Nannerch is a village and

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 ...

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, located within the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley

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 ...

. At the 2001 Census the population of Nannerch was 531, reducing to 496 in 2011.

History

Nannerch (pronounced Nan-er-ch in Welsh) is one of the ancient

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

es of Flintshire, made up of the townships of Trellan, Trefechan, Trecwm and Tre Penbedw. It is an ancient village, sitting on bedrock of Carboniferous Limestone, overlain by glacial

boulder clay Boulder clay is an unsorted agglomeration of clastic sediment that is unstratified and structureless and contains gravel of various sizes, shapes, and compositions distributed at random in a fine-grained matrix. The fine-grained matrix consists o ...

with glacial hollows. The limestone has been used in the construction of many local buildings. The ruins of

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

hill fort A hillfort is a type of fortification, fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late Bronze Age Europe, European Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe, Iron Age. So ...

s at Pen-y-Cloddiau and Moel Arthur are situated in the nearby hills.

The Church

The church, which is dedicated to St. Michael and All Angels, was consecrated on 29 September 1853. It is the third church known to have been built on the site. The curved wall of the graveyard indicates the ancient origins of the churches. The present church was designed by Thomas W. Wyatt, of London, the architect of the neighbouring churches of Brynford and Gorsedd. Services are held each Sunday, with 'Fifth Sunday' services rotating around the Bro Famau group of churches of which St. Michael's is a member.

Description

Nannerch has no shops but has an 18th-century inn called The Cross Foxes. The village also has a primary school. There are currently around 60 pupils enrolled. On the same site as the Victorian primary school is a small sports development consisting of a tennis court which doubles as a basketball/netball court and five-a-side football pitch, a grass football pitch and a bowling green. The bowling green also has a French-style boules piste next to it. Nannerch was sometimes visited by a doctor at the village hall surgery on Tuesday morning. On Thursday there is a Post Office counter in the hall.

Governance

Nannerch Community Council consists of 8 councillors, and is not divided into

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

s. The Cilcain and Nannerch communities make up the Cilcain

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 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 Tŷ Dewi Sant, Ewloe since 2025. It was previously based at County Hall in Mold. Elections take place ...

, which elects one councillor. Nannerch is part of the Delyn constituency and

North Wales North Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, 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 Snowdon ...

region for the

Senedd The Senedd ( ; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, Its role is to scrutinise the Welsh Government and legislate on devolve ...

, and the Clwyd East constituency for

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

Theatre

The village has a drama group called the Nannerch Players. The Players perform two shows a year; a pantomime performed just before Christmas, and a full-length play in the summer.

Transport

The main A541

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 ...

Denbigh Denbigh ( ; ) is a market town and a community (Wales), community in Denbighshire, Wales. It was the original county town of the Denbighshire (historic), historic county of Denbighshire created in 1536. Denbigh's Welsh name () translates to ...

road bypasses the village. The

Mold and Denbigh Junction Railway The Mold and Denbigh Junction Railway was a railway company that built a railway line in North Wales. It formed a link between the Mold Railway (from Chester) and the Vale of Clwyd Railway towards Rhyl. The line opened in 1869. Serving a large ...

, which opened in 1869, passed through the village. Nannerch railway station was situated near the point where the road into Nannerch forks left to leave the A541 road from Mold. After the line was closed in 1962, a victim of the Beeching Axe, the station was converted to a private dwelling with a garden between the platforms.Jones, Mark: ''Lost Railways Of North Wales'', page 69. Countryside Books, 2008 It was demolished shortly afterwards to allow the road to be straightened. Besides passenger traffic, the station provided for the transport of cattle and sheep heading for market and the delivery of goods for the community.

References

{{authority control Villages in Flintshire Communities in Flintshire