Rock Cottage - Flint Mountain

I have mentioned several times before that my family, on the Williams side, hailed from Flint Mountain for many generations, so the scene in the image today will have been quite familiar to them.

This is Flint Mountain in the summer of 1905. The view has altered little in the intervening one hundred years plus, since this image was taken, apart from the heavy traffic which now clogs the road on a daily basis.  The house on the right,  known as Rock Cottage  was the family home of my great-grandmother Sarah Jane Owens, although by the time of this image, they weren't living there any longer.  Checking the 1911 census, it seems that the woman standing in the image is likely to be the then occupier of the house (in 1911 it had become a shop/post office) 23 year-old confectioner Isabella Bouch (born in Birkenhead)  with her only son James. The man of the house, also James,  is described as a 'war pensioner' and soldier who hailed from Blackpool.  In 1911 he was 32 years-old.

Coming along the road from the direction of Flint is the London & North Western Railway ‘Milnes-Daimler Omnibus,’ on its way to Mold via Northop.

The service operated between Flint, Holywell and Mold and commenced in July 1905, using two 34-seater buses, so when this image was taken the ‘bus service’ was a very new addition to travel in Flintshire.

The Coach & Horses Pub, which still exists today, is on the hill just past the bus.

What a tranquil scene it is. There’s even a man walking in the road near the bus….you’d take your life in your hands doing this nowadays!

The village and some of its haunting locations are described vividly in my new book being launched on 2nd July next - 'Esmeralda's Talisman.'

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