THE smallest of the six shires included within North Wales. It occupies
an area of one hundred and ninety-seven thousand seven hundred and sixty
acres, and extends thirty-three miles in length and ten at its mean or
average breadth. The estuary of the river Dee and the waves of the Irish
sea lave its shores on the east and north. Denbighshire joins it on the
west and south, and Cheshire on the east. A range of hills, the loftiest
of which, Moel y Gaer, attains a height of one thousand and twenty feet
above the sea-level, extends from Prestatyn to Hawarden, and bisects the
surface of the county longitudinally. The section on the sea side is the
richest mineralogical district in the principality, and that on the land
side yields an abundant agricultural return. The coal field occupies the
parishes of Whitford, Holywell, Flint, Northop, and part of Hawarden; and
considerable quantities are exported from Mostyn quay for the consumption
of the principality. Pure limestone exists along the sea coast, and
constitutes a valuable export. Lead ore, lapis calaminaris, zinc,
pseudo-galena, petro-silex, and other valuable minerals are found in the
Holywell and Mold districts. Many of these are wrought at the towns
along the coast, the supply of fuel being abundant, from which
circumstance this small county has acquired considerable wealth. The
Marquis of Westminster, Lord Mostyn, Lord Dinorben, and Sir Edward Mostyn
are amongst the wealthy mineral proprietors. The scenery here is less
interesting than in the adjoining shires; it possesses less variety of
surface, less plantation, fewer rivers, and there is a partial denudation
of the surface from the mine waste, which completely poisons vegetation.
The termination of the beautiful vale of Clwyd, and the embouchure of its
meandering river, lie within the county boundaries, and the Allen makes a
circuitous, but not picturesque, course through the south-eastern
hundreds. Flintshire includes the respectable manufacturing towns of
Holywell, Mold, and Hawarden, and returns one member to the imperial
parliament. The boroughs of Flint, Caergwrle, St. Asaph, and Holywell,
enjoy the privilege of electing a second; the two last mentioned places
deriving that advantage from a clause in the Reform Bill of 1832.