto the Wirral i.e.

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

coast of the estuary at

Neston Neston is a town and civil parish on the Wirral Peninsula, in Cheshire, England. It is part of the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester. The village of Parkgate is located to the north west and the villages of Little Neston and Nes ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county tow ...

which was the site of a

coalmine Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use c ...

for a period. The coal-bearing

strata In geology and related fields, a stratum ( : strata) is a layer of rock or sediment characterized by certain lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by visible surfaces known as e ...

continue southwards of Caergwrle as the

Denbighshire Coalfield The Denbighshire Coalfield in the historic county of Denbighshire in north-east Wales is one of the smaller British coalfields. It extends from near Caergwrle in the north, southwards through Wrexham, Ruabon and Rhosllannerchrugog to Chirk in the s ...

. Together the two coalfields are known as the

North Wales Coalfield The North Wales Coalfield comprises the Flintshire Coalfield in the north and the Denbighshire Coalfield in the south. It extends from Point of Ayr in the north, through the Wrexham area to Oswestry in Shropshire in the south. A much smaller ...

Geology

Several

coal seam Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron fro ...

s are named in the sequence. Some seams are absent in the northern part of the coalfield and are labelled as (S) whilst the others occur across the coalfield as a whole. The Chwarelau Seam which appears only in the north actually occurs within the underlying Millstone Grit sequence rather than the

Coal Measures In lithostratigraphy, the coal measures are the coal-bearing part of the Upper Carboniferous System. In the United Kingdom, the Coal Measures Group consists of the Upper Coal Measures Formation, the Middle Coal Measures Formation and the Lower Coa ...

proper. The seams are listed stratigraphically with the uppermost (youngest) at the head of the list and the lowermost (oldest) at the foot.British Geological Survey 1:10,000 geological map sheet SJ26NE, BGS, Keyworth, Notts Local names are shown in brackets. :Within the Pennine Middle Coal Measures Group: :* Upper Main (S) :* Pontybodkin Mountain (S) :* Tryddyn Half-Yard (S) :* Drowsell (Massey) :* Powell (Bind)(Bi) :* Hollin (Cannel)(H) :* Crank (Three Quarter)(C)(S) :* Quaker (Brassey) (B)(S) :* Black Bed (Rough)(R) :* Main (Five Yard)(M) :* Lower Bench (Three Yard)(LB) :* Crown (Mostyn Two Yard)(Diamond) :Within the Pennine Lower Coal Measures Group: :* Upper Red (Durdog)(King)(K) :* Lower Red (Yard)(Cannel)(C) :* Cannel (Stone) :* Stone (divides into Wall (W) and Bench (BC)in south)(Hard Five Quarter) :* Nant (Badger)(N) :* Ruabon Yard (Yard)(Soft Five Quarter)(Y) :* Premier (Bychton Two Yard)(P) :* Llwyneinion Half Yard (Picton Three Quarter) :Within the Gwespyr Sandstone Formation of the Millstone Grit Group: :* Chwarelau (N) (Little Coal)

References

{{coord, 53.2108, -3.1232, display=title, region:GB_scale:200000 Coal mining in Wales Geography of Flintshire Coal mining regions in England Coal mining regions in Wales