#prestatyn

Day 1849 - a hiker carving

Better go by rail to Prestatyn

The first resort on the North Wales Coast

“It is perfectly comfortable, perfectly jolly and exhilarating, a preferable spot to any other. A sparkle of sunshine on the breakers, a dazzling gleam from the white foam, a warm sweet air, light and brightness and champagniness; altogether lovely”

Richard Jefferies was talking about Brighton, but his words seemed fitting as I walked the front from Prestatyn to Rhyl (I was there for the Rhyl Air Show, which was magnificent, but I wasn’t able to take pictures of moving objects as my technical skills don’t stretch that far!)

So I decided to make an essay about my journey from the Ffrith Beach and garden to Rhyl; originally developed in 1935, Ffrith has declined since its postwar heyday but is still a functioning caravan site that provides excellent access and I loved the grounds, which are permeated by the sea and are examples of how to work with nature to create a fine garden.

Prestatyn was home to Roman soldiers and a detatchment of the 20th legion, based in Chester, helped to subdue the local Celtic tribes; it also stands on the line of Offa’s Dyke, the frontier between Saxon and Celtic lands laid down at the behest of 8th-century Mercian ruler King Offa, and its status as a frontier town led to a castle being built in 1157 on the orders of Anglo-Norman King Henry II. 

Showing the turbulence of the Welsh Marches in that time, as early as 1167 it was destroyed by native ruler Owen Gwynnedd and never rebuilt; although fierce fighting took place in the area for centuries afterwards, Prestatyn sank into obscurity (almost nothing remains of what was the castle) until its emergence in its modern form in the 19th century.

This has been a tourist site since the coming of the railway in 1849, which led a small fishing village to develop into a resort, a role it still plays (alongside more diverse activity such as the North Hoyle Wind Farm, opened in 2003 and most clearly visible in (7).