A left fork from the Mold - Denbigh road leads to Nannerch.

 Picturesque Nannerch in the distant trees.

The principal Village Road through Nannerch.

(The main A541 by-passes Nannnerch.)

 The Cross Foxes at the centre of Nannerch.

 Stables Cottages, Nannerch

The scene before Stables Cottages were built.

Penbedw Standing Stones

Close to Nannerch is a very interesting relic at Penbedw. The Penbedw Circle can be seen from the main A541 Mold - Denbigh road, and from the minor road (just on the Denbigh side of the turning for Cilcain) which leads from it in a southerly direction up towards Moel Arthur. There is no right of way passing very close to this prehistoric stone circle, and so binoculars would be useful to view it from a nearby public road. It is believed to be the only one of its kind in North East Wales. There were originally eleven stones, but only four or five remain. Trees have been planted in positions where other stones once stood. A single pointer stone once stood some distance to the west of the circle.

The arrangement is believed to have stood in the same position from as far back as the Bronze Age (2000 - 1250 BC). The circle was possibly connected with some religious practices from the Beaker folk age. It was possibly a sacred enclosure for the performance of religious pagan rites. It could have been erected to determine solstices and equinoxes of the sun. Alternatively, it could have been a meeting place where tribal chiefs administered law and order.

Beaker folk were late Neolithic–Early Bronze Age people living up to 6,000 years ago. They received their name from their distinctive bell-shaped beakers, decorated in horizontal zones by finely toothed stamps. (Their culture is often called the Bell-Beaker culture.) A warlike stock, they were primarily bowmen but were also armed with a flat, tanged dagger or spearhead of copper, and a curved, rectangular wrist guard. Their extensive search for copper (and gold), in fact, greatly accelerated the spread of bronze metallurgy in Europe. Probably originally from Spain, the Beaker folk soon spread into central and western Europe in their search for metals. In central Europe they came into contact with the Battle-Ax (or Single-Grave) culture, which was also characterized by beaker-shaped pottery (though different in detail) and by the use of horses and a shaft-hole battle-ax. The two cultures gradually intermixed and later spread from central Europe into Britain.

Plas Yw

This very ancient house is situated off the road from Penbedw Circle up towards Moel Arthur. It is reputed that Owain Glyndwr stayed there some time between 1400 and 1410 when he was leading the Welsh fight for independence.

Cup of Kindness

In December 1997, the Landlord of the Cross Foxes drew my attention to a framed article hanging just inside his front door, written 32 years ago about an event 159 years earlier. It was entitled "Cup of Kindness" by J D Griffiths. A picture showed a Robert Hughes of Mold holding a silver cup dated 1806. The story was about a stranger who called at the Cross Foxes carrying a large sum of money. He was refused a night's lodgings and had to continue on his way. On the main road, he met a farmer who told him there had been many hold-ups and robberies in the area lately. The farmer let him stay the night at his farm, and refused to accept any payment next morning. An offer of an apprenticeship for the farmer's son was also refused. Some time later, the silver cup was delivered to the farmer, and was inscribed:-

"In gratitude - presented by John Scott, shipbuilder, Greenock, Scotland, to John Hughes, farmer, of Tardd-y-dwr, Nannerch, North Wales, for his humanity and kindness in conducting him to his house on the night of Saturday 7 June 1806, after a fruitless effort to get admission to the public house bearing the sign of the Cross Foxes."

John Hughes was the grand-father of Robert Hughes pictured in the article.

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Flintshire Record Office confirmed from the Cilcain Burial Register that a John Hughes of Tardd-y-dwr died aged 54 in 1816.

Railway

The Mold to Denbigh Junction railway, which opened to traffic in 1869, passed through Nannerch. The old Nannerch station is situated just at the point where the road into Nannerch forks left to leave the A541 from Mold. In addition to passengers boarding trains at the local station, there were cattle and sheep heading for market, and local milk making its way to the cities. It was usual for newspapers to arrive in Nannerch by rail. Sadly, the railway closed in 1962, falling victim to the notorious 'Beeching Axe'.