Forklift Training in Deeside

Deeside (Welsh: Glannau Dyfrdwy) is the name given to a predominantly industrial conurbation of towns and villages in Flintshire and Cheshire on the Wales–England border lying near the canalised stretch of the River Dee that flows from neighbouring Chester into the Dee Estuary. These include Connah’s Quay, Shotton, Queensferry, Aston, Garden City, Sealand, Broughton, Bretton, Hawarden, Ewloe, Mancot, Pentre, Saltney, and Sandycroft.

Deeside is known for its industry, providing jobs for the people of Cheshire, Merseyside, and 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, 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 and Toyota’s highly advanced engine manufacturing plant.

Shotton’s history dates back around 1000 years to Saxon times. 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, with 14 households.

As a border region, the Deeside area was subject to frequent conflict between the Welsh and the English in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. In the Battle of Ewloe in 1157, Owain Gwynedd inflicted a notable defeat on the forces of Henry II. Ewloe Castle was built by Llywelyn the Great in the early thirteenth century to secure the area. Llywelyn’s son and successor, Dafydd ap Llywelyn, was born in nearby Coleshill in 1212.

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. 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. Following this, in 1895, the Summers family purchased 40 acres (160,000 m2) of Dee marshland, on which they established Shotton Steelworks.

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, with Shotton and Connah’s Quay Jetty hubs of activity serving the steelworks. 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.

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.

Source – Deeside Wikipedia.