The Industries
Coal mining was a major industry, along with pottery and brickmaking, of this part of Flintshire. The nearby town of Buckley had many coal mines and mining took place in most of the surrounding area,
At Padeswood it was Cannel coal that was mined. Crude oil can be distilled from Cannel coal and shale.
In 1868 there were 22 Oil companies in the Mold Area some of them operating on what are now Padeswood & Buckley and Old Padeswood golf courses and Flintshire oil began to illuminate much of Great Britain. Sadly this prosperity was short-lived as the opening of large oil fields in the USA meant that this local oil industry went into decline after 1870.
The Ffrith Junction line was built to link these Collieries and Oil Works with those at Pontblyddyn, Leeswood and Coed Talon and it is this line that ran through what is now the golf course.The Junction can be seen at the bottom right of this 1912 map.
Note Mold Golf Course on the bottom left of the map.
Mold Golf Club moved here from Plas Hafod around 1912 because of the improved access the railway gave. After the First World War they again relocated, this time, to Pantymwyn.
The buildings just below the Ffrith Junction are the Providence Iron Works c1910.
In the 1860's, this area was the site of the Mold Valley Oil Works and a Chemical Works.
It has also been the site of Ratcliffe's Wagon Works. c1900 (see below)
Photograph (Chris Dawson Collection)