Gwernaffield () is a village and

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...

Flintshire Flintshire () is a county in the north-east of Wales. It borders the Irish Sea to the north, the Dee Estuary to the north-east, the English county of Cheshire to the east, Wrexham County Borough to the south, and Denbighshire to the west. ...

, Wales. It lies about three miles west of

Mold A mold () or mould () is one of the structures that certain fungus, fungi can form. The dust-like, colored appearance of molds is due to the formation of Spore#Fungi, spores containing Secondary metabolite#Fungal secondary metabolites, fungal ...

on the eastern side of the

Clwydian Range The Clwydian Range (; also Clwydian Hills or Clwyds) is a series of hills in the north-east of Wales that runs from Llandegla in the south to Prestatyn in the north; the highest point is Moel Famau. The range forms the north-western part o ...

. The village is part of the

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

of Gwernaffield with Pantymwyn, which has an area of 7.53 km² and is bordered by the

River Alyn The River Alyn () is a tributary of the River Dee in north-east Wales. It 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 Natural Beauty. The main tow ...

on three sides.Davies, John; Nigel Jenkins, Menna Baines & Peredur I. Lynch (2008) ''The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales'', University of Wales Press, Cardiff. The community includes the neighbouring village of Pantymwyn and had a population of 1,851 at the time of the 2001 census, increasing to 1,942 at the 2011 census. The name of the village comes from ''gwern'' ( Welsh for 'alder-grove'), ''feld'' (

Old English Old English ( or , or ), 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 developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

for 'field') and ''gwaun'' (Welsh for 'moorland'). Gwernaffield, which adjoins Pantymwyn, Itself had a population of around 900.

History

The village was first mentioned in the 15th century.Philpot, Mark (ed.)
Discover Gwernaffield & Pantymwyn
''. Accessed 3 April 2012. In 1736, an

obelisk An obelisk (; , diminutive of (') ' spit, nail, pointed pillar') is a tall, slender, tapered monument with four sides and a pyramidal or pyramidion top. Originally constructed by Ancient Egyptians and called ''tekhenu'', the Greeks used th ...

was erected near Maesgarmon farm where, according to tradition, Saint Garmon defeated an army of

Saxons The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

and

Picts The Picts were a group of peoples in what is now Scotland north of the Firth of Forth, in the Scotland in the early Middle Ages, Early Middle Ages. Where they lived and details of their culture can be gleaned from early medieval texts and Pic ...

in the 5th century. The village began to grow in the late 18th century as

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

mines and

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

quarries were developed in the area. The last lead mine closed in the 1970s. In the 20th century rectangular blocks of commuter housing were built in the village.

Notable buildings

In 1634, a large brick house was built at the Rhual estate; today it is the oldest house in the village. The village's first church and school were built alongside each other in 1838. The church was deliberately burned down in 1860 but a new building opened in 1872. The old school is now used as a parish hall after a new school, Ysgol y Waun, was opened in 1973. The village had two pubs until recently, the Miners Arms which closed in 2007 and the Hand Inn which remains open.

References

External links

Gwernaffield and Pantymwyn website
{{authority control Villages in Flintshire