Dyserth
| |
---|---|
Church of St Brigid | |
Location within Denbighshire | |
Population | 2,269 (2011) |
OS grid reference | SJ056789 |
Community |
|
Principal area | |
Country | Wales |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | RHYL |
Postcode district | LL18 |
Dialling code | 01745 |
Police | North Wales |
Fire | North Wales |
Ambulance | Welsh |
UK Parliament | |
Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament | |
Dyserth (Welsh : Diserth) is a village, community and electoral ward in Denbighshire, Wales. Its population at the 2011 United Kingdom census was 2,269 [1] and was estimated by the Office for National Statistics as 2,271 in 2019. [2] It lies within the historic county boundaries of Flintshire. Features include quarrying remains, waterfalls and the mountain Moel Hiraddug. Its railway line, once part of the London and North Western Railway, finally closed in 1973 and is now a footpath.
The village lies on the A5151 road, which links Rhuddlan and Holywell. The nearest major settlements are the coastal towns of Rhyl and Prestatyn.
Dyserth is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, listed in the Hundred of Ati's Cross and within Cheshire: [3] [4]
Ad hoc manerium ROELENT jacent hae berewiches, DISSAREN BODUGAN CHILVEN et MAENEVAL. In his est terra i carrucata tantum et silva i leuva longa et dimidia lata. Ibi est francigena et ii villani habent i caracutas.
Translation:
To this manor of Rhuddlan belong these berewicks, DYSERTH BODEGAN (1.5 m ENE of St Asaph) CHILVAN (?) and MAENEFA (?). In these the land is 1 carucate only, and there is a wood 1 league long and a half wide. One foreign woman and 2 villeins have 1 carucate there.
In the Middle Ages, Dyserth was the centre of the commote of Prestatyn, in the cantref of Tegeingl. Here, 1 km west of the present village, was Bodrhyddan Hall, occupied by the Conwy family, one of the most powerful noble families of North Wales. According to the antiquary Edward Lhuyd, the poet, scholar and priest Dafydd Ddu o Hiraddug (died around 1370) was buried in Dyserth church.
Dyserth is the location of Dyserth Castle, which suffered at the hands of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd; destroyed after a six-week siege in 1263. The remains of the castle were quarried away during World War I.
The oldest industry in the village and surrounding area is mining, with lead, copper and limestone just some of the minerals being extracted locally in the past. These quarries are still visible and form a major part of the village's geography, though mining ceased when Dyserth Quarry closed in 1981.
Traditionally there has been a strong Welsh language speaking community in the village; and until recent times many families and village folk knew, or knew of, each other. This is typical of a rural community whose life often centred on its many churches and chapels. Many of the village's families have their roots in agriculture, with many notable farms in or around Dyserth, including Hottia, Bryn Cnewyllyn and Ty Newydd.
The parish church of St Bridget and St Cwyfan, of the Church in Wales (the Wales based churches of the Anglican Communion), is a Grade II* listed building. [5] The church is dedicated to Saint Brigid of Kildare, and includes the name of the Celtic monk Saint Cwyfan, believed to have founded the original place of worship near the Dyserth Waterfall during the 6th century. [6] The church is notable for a Jesse Window dating from the 16th century.
Dyserth Chapel, in Dyserth High Street, built in 1927, also has stained glass. [7] It houses the English-speaking Horeb United Reformed Church. [8]
The Dyserth branch line was opened by the London and North Western Railway in 1869 to tap limestone quarries and a lead mine. A passenger, parcels and goods service was introduced in 1905 to serve local needs and an expanding holiday industry. The company designed and built a single-carriage, steam-powered motor train for such lines, with the Dyserth branch using the first example. [9] [10] The passenger service was a success before the First World War. Services were doubled and an additional unit provided for the motor trains. After the war the motor trains were replaced by locomotive-propelled push-pull trains. [11] Road competition and the 1926 General Strike ate into profits, leading the London, Midland and Scottish Railway to withdraw the passenger service in 1930. [9]
The line remained open for minerals, parcels and general goods until the end of November 1951, when parcels and general goods traffic ended, leaving just coal to Dyserth and limestone products from a quarry in that village. Coal traffic ended in May 1964, with lime and limestone traffic continuing until the line officially closed completely on 7 September 1973, [12] [13] although at least two special trains took stone away in 1974.
The tracks were lifted in 1980, [14] with the former trackbed now converted into a mixed-use footpath and bridleway.
Denbighshire is a county in the north-east of Wales. It borders the Irish Sea to the north, Flintshire to the east, Wrexham to the southeast, Powys to the south, and Gwynedd and Conwy to the west. Rhyl is the largest town, and Ruthin is the administrative centre. Its borders differ from the historic county of the same name.
Until 1974, Flintshire, also known as the County of Flint, was an administrative county in the north-east of Wales, later classed as one of the thirteen historic counties of Wales.
Rhyl is a seaside town and community in Denbighshire in Wales. The town lies on the coast of North Wales, at the mouth of the River Clwyd.
Prestatyn is a seaside town and community in Denbighshire, Wales. Historically a part of Flintshire, it is located on the Irish Sea coast, to the east of Rhyl. Prestatyn has a population of 19,085.
