Ysceifiog, also spelled as Ysgeifiog, 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 Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. It lies on a back road just north of the A541 highway between Nannerch and Caerwys. The name translates roughly as "a place where

elder tree ''Sambucus'' is a genus of between 20 and 30 species of flowering plants in the family Adoxaceae. The various species are commonly referred to as elder, with the flowers as elderflower, and the fruit as elderberry. Description Elders are mostl ...

s grow".Glossary of Welsh Placenames
Ordnance Survey The community includes the villages of Lixwm, to the east of Ysceifiog village, and Babell, to the north.

Governance

Ysceifiog Community Council consists of nine 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 Ysceifiog and Caerwys communities make up the Caerwys

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. Ysceifiog 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 of the Delyn 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 ...

Notable residents

The antiquarian and copyist of Welsh manuscripts John Jones (c.1585-1657/8) was born and brought up in the small mansion of Gellilyfdy in Ysceifiog parish. Thomas Wynne (1627–1692) was born in Ysceifiog, where his family dated back seventeen generations to

Owain Gwynedd Owain ap Gruffudd ( – 23 or 28 November 1170) was King of Gwynedd, North Wales, from 1137 until his death in 1170, succeeding his father Gruffudd ap Cynan. He was called Owain the Great () and the first to be styled "Prince of Wales" and th ...

. Wynne became personal

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer, religious thinker, and influential Quakers, Quaker who founded the Province of Pennsylvania during the British colonization of the Americas, British colonial era. An advocate of democracy and religi ...

and was one of the original settlers of

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

in the

Province of Pennsylvania The Province of Pennsylvania, also known as the Pennsylvania Colony, was a British North American colony founded by William Penn, who received the land through a grant from Charles II of England in 1681. The name Pennsylvania was derived from ...

. He also served as speaker for the first two Pennsylvania Assemblies of the Province in Philadelphia in 1687 and 1688. The poet William Edwards (Wil Ysceifiog) also lived there in the first half of the 19th century, and John Owen (1733-1776), one of the pioneers of Methodism in Flintshire, was a native of Ysceifiog.

Today

The village

pub A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...

, the ''Fox Inn'', is a substantially unaltered 18th century building, with a front room listed on

CAMRA The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) is an independent voluntary consumer organisation headquartered in St Albans, which promotes real ale, real cider, cider and perry and traditional British pubs and clubs. History The organisation was founde ...

's register of nationally important pub interiors.Wales Pub Guide: The Fox Inn, Ysceifiog, Flintshire
''Daily Telegraph'' The village committee maintains the local village hall which plays hosts to village events. The local football team, Ysceifiog F.C., joined the Llandyrnog & District Summer League in 1976. It took them 31 years to win a trophy. Although taking the name of the village Ysceifiog Wolves JFC, a successful junior league football team coming runners up in the Tesco UK Championships in 2011.

Sources

*Dewi Roberts ''The old villages of Denbighshire and Flintshire'' (Gwasg Carreg Gwalch. 1999)

References

External links

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