(Welsh, Sir Efflant), a maritime county in North Wales. This county is made up of two separate portions lying at a distance of 8 miles from each other. The main portion is bounded on the N. by the estuary of the Dee; on the N.E. and E. by Cheshire; and on all other sides by the county of Denbigh. Its greatest length is from S.E. to N.W. about 26 miles, and its breadth is about 12 miles. The detached and smaller portion of this county lies to the S.E. It is bounded on the N. by Cheshire; on the E. and S. by Shropshire; and on the W. by Denbighshire. It is about 9 miles long by 5 broad. The whole of the county possesses an area of 289 square miles or 184,905 acres, and it is the smallest of the Welsh counties. The origin of the name is involved in obscurity. The greater part of this county is situated on the coal measures, and the other members of the group of carboniferous rocks. The northern rim of the North Wales coal-field extends along nearly the whole of its northern boundary. Along the southern edge of the coal strata the millstone grit extends in a continuous line, which, further south, is followed by the carboniferous or mountain limestone; and in the extreme south by the upper Silurian (Wenlock) rocks. The eastern as well as the western extremities of the main portion of the county, and also the whole of the detached part, are situated on the new red-sandstone formation.

Along the southern boundary the Wenlock rocks rise into a mountain chain of considerable elevation, forming the northern limb of the Berwen range; and terminating about Flintshire, a mile from the shore of the Dee, near the western extremity of the county. The small portion of land lying still further west is flat, and much of it consists of rich alluvium embracing a portion of the well-known Rhyddlan marsh, and forming part of the celebrated Vale of Clwyd (see Denbighshire). The watershed of the Berwens forms the county boundary for a considerable distance along the south; and the summit of a member of this range, the Moel Famman, common to this county and Denbighshire, rises to the height of 1845 feet. The general character of the county is mountainous, although the hills, with the exception of those already mentioned, do not rise to any great elevation. Besides the tract of flat rich land on the extreme west, there is a similar tract of no great extent in the same geological formation in the east; and from the one to the other there extends along the southern shore of the Dee a narrow strip of rich alluvial soil. The detached portion of the county is also flat.

Some of the small valleys are very beautiful, although not equal to those of other parts of North Wales. With the exception of that part of the vale of Clwyd embraced by this county, the vale of the Alyn is the most important.

The principal rivers are—the Dee, forming part of the northern boundary of the main part of the county, and also the eastern boundary of the detached portion; the Clwyd, which forms the western boundary for about 3 miles; the Elwy, which enters the county near the city of St Asaph in the west, and after joining the Clwyd falls into the sea at Rhyl; and the Alyn, which, rising in the Berwens, near the eastern extremity of the county, after a very tortuous course, flowing first west and then east, is discharged into the Dee, after traversing part of Denbighshire.

Flint possesses few lakes, and these are small and unimportant. The principal ones are Llyn Helyg in the N.W., and Llyn Cyffynwy in the S.E.

Owing to its proximity to the sea the climate is for the most part mild; although, of course, on the Berwens and other elevated land the air is keen. The cultivated crops consist of wheat, beans, oats, barley, Welsh bere, rye, vetches, peas, hay, potatoes, turnips, mangold-wurtzel, and carrots. Clover seed is also grown, but not to any great extent. The eastern part of the county is liable to be flooded by the overflowings of the Dee, and is mostly in pasture. The farms are of considerable size, and the farmers are more intelligent than in most other parts of Wales. Agriculture is therefore in a more advanced state. In addition to the crops, already mentioned, there is a good deal of cheese and butter made; there is also a very considerable production of mutton and beef, for which a ready market is found among the thickly planted mining population. Wool and oak bark as well as timber are produced to a considerable extent, but it is for its mineral wealth and manufacturing industry that the county of Flint is chiefly remarkable. In addition to its numerous coal mines and limestone quarries, it contains some of the richest lead and calamine mines in the British islands, and large quantities of carbonate of baryta have been lately found there. There are numerous smelting works; and at those at Bagillt a very large proportion of all the lead ore raised in the world is smelted, and has the silver separated from it. There is a very extensive foundry and engine manufactory at Mold; and there are numerous iron, chemical, coarse pottery, and other works scattered all over the more accessible parts of the county, and giving employment to a very large number of work-people. The shipping trade is not extensive, for, owing to the gradual silting up of the Dee, only vessels of light draught can enter the Flintshire ports.

The lower parts of Flintshire are well supplied with means of communication and transport, for, in addition to the water carriage on the Dee, extending the whole length of the country, the Chester and Holyhead railway traverses its greatest length, and the Chester and Mold railway penetrates to the centre, and opens up a communication with all parts by means of the valley of the Alyn.

The principal towns are Flint, Mold, St Asaph, Rhyl, and Holywell; besides which there are several smaller ones, the principal of which are Rhyddlan, Hawarden, Caergwrle, Caerwys, and Overton. The county is divided into 28 parishes, and is for the most part in the diocese of St Asaph. It returns one member to parliament, and has done so since 1536. The political influence is almost entirely in the hands of Lord Mostyn, and the political opinions are chiefly of a liberal tendency; constituency in 1852, 2912. The average gross rental of the county is as high as 24s. 9d. per acre. The annual value of real property paying income tax in 1851 was £3,999,261, and of property assessed to the relief of the poor in 1850, £2,292,16s.

The population of the county by the census of 1851 was 68,156, giving an average of 235 persons to a square mile, or 27 acres to a person. Of the total numbers 34,452 were males, and 33,704 females. Flint is thus, next to Glamorgan, the most densely peopled county in Wales, and contains rather more than four times as many people to an acre as Radnor, the most thinly peopled of the Welsh counties. The number of inhabited houses was 14,041, uninhabited 798, building 80, giving an average of 49 houses to a square mile, and 4½ persons to a house. The following table gives the census returns for the last fifty years:

| Years | Population | |-------|------------| | 1801 | 39,469 | | 1811 | 45,937 | | 1821 | 53,893 | | 1831 | 60,244 | | 1841 | 66,919 | | 1851 | 68,156 |

It is calculated that about eight per cent. of the population live by agriculture, and nine per cent. by trade, manufactures, &c. About one-fourth of the whole are in the condition of labourers, servants, &c. About thirteen hundred persons possess independent means, and five hundred follow professions.

In 1847 the total number of children of the working classes at day schools within the county was 7586. Of schools 60 were church or “national” schools, with 4893 scholars; 1 Calvinistic Methodist, with 48 scholars; 2 Independent, with 103 scholars; 2 Roman Catholic, with 55 scholars; 5 British and Foreign, with 806 scholars; 5 of no denomination, with 311 scholars; 2 workhouse schools, with 112 scholars; 1 factory school, with 30 scholars; and 53 private adventure, with 1228 scholars. It appears that the average annual income of the teachers from all sources was only £25, 5s. 10d. The total number of Sunday schools was 133, with 15,310 scholars. Of these 26 were Church, with 3841 scholars; 2 Baptist, with 161 scholars; 43 Calvinistic Methodist, with 5062 scholars; 27 Independents, with 2377 scholars; 34 Wesleyan Methodist, with 3779 scholars; 1 of other denominations, with 60 scholars. In 51 of these schools instruction was given in the Welsh language only; in 18 in the English language only; in 62 in both languages; and in two, which language was not ascertained. A great proportion of the population use the English language, and, as may be supposed, from the proximity to England, and the great industrial progress of this county, the manners and habits approach more nearly to the English type than in most other parts of Wales.

There are numerous fine gentlemen’s seats throughout this county; and there is a cathedral and bishop’s palace at St Asaph.