Deeside

For the book, see Deeside (book). For Strathdee or Royal Deeside in Scotland, see River Dee, Aberdeenshire.
Deeside
Welsh: Glannau Dyfrdwy

Flintshire Bridge
Deeside
 Deeside shown within the United Kingdom
Population 53,568 (2011 census)[1]
Post town DEESIDE
Postcode district CH
Post town CHESTER
Dialling code 01244
Police  
Fire  
Ambulance  
UK ParliamentAlyn and Deeside
List of places
United Kingdom

Coordinates: 53°12′00″N 3°02′00″W / 53.2°N 3.03333°W / 53.2; -3.03333

Deeside[2] (Welsh: Glannau Dyfrdwy) is the name given to a predominantly industrial conurbation of towns and villages in Flintshire close to the Wales–England border lying near the canalised stretch of the River Dee that flows from neighbouring Chester into the Dee Estuary. [3][4] These include Connah's Quay, Shotton, Queensferry, Aston, Garden City, Sealand, Broughton, Bretton, Hawarden, Ewloe, Mancot, Pentre, Saltney and Sandycroft. The population is around 50,000, with a plurality (17,500) living in Connah's Quay.[5] Although locally the term Deeside is usually only used to refer to Connah's Quay, Shotton, Queensferry, Garden city and the Deeside industrial estate.

Deeside is known for its industry, providing jobs for the people of Cheshire, Merseyside & North Wales. The biggest employment area in Deeside is Deeside Industrial Park, located on the north bank of the Dee on the southern edge of the Wirral peninsula, which has both historical and contemporary significance,[6] and provides Deeside and the surrounding area with jobs in many different industries from construction to food production. Deeside is also home to steel manufacturer Tata Steel, aircraft manufacturer Airbus and Toyota's highly advanced engine manufacturing plant.

History

Ancient history

The industrial estate still contains visible relics of Deeside's ancient history, such as the remnants of a human-made henge on a motorway roundabout in the Deeside Industrial Area.[7] Shotton's history dates back around 1000 years to Saxon times.[8][9] Various settlements within the Deeside area are recorded in the Domesday book (1086) which list them within the Cheshire Hundred of Ati's Cross. They are Aston, Broughton, Clayton, Hawarden, Golftyn and Wepre. The largest of these was Hawarden[10] with 14 households.

Recent history

Until industrialisation in the nineteenth century, Shotton remained a cluster of hamlets: a settlement comprising Shotton, Nine Houses and Shotton Hall, which itself dates back to 1637.[4][11][12] Coal mining developed in the eighteenth century, then in 1889 the opening of the Hawarden Railway Bridge over the River Dee improved access to the reclaimed Dee Marshes.[4] Following this, in 1895, the Summers family purchased 40 acres (160,000 m2) of Dee marshland,[13] on which they established Shotton Steelworks.[4][13]

In September 1896, Shotton Steelworks began producing sheet steel. The development of this steelworks on the banks of the River Dee changed an area that was once mainly marshland, with Shotton – just across the Dee – previously little more than a hamlet. Shotton Steelworks led to the development of whole communities to house the influx of workers, estimated up to 13,000 at the height of the industry,[13] with Shotton and Connah's Quay Jetty hubs of activity serving the steelworks.[14] There were also brickworks and other industries in and around Shotton, and Connah's Quay developed as a town on the banks of the Dee Estuary, becoming known for its shipbuilding industry.[6]

City of Chester, Wrexham and Deeside

The city of Chester, Wrexham and Deeside is a proposed city region spanning the large urban areas of Wrexham and Chester and the community of Deeside. This would be a unique city in the UK as its boundaries would cross the border on England and Wales. A preliminary report has been issued and further news is expected to be announced later in 2012.[15]

Education

Primary schools in the area include: Taliesin Junior School, Bryn Deva Primary, Wepre Primary, Ysgol Cae'r Nant (Brookfield Primary), Golftyn Primary, Venerable Edward Morgan, Shotton Infants, Sealand County Primary, Sandycroft County Primary, St Ethelwold's Primary School, and most importantly, Queenferry County Primary School.

Secondary schools in the area include: Connah's Quay High School (Connah's Quay), John Summers High School (Queensferry) and St Davids High School (Saltney).

Further Education

Coleg Cambria is a large and popular college in Connah's Quay. It offers a range of full and part-time courses as well as apprenticeships. In an inspection in 2007 the college gained the highest possible grade 1 inspection ratings for its Work Based Learning provision, it was formally Deeside College, but a College Merger was finalised in August 2013 with Yale College Wrexham, It is now one of the largest College's in the UK and the largest in Wales.

