Shotton

Shotton is a town at the heart of Deeside, lying on the A548 North Wales Coast Road. It is served by the Arriva Trains Wales Manchester to Holyhead Rail Line and the Wrexham to Bidston Rail Service which links the town to Merseyside.

Regular bus services to adjoining towns run through the main road, including the Cymru Coastliner from Chester to Rhyl. The town is within a few miles of the M56 which links into the National Motorway Network and gives a direct route to Manchester International Airport. The A55 Dual Carriageway is within two miles of the town, giving ready access to the beautiful Clwydian countryside and the North Wales Coastal Resorts with their excellent beaches. The Wepre Woods and Country Park are within a few minute’s walk with a trail leading to the historic Ewloe Castle.

The town owes it’s existence to two main factors: The construction of the Hawarden Bridge across the River Dee over one hundred years ago in 1889, and the building of the John Summers Steelworks around the turn of the century.

An ordinance survey map for 1869/74 shows Shotton to consist of nothing more than a few cottages, a National School for Girls and the Eleanor Colliery on the Shotton to Queensferry Road.

As the Steelworks grew, so the hamlet expanded to accommodate the families from other parts of the country who had come to take up employment. Many of the properties in Shotton bear the dates of the 1890s and early years of the Edwardian era mostly constructed of locally produced red brick.

Residents of modern Shotton and its adjoining areas are well served by a wide variety of commercial firms, including banks, building societies, estate agents and a good range of retail outlets and small shops.

Schooling needs are well catered for with two faith primary schools, (St.Ethelwolds VA and Ven. Edward Morgan) the local authority school Ysgol Ty Ffynnon (Well House) and Ysgol Croes Atti a Welsh-medium primary school. 

Health clinics, doctors and dentist surgeries are convenient and the Community Hospital which was built in the early 1990s is in Higher Shotton.

For cultural interests, Theatr Clwyd is within a short driving distance and the County Library services are available. Swimming Baths, Ice Skating and all other sports and leisure activities are close.

Deeside Industrial Park (on the fringe of the area) with 9,000 jobs on-site, is a modern business location that was developed from the former British Steel Shotton works. It is home to a range of businesses from thriving SMEs to well known global brands.

It covers an area of over 2,000 acres and is home to a wide variety of manufacturing and distribution companies including those involved in food production, aerospace, energy, pharmaceuticals, paper, packaging and engineering.

Shotton has a wide selection of housing accommodation including streets of modernised terraces, attractive post-war houses and luxury estates of the new millennium. Award-winning complexes of bungalows and flats were built for the elderly by the former Alyn and Deeside District Council in the 80s in the attractive residential areas.

Shotton, over the years, has absorbed folk from all over the country who have become part of a friendly community, many partaking in a wide range of hobbies and leisure activities.

Shotton looks back with pride on its first one hundred years and looks forward with great expectations for its next hundred years.