Loggerheads Country Park is a

country park A country park is a natural area designated for people to visit and enjoy recreation in a countryside environment. United Kingdom History In the United Kingdom, the term ''country park'' has a specific meaning. There are around 250 designated c ...

in the village of Loggerheads,

Denbighshire Denbighshire ( ; ) is a county in the north-east of Wales. It borders the Irish Sea to the north, Flintshire to the east, Wrexham to the southeast, Powys to the south, and Gwynedd and Conwy to the west. Rhyl is the largest town, and Ruthi ...

, Wales. The park has a wooded river valley that follows the course of 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 ...

and high cliffs from within 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 ...

of mountains, with views of the range's tallest mountain

Moel Famau Moel Famau is the highest hill in the Clwydian Range and the highest point (county top) of the county of Flintshire in Wales (both the historic county and the current council area). It lies on the boundary between Denbighshire and Flintshire ...

. The park has a visitor centre, woodland walks, and two landmarks—a historic

corn mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separat ...

called Pentre Mill, and a

gorge A canyon (; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), gorge or chasm, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tend ...

called Devil's Gorge.

History

The site was the location of Pentre Mill, a corn mill dating to the early 19th century. The mill was powered by a

water wheel A water wheel is a machine for converting the kinetic energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a large wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with numerous b ...

near the

; the water wheel was closed in the 1940s and restored in the 1990s. The park was also the location of lead mining and quarrying. In 1926, the

Crosville Crosville Motor Services was a bus operator based in the north-west of England and north and mid-Wales. History On 27 October 1906, Crosville Motor Company was formed in Chester by George Crosland Taylor and his French business associate Ge ...

Motor Bus Company acquired land at Loggerheads and constructed tea rooms and gardens for visitors who often arrived at the park by bus. Other amenities included a

bandstand A bandstand (sometimes music kiosk) is a circular, semicircular or polygonal structure set in a park, garden, pier, or indoor space, designed to accommodate musical bands performing concerts. A simple construction, it both creates an ornamen ...

, boating lake, and refreshment kiosks. Loggerheads was popular in the 1920s and 1930s but declined after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. In 1974,

Clwyd County Council Clwyd County Council () was the county council of the county of Clwyd in north-east Wales, from its creation in 1974 to its abolition in 1996. It came into its powers on 1 April 1974. The county council was based at the Shire Hall in Mold. On 1 ...

bought the land and the gardens for use as a country park. In 1984 a wooden tea room burned down.

Facilities

The park includes a visitor centre, corn mill, cafe, picnic area, nature trails, and walking tours. One of the mill buildings has been turned into an interactive audiovisual display explaining the landscape of the

Clwydian Range and Dee Valley The Clwydian Range and Dee Valley () is a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; also known as a ''National Landscape'') located in north-east Wales, covering the Clwydian Range (), and the valley of the River Dee, Wales, River D ...

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is one of 46 areas of countryside in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Since 2023, the areas in England an ...

Landmarks

Pentre Mill

Pentre Mill is a

Grade II In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

* listed

at the park. A 1796 painting of Loggerheads by John Ingleby depicts a mill and water wheel at Loggerheads. The name of this mill is unconfirmed and

Cadw (, a Welsh verbal noun meaning "keeping/preserving") is the historic environment service of the Welsh Government and part of the Tourism and Culture group. works to protect the historic buildings and structures, the landscapes and heritage ...

, the Welsh Heritage Body, has confirmed Pentre as early 19th century. The mill was used to grind corn and cereal into flour and also as a

circular saw A circular saw or a buzz saw, is a power-saw using a toothed or Abrasive saw, abrasive disk (mathematics), disc or blade to cut different materials using a rotary motion spinning around an Arbor (tool), arbor. A hole saw and ring saw also use ...

to cut wood. The mill was powered by a water wheel fed from the nearby River Alyn. It was in continuous use until 1942, when it was closed. After closure, the mill fell into disrepair. It was restored to working order in 1995. However, due to degradation of the

sluice gate A sluice ( ) is a water channel containing a sluice gate, a type of lock to manage the water flow and water level. There are various types of sluice gates, including flap sluice gates and fan gates. Different depths are calculated when design s ...

weir A weir or low-head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the water level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...

, and water course, there was no water reaching the wheel. In 2012 the water course was repaired and the water wheel turns once more.

Devil's Gorge

Devil's Gorge is a

located in the park with two solid

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) ...

walls that are high. Walkers cross a bridge over the gorge as part of a route through the park; it is also a destination for

rock climbing Rock climbing is a climbing sports discipline that involves ascending climbing routes, routes consisting of natural rock in an outdoor environment, or on artificial resin climbing walls in a mostly indoor environment. Routes are documented in c ...

and

abseiling Abseiling ( ; ), also known as rappelling ( ; ), is the controlled descent of a steep slope, such as a rock face, by moving down a rope. When abseiling, the person descending controls their own movement down a static or fixed rope, in cont ...

. One climbing route is called the Devil's Haircut.

References

{{reflist, 30em Country parks in Wales