Tea Rooms at The Pet Cemetery

Take a stroll around the award-winning grounds of The Pet Cemetery and discover a unique place where beautifully manicured gardens, grounds, statues, headstones & memorials are dedicated to much-loved pets.

Visitor Centre & Traditional Tea Room (dogs welcome).

Winners of Cemetery of the Year 2004-2009, Rural Wales Award 2006.

North East Wales Ambassadors

Members of Flintshire Tourism Association

Open 7 days a week 24 hour helpline 01352 710500 Address: The Pet Cemetery, Brynford, Holywell, CH8 8AD

Email: enquiries@petfuneralservices.co.uk
Web: www.petfuneralservices.co.uk

Pantasaph and its Franciscan community

In the village of Pantasaph, just a few miles south of Holywell, is a Roman Catholic complex of buildings.  These include St David’s Church, built in 1846 by Viscount Fielding, later becoming the Earl of Denbigh, to commemorate his marriage, a Franciscan friary, and a retreat centre.

The Franciscan Friary and associated buildings were built by Viscount Fielding between 1858 and 1865 following his conversion to Catholicism.  The gardens were laid out between 1875 and 1879.

On the wooded hillside behind the friary are the Stations of the Cross, representing Christ’s journey to Calvary.

Groes Onnen Windmill

Groes Onnen Windmill was probably built during the late 18th or early 19th century but ceased operating as a mill in the 1890s. It is located in the Pen y Maes area of the town and is a prominent local landmark, and a rare surviving Welsh example of a full height windmill.

The mill was given Grade II listed status in 1951 and has since been refurbished and converted for residential use.

Post Code: CH8 7BB

Greenfield Dock

Greenfield Dock is where the Holywell Stream, which rises at St Winefride’s Holy Well, flows into the River Dee estuary and where many years ago, pilgrims from the north of England and possibly Ireland landed before making their way up the valley to visit this holy shrine.

Following many years of neglect and disuse except by a few local fishermen, a few years ago, the dock and surrounding land was leased to the Greenfield Dock Group, made up of local fishermen and residents as well as other people keen to see the dock refurbished.

Since then, extensive renovation work has been carried out and is still ongoing at the dock and by now, with extensive views over the Dee Estuary to Wirral, it is a pleasant place to visit.

The North Wales Coastal Footpath & Cycleway also passes close to the dock.

Pen y Maes Woods

Pen y Maes Woods is 7½ hectare /18-acre semi-ancient natural woodland stretching between Holywell and Greenfield.  It is a pleasant place to visit any time of the year, but especially in the spring when the bluebells are in bloom or in the autumn when it is a blaze of brown and gold.

Access is from Nant y Coed (CH8 7AZ) in the Pen y Maes area of the town and a public footpath meanders through the woods exiting onto the A548 coast road at Greenfield just below Crescent Farm.

Pen y Maes Wood is managed by the Friends of Pen y Maes Wood Group. The wood has been awarded the Green Flag Community Award.

Naid y March – the horse’s leap

Naid y March, meaning the horse’s leap is where a legendary leap by a 16th-century horseman took place thus creating the name for the surrounding area which still in use today.

The legend is that in the early 1500s Thomas Ap Harri was riding home from a hunting expedition with friends on Halkyn Mountain when they struck a wager that he and his horse couldn’t jump one of the many mineshafts that dotted the area.

The bold Thomas, possibly fortified by drink, was up for the challenge and he and his faithful steed soared clear and the feat was afterward commemorated by two standing stones erected 25 feet apart marking where he and his horse took off and landed.

Two standing stones were erected where Thomas and his horse jumped over the shaft to mark his achievement and by today the event is part of the region’s history.

The grid reference for Naid y March is SJ171752.

Coed y Garreg Watchtower

Coed y Garreg Watchtower is located on the highest point in Coed y Garreg woods near the village of Whitford about three miles west of Holywell.

This round stone structure is thought by some to be a Roman lighthouse built to help ships navigating the River Dee Estuary. Others think it is a 17th century watchtower, built to give warning of pirate raids.

An inscription on a stone set into the tower says: This pharos was restored by Llewelyn Baron Mostyn in commemoration of the 60th year of the glorious reign of Victoria queen and empress June 20th 1897

The watchtower can be reached via a choice of five public footpaths starting at various locations off quiet country lanes close to the village of Whitford, each of which is a pleasant walk over farmland or through woodland.  From near the tower, there are excellent views towards the Clwydian hills and Snowdonia in one direction and towards Wirral and the Lancashire and Cumbrian hills in the other direction.

The grid reference for Coed y Garreg Watchtower is: SJ146782.

Pen y Ball monument

This monument at the top of Pen y Ball Hill, 820ft above sea level and made of Halkyn stone, was erected in 1893 to commemorate the marriage of the Duke of York heir to the English throne.  Inscriptions on the stone also commemorate him being proclaimed King George V in 1910 and his silver jubilee in 1935.

From the monument, there are extensive views over Brynford Common and towards the Clwydian hills and Snowdonia.

The Pen y Ball monument can be accessed by car or on foot via a steep hill leading off the A5026, named Fron Park Road, where it passes through Holywell.

The grid reference for the monument is: SJ177755

Halkyn Mountain Common

Halkyn Mountain Common is a remarkable upland limestone plateau of around 1,800 acres on the outskirts of Holywell and stretching between the villages of Brynford and Rhosesmor with a history of mining, quarrying, and grazing since Roman times.

Its landscape today is a reflection of this industrial exploitation but, as nature reclaimed much of the land, Halkyn Mountain Common has become a popular place for walking, horse riding, and bird watching.

Halkyn Mountain Common is now a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Special Area of Conservation.

For more information about Halkyn Mountain Common, visit: www.halkyn.org

Maen Achwyfan

This 12ft high stone monolith with carvings on its shaft similar to Celtic and Viking styles is one of Flintshire’s most impressive ancient monuments and is believed to be the tallest wheel-cross in Britain.

Historians have never been able to determine why or when the stone was erected although it is generally thought to have been erected around 1000 A.D. as a Lamentation Stone

This impressive stone cross is located near the village of Whitford some three miles west of Holywell and stands near a crossroads between that village and the village of Llanasa.