:Maeshafn
{{Short description|Village in Denbighshire, Wales}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox UK place
| country = Wales
| official_name = Maeshafn
| welsh_name =
| coordinates = {{coord|53|08|24|N|3|11|39|W|display=inline,title}}
| static_image_name = Maeshafn_from_Moel_Findeg.jpg
| static_image_caption = Maeshafn from Moel Findeg
| population =
| population_ref =
| community_wales = Llanferres
| unitary_wales = Denbighshire
| lieutenancy_wales =
| constituency_welsh_assembly = Clwyd West
| constituency_westminster = Clwyd East
| post_town = MOLD
| postcode_district = CH7
| postcode_area = CH
| dial_code = 01352
| os_grid_reference = SJ201610
| cardiff_distance =
}}
Maeshafn is a small village in Denbighshire, Wales, near the border with Flintshire.
Maeshafn lies several miles to the southwest of Mold. Overlooked by Moel Findeg hill, the River Alyn flows to the west, and Loggerheads Country Park is towards the north towards the A494 road.{{Google maps|url=https://www.google.com/maps?ll=53.14,-3.194&q=53.14,-3.194&hl=en&t=h&z=12|accessdate=25 April 2016}}File:Maeshafn - geograph.org.uk - 173175.jpg
History
Historically Maeshafn was a lead mining village called Maes y safn. The East Maes-y-Safn Lead Mining Company operated in the area.{{cite book|title=Accounts and Papers of the House of Commons|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ejlcAAAAQAAJ|year=1877|publisher=Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Ordered to be printed|page=21}} A 1980 publication noted that the local miners would "build a house themselves by encroaching on the waste and enclosing a small field". Their cottages were typically bungalows, with just one or two rooms and two or three beds.{{cite book|title=Llafur|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MWDtAAAAMAAJ|year=1980|publisher=Society for the Study of Welsh Labour History.|page=92}}
Landmarks
No shops remain today in the village, but there is a pub called the Miners Arms, which originally served as the pay office for the miners.{{cite news|url=http://www.dailypost.co.uk/whats-on/food-drink-news/taste-test-miners-arms-maeshafn-8934066|title=Taste Test: Miners Arms, Maeshafn |newspaper=Daily Post|date=28 March 2015|accessdate=25 April 2016}} Nearby is Maeshafn Cave, near Big Covert Wood, a long-fissure cave which along with Gop Cave was cited in 1970 as the only caves in North Wales which have unearthed artifacts from the Bronze Age. The cave, also known as Big Covert or Llanferres Cave, was excavated by J. G. Morris in 1954.{{cite book|last1=Brown|first1=Ian|last2=Sharp|first2=Mick|last3=Williamson|first3=Jean|title=Discovering a Welsh landscape: archaeology in the Clwydian range|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=74NnAAAAMAAJ|date=September 2004|publisher=Windgather|page=92}}{{cite book|author=Cave Research Group of Great Britain|title=Transactions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FLpFAAAAYAAJ|year=1970|page=101}}
A quarry is situated about {{convert|600|m}} to the south of Maeshafn. It received approval for limestone extraction in 1950 and developed in subsequent decades to become an important regional producer of limestone by the early 1980s. In 1982-4 proposal were made to extend mining at the quarry to 800,000 tonnes per annum, which was approved in 1987. The quarry was owned by Welsh Aggregates Ltd. from 1976, which changed their name
to Bodfari (Quarries) Ltd in 1991. In 1998 it was purchased by Tilcon (South) Ltd., a subsidiary of Anglo American plc, and was later bought by Tarmac Central Ltd.{{cite web|url=https://moderngov.denbighshire.gov.uk/Data/Planning%20Committee/20010905/Agenda/pln0509%20-%203%20to%206.pdf|title=REPORT BY THE HEAD OF PLANNING SERVICES|publisher=Denbighshire County Council|accessdate=25 April 2016}}