Hope ( cy, Yr Hôb) is a small village and

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, ...

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

, 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 ...

. The village is located approximately 3 miles / 4.5 km from the Wales-England border, on the course of the

River Alyn The River Alyn ( cy, Afon Alun) is a tributary of the River Dee, in north-east Wales. The River Alyn rises at the southern end of the Clwydian hills and the Alyn Valley forms part of the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding N ...

, and less than 5 miles from

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

. Hope is one of several villages including

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 ...

, Abermorddu and Cefn-y-bedd which together form the

. At the 2001 Census, community the population was 2,522, increasing to 4,224 at the 2011 Census partly due to boundary changes. One of the major features in the area is Hope Mountain (''Mynydd yr Hob''), to the west of the village.

History

''Yr Hob'' was originally the name of a

commote A commote (Welsh ''cwmwd'', sometimes spelt in older documents as ''cymwd'', plural ''cymydau'', less frequently ''cymydoedd'')''Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru'' (University of Wales Dictionary), p. 643 was a secular division of land in Medieval Wales ...

within the cantref of

Maelor The Maelor is an area of north-east Wales along the border with England. It is now entirely part of Wrexham County Borough. The name ''Maelor'' is an old Welsh word: it can be translated as "land of the prince", from ''mael'' ("prince") and ''l ...

in the medieval

Kingdom of Powys The Kingdom of Powys ( cy, Teyrnas Powys; la, Regnum Poysiae) was a Welsh successor state, petty kingdom and principality that emerged during the Middle Ages following the end of Roman rule in Britain. It very roughly covered the northern t ...

. Both the Welsh and English language names are derived from an

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...

word ''hop'' meaning "enclosed land in a marsh", a relic of

Mercia la, Merciorum regnum , conventional_long_name=Kingdom of Mercia , common_name=Mercia , status=Kingdom , status_text=Independent kingdom (527–879) Client state of Wessex () , life_span=527–918 , era= Heptarchy , event_start= , date_start= , ...

n settlement in the area.Owen, H. W. (2015) ''The Place-names of Wales'', UWP, p.53 In 1086, when the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

was compiled, Hope was listed as a very small settlement and it was within the hundred of Exestan and the county of Cheshire. The old parish of Hope was once divided into two parts by the River Alyn. One part, called Hope Medachied, was made up of the

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, C ...

s of Uwchmynydd, Cymau, Caergwrle and Rhanberfedd: the other was made of Hope Owen, Estyn and Shordley.Hope, Flintshire
GENUKI, accessed 03-10-18 In 1843 a large area of Hope Medachied was transferred to the new parish of

Llanfynydd Llanfynydd is a village, parish and community in Carmarthenshire, Wales. The community population at the 2011 census was 499. It lies some 10 miles (16 km) north-east of the county town, Carmarthen. Bordering it are the communities of Llansaw ...

. The village's long association with neighbouring Caergwrle has given rise to the local expression "Live in Hope, die in Caergwrle".''The AA touring guide to Wales'',

Automobile Association Automobile associations, also referred to as motoring clubs, motoring associations, motor clubs, are organizations, either for-profit or non-profit, which motorists (drivers and vehicle owners) can join to enjoy benefits provided by the club relat ...

, 1975, p.205

Facilities

In 2007, the secondary school Castell Alun High, which is located in the village, became the only school in

North Wales North Wales ( cy, Gogledd Cymru) is a region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders Mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdonia N ...

to be awarded 7 Grade 1s by

Estyn Estyn is the education and training inspectorate for Wales. Its name comes from the Welsh language verb ''estyn'' meaning "to reach (out), stretch or extend". Its function is to provide an independent inspection and advice service on quality ...

, the school inspection service for Wales. The judgement makes Castell Alun one of the top schools in Wales. Hope has good transport links with local towns and cities, notably

, Chester and

Mold A mold () or mould () is one of the structures certain fungi can form. The dust-like, colored appearance of molds is due to the formation of spores containing fungal secondary metabolites. The spores are the dispersal units of the fungi. Not ...

, with the Borderlands Line running directly through Hope railway station giving access to

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

via the

Wirral Peninsula Wirral (; ), known locally as The Wirral, is a peninsula in North West England. The roughly rectangular peninsula is about long and wide and is bounded by the River Dee to the west (forming the boundary with Wales), the River Mersey to ...

. Hope has a library, a sports centre and football,

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

and

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

clubs. The Castell Alun Colts Football Club play in the Welsh Football League system and are affiliated to the Football Association of Wales and the North East Wales Football Association. At present (2018/19 season) they play in the Welsh National League (Wrexham Area) Division One, the fourth level on the Welsh Football League pyramid . In 2017, work began on a community project to build a replica of a Roman Fort in a disused quarry in the village. The project known as "Park in the Past" is set to become a centre for education and leisure activities

Governance

An electoral ward in the same name exists, which covers the village of Hope and elects one county councillor to

Flintshire County Council Flintshire County Council is the unitary local authority for the county of Flintshire, one of the principal areas of Wales. It is based at County Hall in Mold. Elections take place every five years. The last election was on 5 May 2022. Histor ...

. This ward had a population of 2,605 at the 2011 census.

References

External links

Photos of Hope and surrounding area on geograph.org.uk
{{authority control Communities in Flintshire Villages in Flintshire Wards of Flintshire Commotes

History

Facilities

Governance

See also

References

External links