Rhuddlan is a town, community, and electoral ward in Denbighshire, Wales. Its associated urban zone is mainly on the right bank of the Clwyd; it is directly south of seafront town Rhyl. It gave its name to the Welsh district of Rhuddlan from 1974 to 1996. As of the 2001 census, the population was 4,296 decreasing to 3,709 in the 2011 census. It was historically in Flintshire.
Abergele is a market town and community, situated on the north coast of Wales between the holiday resorts of Colwyn Bay and Rhyl, in Conwy County Borough and in the historic county of Denbighshire. Its northern suburb of Pensarn lies on the Irish Sea coast. Abergele and Pensarn railway station serves both resorts. Abergele is often overlooked due to the popularity of towns in nearby Rhyl, Prestatyn, Colwyn Bay, Llandudno and Conwy. Only 46.5% of the population was born in Wales as of the 2011 census.
The Vale of Clwyd was a constituency of the House of Commons of the UK Parliament created in 1997. As with all seats it elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system at least every five years.
Prestatyn railway station on the North Wales Coast Line serves the town of Prestatyn in North Wales.
The Chester and Holyhead Railway was an early railway company conceived to improve transmission of Government dispatches between London and Ireland, as well as ordinary railway objectives. Its construction was hugely expensive, chiefly due to the cost of building the Britannia Tubular Bridge over the Menai Strait. The company had relied on Government support in facilitating the ferry service, and this proved to be uncertain. The company opened its main line throughout in 1850. It relied on the co-operation of other railways to reach London, and in 1859 it was absorbed by the London and North Western Railway.
Meliden is a village between Prestatyn and Dyserth in Denbighshire, Wales. It grew up around the locality of lead mines and limestone quarries. The placename "Meliden" has variously been claimed to be derived from that of Bishop Melitus or St. Melyd ; its Welsh placename, "Alltmelyd", means "wooded hill of Melyd". The railway between Prestatyn and Dyserth, long since lifted and formerly with sidings in the village, is now a public walkway and nature trek. It has a 9-hole golf course, which is split in half by the former railway/nature walk. The local school, St. Melyd Primary, is a feeder school to the High School, Prestatyn.
The Vale of Clwyd Railway (VoCR) was a standard-gauge line, which connected the settlements of Rhyl, St Asaph and Denbigh in North Wales. It opened in 1858, at first without a connection to the main line at Rhyl, but this was provided in 1862. At Denbigh, a connection could be made on to the Mold and Denbigh Junction Railway. Although the area became popular with holidaymakers from the 1920s, the line never realised its potential; it closed to passengers in 1955 and completely in 1968.
The Clwydian Way is a waymarked long-distance footpath in north-east Wales, mostly running through Denbighshire.
The Dyserth branch line was a short standard-gauge mineral railway between the northern end of the Clwydian Range at Dyserth and the North Wales Coast Line at Prestatyn. The line was constructed by the London and North Western Railway in 1869; it was built to carry quarried stone and coal. The rise of tourism led to the introduction of a passenger service in 1905. There were stations at Dyserth and Meliden, and basic halts were built at other stopping places. Competition from road transport led to the passenger service being withdrawn in 1930. With the eventual demise of all the mineral industries around Dyserth the entire line was closed in September 1973.
Meliden railway station served the mining village of Meliden, Flintshire, Wales, on the Dyserth branch line. It was used as a way of shipping minerals from the nearby quarries at Dyserth to Prestatyn. The branch line to Dyserth was opened by the LNWR in 1869, initially for mineral traffic only. A passenger service was instituted in 1905 but lasted only until 1930, when it was withdrawn by the LMS. The line remained open to serve a quarry at Dyserth until complete closure in 1973. Since closure the Prestatyn to Dyserth railway has become a nature walk. All that remains is the loading gauge and goods shed.
Woodland Park was an unstaffed halt on the Dyserth branch line in North Wales.
Alt-y-Craig railway station was an unstaffed halt at Talargoch, Denbighshire, Wales, UK, on the Dyserth branch line. Like Woodland Park further down the line, passengers would have had to access the station from a hill. The only piece of railway history that remains here is the bridge that people now walk on.
Dyserth railway station served the village of Dyserth, Flintshire, Wales. It was the southern terminus of the 2 miles 70 chains (4.6 km) Dyserth branch, most of which is now a public footpath. At its peak Dyserth had passengers in the thousands. In 1930 the line and station closed for passengers in the face of road competition. At one point fourteen trains a day had shuttled along the line. Although the station has long been demolished, a crane from the station has been installed at the end of the walk as a feature of historical interest, as have two pieces of track at Chapel Street.
The Clwyd Football League was a football league formed in 1974 as an amalgamation of the Dyserth League and the Halkyn Mountain League. The top division was at different periods at the second, third and fourth levels of the Welsh football league system in North Wales. The league ran until 2011 when a split led to the formation of the Clwyd East Football League comprising Flintshire teams under the North East Wales Football Association and the Vale of Clwyd and Conwy Football League, made up of Denbighshire, Conwy county and Vale of Conwy sides, under the North Wales Coast Football Association.
(note: The ONS census website shows that 28 June 2022 was the release date of the 2021 Census Population Data broken down to Wales' 22 local authorities, with more granular detail to come at an undetermined future date)
(note: the main www.dyserthchapel.org.uk was live as late as January 2022, so August 2022 dead-url might be a technical issue)
Dyserth quarry provided the last traffic for the railway, which was eventually closed in 1973.