Transport

The Blue Bridge over the River Dee.

Bus travel in Deeside is mainly provided by Arriva North West who offer services to Chester Bus Exchange from a starting point in Connah's Quay. Arriva also provide a service to Rhyl in North Wales from Chester which passes through parts of Deeside. Senior citizens are entitled to free public transport to and from Chester.

Arriva provide Train services in the Deeside area. The main services are to Liverpool and Manchester and to Wrexham and Rhyl. There are also services to London and Cardiff which call at Shotton railway station. The other three railway stations in Deeside are Shotton high level railway station, Hawarden railway station and Hawarden Bridge railway station.

The Deeside Shuttle Bus

The Deeside Shuttle Bus is a service which enables people to travel to and from work at a time convenient to them. The Deeside Shuttle Bus allows local residents to book a seat on the bus at a time and place specified by them, which will take them to work on Deeside Industrial Park. It has proved very popular and has now grown to serve other local areas.

Landmarks

The most striking landmark in Deeside is the fixed cable-stayed bridge, which was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1998. The bridge is known as the Flintshire Bridge but is commonly referred to by locals as the "New Bridge". The industrial park has been used as the base and the service area of the Wales Rally GB every year since 2013.

Local media

Television

The Deeside area is mainly covered by the Winter Hill signal. This provides BBC North West and ITV Granada.

Radio

The local radio station in Deeside is Chester's Dee 106.3 which broadcasts from its studio just off Sealand Road in Chester. The station is well known by locals and is regularly seen at public events, for example firework displays. Other local radio stations include BBC Radio Merseyside and Radio City 96.7. Recently several veteran radio presenters started up a community radio station, Radio Deeside, based at the Deeside Leisure Centre.

Newspapers

There are three main newspapers for Deeside: these are The Evening Leader, a Deeside edition of the Chester Chronicle and a Deeside edition of the Chester and District Standard. There is also an independent news, events and informational website called Deeside.com

Notable people from Deeside

It is notable that a significant amount of the people on this list are or were footballers. This reflects the fact that football is a common pastime in the region. Several generations of the Gladstone-Glynne family were also born in Deeside.

External links

References

  1. ↑ Deeside is made up of the parish of Connah's quay as well as 13 other wards that cover other parts of the conurbation, all of these wards are listed below http://www.ukcensusdata.com/flintshire-w06000005#sthash.EAxGuY47.VfAXHJ3D.dpbs
  2. ↑ BBC (14 December 2005), Wales, North East: Deeside (panoramic), retrieved 26 April 2010
  3. ↑ "Map showing location of Deeside, Wales". Google maps. Retrieved 25 April 2010.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Deeside history", The Flintshire Chronicle, 8 August 2008, retrieved 26 April 2010
  5. ↑ "Census 2001 Key Statistics – Urban areas in England and Wales KS01 Usual resident population". Office for National Statistics. 2001. Retrieved 7 June 2012. Estimate formed from population of Connah's Quay/Shotton plus Broughton and Saltney which are the welsh parts of the Chester Urban Area
  6. 1 2 BBC, North East Wales: A Pen Picture, retrieved 26 April 2010
  7. ↑ May, Roger. "Standing Stones, near to Shotwick, Cheshire". Geograph. Retrieved 25 April 2010.
  8. ↑ Norry, Roy (16 March 2010), The History of Shotton – Deeside, North Wales in pictures and text, retrieved 26 April 2010
  9. ↑ Atkinson, Keith (4 January 2006), "1. Shotton From Saxon Times", The History of Shotton – Deeside, retrieved 26 April 2010
  10. ↑ Powell-Smith, Anna. "Hawarden - Domesday Book".
  11. ↑ Atkinson, Keith (4 January 2006), "2. Shotton from the 13th Century", The History of Shotton – Deeside, retrieved 26 April 2010
  12. ↑ Atkinson, Keith (4 January 2006), "4. Shotton Hall", The History of Shotton – Deeside, retrieved 26 April 2010
  13. 1 2 3 BBC (10 June 2009), North East Wales: Shotton Steelworks and Garden City, retrieved 25 April 2010
  14. ↑ BBC (17 March 2009), North East Wales: Steelworks' Jetty, retrieved 25 April 2010
  15. ↑ "Daily Post: Latest North Wales news, sport, what's on and business".
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