Bagillt

infobox UK place
country= Wales
static_

static_image_caption=
latitude= 53.268381
longitude= -3.168953
official_name= Bagillt
welsh_name=
population= 3,918 (2001 Census)
unitary_wales= Flintshire
lieutenancy_wales= Clwyd
constituency_westminster= Delyn
constituency_welsh_assembly= Delyn
post_town= BAGILLT
postcode_district= CH6
postcode_area= CH
dial_code= 01352
os_grid_reference= SJ221752 Bagillt (pronounced|bagɪɬt in Welsh, IPAEng|ˈbægɪlt in English) is a town in Flintshire, North Wales, 14 miles from Chester, near Holywell. At the 2001 Census, the population was 3,918.citeweb|url=http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadTableView.do?a=3&b=801645&c=bagillt&d=16&e=15&g=414341&i=1001x1003x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1214845553947&enc=1&dsFamilyId=779|title=2001 Census: Bagillt|work=Office for National Statistics|accessdate=30 June|accessyear=2008] A pub and a few small shops exist there.

History

Above Bagillt is Bryn Dychwelwch, "Hill of Retreat", so called from the retreat effected by Owen Gwynedd, when pursued by Henry II, with superior numbers. Near is Mostyn Hall, dating from the time of Henry VI, the seat of one of the oldest Welsh families. Here are antiquities and manuscripts (old British history and Welsh, brought from Gloddaeth), a harp dated 1568, torques (torchau), etc. Henry VII, then Earl of Richmond, is said to have been concealed here in the reign of Richard III, when the lord of Mostyn was Richard ap Howel.

Industrial Revolution

By the late 18th century, Bagillt had become a centre of raw-mineral extraction and manufacture in North East Wales. Mines and works produced and refined zinc, lead and iron. There was also an alkali and kindred factory. Hundreds of men worked in the 11 collieries that surrounded the village.

Bagillt had several quays on the banks of the River Dee where fishing boats had moored for centuries. By the early 1800s, these has grown into docks where cargo destined for the factories and foundries of England were loaded.

By 1846 navvies laying track for the North Wales Coast Line reached Bagillt. The Chester and Holyhead Railway officially opened on May 1st, 1848. The local mines and works that had used these wharves now switched to haulage by steam train. Bagillt railway station had extensive sidings and freight yard. Bagillt station closed in 1966.

But the industrial age created its own problems, in 1848 a book was published in London entitled "Reports of the Commissioners of Inquiry into the state of Education in Wales". It detailed the poverty and hard living for many people in Bagillt and the Flintshire coalfields in the 19th century.

In some of the collieries the men are paid every other Saturday, and do not return to their work till the following Tuesday or Wednesday. In Bagillt and in the adjoining town of Flint the old Welsh custom of keeping a merry night (noswaithlawen) is still prevalent, and, being generally reserved for a Saturday, is protracted to the following Sunday, during which drinking never ceases. The custom is represented by the clergy and others as involving the most pernicious consequences.

I saw two men stripped and fighting in the main street of Bagillt, with a ring of men, women, and children around them. There is no policeman in the township. The women are represented as being for the most part ignorant of housewifery and domestic economy. The girls are very early sent to service, but marry as early as 18, and have large families.

Women are not employed in or about the mines, but spend most of their time in cockling, or gathering cockles on the beach. They have low ideas of domestic comfort, living in small cottages dirty and ill-ventilated, and at night are crowded together in the same room, and sometimes in the same bed, without regard to age or sex.

Amenities

Bagillt lies on the A548 road. Community facilities include a few local shops, pubs and parkland.

References

Notes

General

* [http://www.bagillt-history.org.uk/index.html Bagillt History Club]
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