Gwernymynydd is a village and community outside the market town of Mold, or Yr Wyddgrug in Flintshire, Wales. At its highest point it is one thousandfeet above sea level. With around one thousand inhabitants, it boasts three pubs and a once-busy garage, now a coach depot, home to Eagles & Crawford. Gwernymynydd is also home to a farm, a community centre, and a village primary school. Neighbouring communities include Cadole, Y Waun, Nercwys, and Yr Wyddgrug. The population was measured at the 2011 census at 1,141.
Brief history
Little remains of its industrial history; the worked-out Cambrian limestone quarry was once owned by Lever Brothers of Port Sunlight, manufacturers of VIM, a scouring powder made from the silicaceous sandstone quarried here, which was ideal for the purpose. Lever's took over the Cambrian Works and Quarry in 1905 and stayed for half a century. Like many villages of the early 20th century, Gwernymynydd had a local benefactor, the Waln family of Fron Hall. Mold Hospital was given by them, some of its modern equipment, including it is thought, an operating table. Ambrose Waln started a highly successful scout troop for the local boys, providing equipment, kit and premises. The family were generous landlords, and also employed a large household staff, plus agricultural workers. Following the end of World War I, the Walns, having lost one of their family members in action, were instrumental in having a cenotaph erected in Gwernymynydd, at the site of the old drinking fountain. This was at the roadside between Fron Hall drive and the Twmpath on the Mold-Ruthin road. The water for the drinking fountain came from a spring in a field behind it. This water had always been considered pure, long before the days of the fountain. Local people believed that this was not surface water, liable to contamination, but water filtered at its source through the silica rocks above. In order to establish this, quantities of peppermint were put in the mine and sure enough, eventually the spring water tasted of peppermint. The Village Field, adjacent to the village centre, and now legally protected from development by Fields in Trust, was a gift to Gwernymynydd residents from the Waln family. The original village school, also adjacent to the field, was replaced by a new modern building in the 1950s. The old school was sensitively converted into an attractive house. Several features were retained by the family who bought it, including the school bell that hangs near the roof. It is currently used on Remembrance Day, when it is struck eleven times at the start of the service at the War Memorial,.
Governance
An electoral ward in the same name exists. This ward stretches south-east to the community of Nercwys with a total population of 1,726.
