Basingwerk, Flintshire

Notes from our files.

The police office is PC69 Kenneth Edwards of the old Flintshire Force who is talking to Mr Cummins, a local landowner and the year is 1959.

Father Holcroft

I was born and brought up in Widnes but we used to go for holidays in Bagillt where we stayed with an old friend of my parents, Father Holcroft. He was the local Catholic priest and we stayed in his house which had a farm adjoining with chickens and a goat which sometimes strayed into the house. The Catholic chapel was... [more]

Dancing days

I lived in Ysceifiog and used to travel by bike to the dances at the  village hall in Brynford.  I used to meet my friend Betty Davies and her sister Sheila, who lived in Brynford. They had two brothers Gerald and Leonard.  At these dances we had a band and an MC.  It was where I learnt the Gay Gordons and... [more]

Schools and church

Pantasaph holds many memories for me. I remember travelling from Lixwm with my Mother, brother and sister and going to Sunday Mass at church, also travelling in a pony and trap to attend Midnight Mass. I loved these services, loved to listen to the monks as they chanted before each mass.
I also attended Sy Aloysious High School, then when... [more]

Happy memories of Rhes-Y-Cae

My mum's best friend's father owned a cottage - Bryn Siriol- near Rhes-Y-Cae in the 1950s and 60s and some of my happiest childhood memories are of our annual holidays there. I remember going down to the farm (Black Lion Farm) in the village to get milk and water (no running water in Bryn Siriol!) from Mrs Reece. She had 2... [more]

My Home Town

I was born in Flint in 1946. Looking at the old photos in your memory archives of the 1950s, it brought back a lot of old happy memories to me. Looking at the Church Street photo with the Hawarden Castle pub on the right, the Red  Lion to the left. The Grand Cinema to the left and at the top of... [more]

Ffynnongroyw

I read with interest the account of Ken Davies and his childhood memories of the Garth Mill in Ffynnongroyw. We moved to Llinegr Farm on October 2nd 1961 (I was 7) and moved on November 6th 1988 after my father's death. I remember the Garth mill very well but at that time it had become a tyre retreading works and after... [more]

Happy Childhood

Ffynnongroew was a place of happy childhoods, and the Garth Mill was a landmark. We could tell when the old watermill was working by the rate at which the Llinegr stream was running. We would play around the mill and in the woods behind, following the sticks we threw down the stream.
The field adjacent to Llinegr farm... [more]