HALKIN (HELYGEN), a parish, in the Northop division of the hundred of COLESHILL, county of FLINT, NORTH WALES, 3 miles
(s.E. by S.) from Holywell, on the road from Chester to Holyhead, containing 1538 inhabitants. The tract of country in
which this parish is situated was, at the time of the Norman Conquest, called Alchene, from which its present name is
derived: the parish contains about one thousand eight hundred acres, having generally a light and productive soil. The
village, which has arisen within the present century, and greatly increased since the discovery of some rich mines in the
vicinity, is pleasantly, situated in a fertile country; and the elevated ground adjacent to it commands a fine prospect
of the surrounding country, which, on the north, east, and south, expands into an almost boundless view. The estuary of
the Dee, with the city of Chester at its higher extremity, and the ruins of Flint castle on its southern shore, appears to
the north-east, and beyond it the barren peninsula of Wirral!, and the river Mersey, with the Lancashire hills, and the
mountains of Derbyshire, Yorkshire, and even Cumberland, in the distance; while the castles of Beeston and Hawarden, and
the richly wooded tract between the latter place and North-op, occupy the fore-ground. At a small distance from the
village rises the Halkin mountain, rich in mineral treasures, and extending into the parishes of Northop, Ysceiviog, and
Holywell, which is one continued series of excavations made in search of lead-ore, of which no part of the principality
has been more productive. The late Sir George Wynne is said to have cleared £300,000 by a mine which was discovered in the
township of Lygan. The British Mining Company have very considerable works here, which are carried on with success, under
the name of the Halkin Mine Company, and there are several others on a smaller scale throughout the whole range of the
Halkin mountain. The great Grosvenor mine is said to have been discovered by a peasant cutting a ditch fence. In the lead
mines of this neighbourhood, and imbedded in the white clay of the mountain, fossils of almost every variety are found in
abundance. The clay above mentioned is in much repute, and is sent to Liverpool in great quantities. Chert, of a beautiful
white colour, which is highly esteemed, is also found, and much of it is sent into Staffordshire, to be used in the
earthenware manufacture. The whole of the mineral property of the Halkin mountain belongs to the Marquis of Westminster,
who, in 1827, erected near the village a splendid castellated mansion, in the ancient English style of architecture,
commanding some of the finest views for which the strikingly diversified scenery of this neighbourhood is celebrated ;
this seat, called Hal-kin Castle, is occasionally the residence of that nobleman's family. The living is a rectory, in the
archdeaconry and diocese of St. Asaph, rated in the king's books at £,14. 7. 11., and in the patronage of the Bishop. The
church, dedicated to St. Mary, is a small modern edifice, erected in 1745, and contains several good monuments. In the
village is a place of worship for Wesleyan Methodists; at Pentre, one for Calvinistic Methodists; and at Trey y Cae, one
for Independents. A parochial school was founded here in 1829, principally at the expense of the Marquis of Westminster,
who pays £60 per annum towards its support: seventy boys and sixty girls receive gratuitous instruction in it. Mr. Henry
Lewis bequeathed £50, Mrs. Wynne £30, and Mr. H. Ellis £18, the interest of which sums is annually divided among the poor
at Christmas: there are also several other bequests mentioned on the tablets in the church, but, with the exception of
the above mentioned, they have all by some means been lost. The Rev. P. Roberts, author of the Harmony of the Epistles,
Letters to Volney, History of the Cymry, and various other literary productions, was rector of this parish, in which he
died, in May 1819: his remains were interred in the church, and a small mural monument has been erected to his memory on
the north side of it. The average annual expenditure for the support of the poor amounts to £479. 9.