Flint: Church of St Mary and St David

button_lang_frenchChurch of St Mary and St David, Flint

A church was built on this site in the 13th century, when King Edward I developed a castle and town here. A 1291 document records that the church was a chapel dependent on Northop. Flint’s first clergyman, a Master Benedict, received £12 a year from Northop.

The old St Mary’s Church – recorded as a parish church in 1535 – was richly furnished. During the Civil War it was damaged by Parliamentarians, who disliked religious icons. The church fell into disrepair and was rebuilt from 1846 to 1848, during which time services were held in Flint Town Hall. The new building, designed by Ambrose Poynter, was extended in the 1930s. The porch dates from 1977.

Burials in the churchyard, which was a little higher than the street, ended in 1856. The gravestones were removed in 1992 and the area outside the church was paved. The church was rededicated to Saints Mary and David in 2011 after the closure of St David’s Church in Oakenholt.

Inside the church you can see a communion table, dated 1660, which was probably in the old church. There are memorials to members of this church and the one in Oakenholt who died in the First and Second World Wars.

The church also contains memorials to members of the locally prominent Muspratt family. They established a chemical works in Flint in 1852 which became a major supplier of alikali to soap, textile, glass and other factories.

The church organ was built by Samuel Renn in 1839 for the New Jerusalem Temple in Salford and moved here after the temple closed in 1941. The church’s colourful murals were made in 2007 as a community project by children in local schools and Sunday schools, with help from adults.

Postcode: CH6 5BD    View Location Map

Parish website