St. Winefride’s Well, Holywell
Known as The Lourdes of Wales
Pilgrims travelled to St Winefride’s Well at Holywell, drawn by the healing powers of the waters.
Wat’s Dyke
Wat’s Dyke is a 40 mile medieval earth bank that runs from the Greenfield Valley to Maesbury in Shropshire, built to mark the division between two ancient communities. It is one of the oldest monuments in the Valley, dating back around 1,200 years.
Basingwerk Abbey
is founded
The abbey was founded in 1132 by Ranulf de Gernon, 4th Earl of Chester, who had already brought Benedictine monks from Savigny Abbey in southern Normandy. The abbey became part of the Cistercian Order in 1147.
Small industries such as lead smelting were introduced into the valley. These were poisonous to the plant and animal life.
Three corn mills and two snuff mills were operating in the valley. A dock was also built at Greenfield in the 1700s which allowed trading with Liverpool.
Battery Works
full production
Lower Cotton Mill
Powered by Holywell Stream
Built in the space of ten weeks in the summer of 1785, this was the third of four mills built by the Cotton Twist Company started by John Smalley and Peter Atherton in the 1770s.
Meadow Mill
and Parys Mine Copper works
This was the site of the Greenfield Copper and Brass Companyrolling and hammer mill. Built in 1787, it was an important part of Thomas Williams’ Copper Kingdom, a network of copper mining and production. Meadow Mill provided worked copper and brass to his other mills in the Valley such as the Wire Mill and Battery Mill.
Courtaulds
was established
The history of Courtaulds is closely linked to that of the valley and the area as a whole. Courtaulds continued to grow into an international company in the 1920s. By the 1960s it had built two new factories at Greenfield.
Unemployment
Holywell had grown to over 5500 people However, there was a decline in the copper industry due to cheaper imports from abroad, causing depression and unemployment in the area. The Meadow Mill factory was taken over by Newton Keates in the 1850s. For a time it was a lead works and then a tinplate works. It then became a brass rolling and wire drawing mill. In the 1890s the site was leased to William Eyre who made it into a rubber grinding and processing works.
Spring Gardens School
The first teacher at Spring Gardens school was Mrs Emma Parry. You can find out more about her in our Victorian School.
Holywell Railway
Holywell Railway was built to transport goods down to Holywell Wharf. It closed in 1957.
New train station opens
A new station at Holywell Junction was opened in 1913.
Textile mills boomed during the first world war making soldier uniforms.
Spring Gardens School Teacher
Another teacher called Miss Parry was headteacher until 1932 and was presented with a silver tea service by the children on her retirement.
Spring Gardens School Closes
The school had outgrown its original purpose and it was abandoned.
Abbey Farm ceased to operate
The picture shows the Tai Coed cottages near Abbey Farm. These terrace of cottages were built to house the workers. The remains of these form part of the woodland trail you can see opposite the mill site.
The Greenfield Valley Museum opened.
Buildings rescued from elsewhere in Flintshire were moved to the Greenfield Valley to form an open-air museum.
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