) is a village in

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 in the upper Alyn valley. Once a district 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 ...

, it was recognised as a separate

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 ...

from 1865. It is now 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 ...

Cilcain Cilcain is a village and community, near Mold, in Flintshire, north-east Wales. The village has an industrial history and includes the Millennium Woods, a post office, a public house, a parish church, a primary school (Ysgol y Foel) and a villa ...

Geography

The

geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

of the area consists of a layer of extremely pure, and hence structurally sound, thick layer of

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) ...

at depths ranging from surface to . The limestone holds other minerals, including

nickel Nickel is a chemical element; it has symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive, but large pieces are slo ...

and

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

deposits, making it an ideal site for

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

History

The

industrialisation Industrialisation ( UK) or industrialization ( US) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive reorganisation of an economy for th ...

of nearby

Northwest England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of 7,4 ...

led to demand for the mineral deposits in the Alyn valley and an increase in population of local villages, including Rhydymwyn. From the mid-18th century, Rhydymwyn was the site for a range of industries, which included

foundries A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

waterwheel 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 blade ...

s as well as mine workings. Rhydymwyn parish church

The new parish of Rhydymwyn was created on 31 March 1865, comprising: parts of the townships of Gwysaney and Gwernaffield, formerly in the parish of Mold; parts of the townships of Cefn and Glust (or Llysdianhunedd), and the whole of the township of Mechlas, formerly in the parish of Cilcain; and part of the township of Caerfallwch, formerly in the parish of Northop. The foundation stone of the new parish church, dedicated to St. John the Evangelist, was laid on 1 August 1861, and the church was consecrated on 17 September 1864. It has been designated a grade II* listed building. The Ministry of Supply (M.S.) Valley Factory, constructed from 1939, was the principal UK location for the production of

mustard gas Mustard gas or sulfur mustard are names commonly used for the organosulfur compound, organosulfur chemical compound bis(2-chloroethyl) sulfide, which has the chemical structure S(CH2CH2Cl)2, as well as other Chemical species, species. In the wi ...

during the Second World War, and was used for storage of the gas until stocks were destroyed in 1958. Building P6 on the site was used for the experimental production of

Uranium-235 Uranium-235 ( or U-235) is an isotope of uranium making up about 0.72% of natural uranium. Unlike the predominant isotope uranium-238, it is fissile, i.e., it can sustain a nuclear chain reaction. It is the only fissile isotope that exists in nat ...

by the gaseous diffusion method as part of the

Tube Alloys Tube Alloys was the research and development programme authorised by the United Kingdom, with participation from Canada, to develop nuclear weapons during the Second World War. Starting before the Manhattan Project in the United States, the Bri ...

project, until work on the development of the

atomic bomb A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear weapon), producing a nuclear expl ...

was transferred to North America following the

Quebec Agreement The Quebec Agreement was a secret agreement between the United Kingdom and the United States outlining the terms for the coordinated development of the science and engineering related to nuclear power, nuclear energy and specifically nuclear we ...

of 1943. The

Denbigh and Mold 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 larg ...

had a Rhydymwyn station on the south side of A541, which opened on 6 September 1869. The station closed to passengers on 30 April 1962 and completely from 4 May 1964. The former station building is now a private house.

Ffynnon leinw

Approximately from Rhydymwyn is the small hamlet of Hendre. Along the main road from the old Sardis Chapel, and only a few feet from the edge of the A541, there is an ancient well – Ffynnon leinw – (leinw comes from the Welsh word "llanw" meaning tide as it is reported that the water in the well rose and ebbed with the tides of the

Dee Estuary The Dee Estuary () 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 miles wide forming t ...

). The well has been listed as one of the holy wells of Wales on a par with the more famous

St Winefride's Well St Winefride's Well () is a holy well and national shrine located in the Welsh town of Holywell, Flintshire, Holywell in Flintshire. The patron saint of the well, St Winefride, was a 7th-century Catholic martyr who according to legend was decap ...

in Holywell. The well in Hendre is mentioned by

Thomas Pennant Thomas Pennant (16 December 1798) was a Welsh natural history, naturalist, traveller, writer and antiquarian. He was born and lived his whole life at his family estate, Downing Hall, near Whitford, Flintshire, in Wales. As a naturalist he had ...

in his 'A Tour in Wales' - written between 1778–1783 and also by

Giraldus Cambrensis Gerald of Wales (; ; ; ) was a Cambro-Norman priest and historian. As a royal clerk to the king and two archbishops, he travelled widely and wrote extensively. He studied and taught in France and visited Rome several times, meeting the Pope. He ...

Gerald of Wales Gerald of Wales (; ; ; ) was a Cambro-Norman priest and historian. As a royal clerk to the king and two archbishops, he travelled widely and wrote extensively. He studied and taught in France and visited Rome several times, meeting the Pope. He ...

in his 'Journey through Wales' written in 1188 - an itinerary of his journeys as he accompanied

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

Baldwin of Exeter Baldwin of Forde or FordSharpe ''Handlist of Latin Writers'' pp. 66–67 ( – 19 November 1190) was Archbishop of Canterbury between 1185 and 1190. The son of a clergyman, he studied canon law and theology at Bologna and was tutor to Pop ...

to enlist support for the

Third Crusade The Third Crusade (1189–1192) was an attempt led by King Philip II of France, King Richard I of England and Emperor Frederick Barbarossa to reconquer the Holy Land following the capture of Jerusalem by the Ayyubid sultan Saladin in 1187. F ...

Mendelssohn and Charles Kingsley

The German composer

Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions inc ...

composed ''The Rivulet'' in 1829 while visiting his father's friend

John Taylor John Taylor, Johnny Taylor or similar is the name of: Academics *John Taylor (Oxford), Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, 1486–1487 * John Taylor (classical scholar) (1704–1766), English classical scholar *John Taylor (English publisher) ...

(a mining engineer and entrepreneur) and his family in 1829 who rented Coed Du. This work was inspired by the beauty of the countryside. During the same visit, Mendelssohn composed his operetta '' Son and Stranger''.

Charles Kingsley Charles Kingsley (12 June 1819 – 23 January 1875) was a broad church priest of the Church of England, a university professor, social reformer, historian, novelist and poet. He is particularly associated with Christian socialism, the workin ...

, author of ''

The Water-Babies, A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby ''The Water-Babies: A Fairy Tale for a Land-Baby'' is a children's novel by Charles Kingsley. Written in 1862–1863 as a serial for '' Macmillan's Magazine'', it was first published in its entirety in 1863. It was written as part satire in ...

'', also came and walked the Leete; both his and Mendelssohn's visits are commemorated by a plaque in Nant Alyn Road, Rhydymwyn.

Recent times

In the autumn of 2000, local rainfall was exceptional in terms of intensity and duration. Between 28 October and 6 November, 68 homes and 8 businesses

flooded A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant concern in agriculture, civ ...

in Rhydymwyn because of overflow from 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 ...

. In 2002 and 2003, DEFRA's internal team in two phases created a flood alarm and protection scheme to protect the whole village and Valley Works, with a level of protection in excess of a flood with a 1% chance of occurring in any one year. The total cost for the scheme was £88,000.

Notes

References

External links

*
Rhydymwyn memories, Government film from the 40s @ BBC WalesPictures of Rhydymwyn on geograph.org.ukRhydymwyn Valley History Society
{{authority control Villages in Flintshire