Rhuddlanshire!

As I mentioned yesterday, we have a great coastline here in Flintshire or should I say ‘Rhuddlanshire!‘....

I can't help mention a bit of little known Flintshire history here too. Flintshire almost never came into existence as a county.  Flintshire was, as a ‘new shire’ constituted by the Statute of Wales on 19th March 1284 at Rhuddlan. 

Clause II of the statute ordained that there be:

“ A Sheriff of Flint, under whom shall be the Cantred of Englefield, the land of Maelor Saesneg, the land of Hope and all the land attached to our castle and town of Rhuddlan, as far as the town of Chester…” 

In the British Museum exists the draft of the Statute of Wales document - written in an unmistakable thirteenth-century official hand. The rough draft is full of cancellations and alterations, as you’d expect in a draft document. There are several very interesting differences between this rough draft and the released Statute of Wales. One of the differences is that, whereas the statute speaks of a ‘Sheriff of Flint,’ the corresponding clause in the draft speaks of a ‘Sheriff of Rhuddlan.’ If the wording of the draft had stood, Flintshire would have been called Rhuddlanshire!

Flintshire as a county containing the town of Rhuddlan  existed unaltered for hundreds of years modern boundary changes have seen the county alter several times and Rhuddlan is now in Denbighshire. The cynical part of me can't help but think of the word 'gerrymandering' here.

Within ‘the old boundaries’ of Flintshire there are over 1000 ancient monuments, historic sites and ancient places to see.

Many in my home village of Northop alone ...  more to come on this.

#flintshire #localhistory #rhuddlan