Denbighshire

**Denbighshire** () is a coonty in north-east Wales.  It is namit efter the historic coonty o Denbighshire, but haes substantially different borders. Denbighshire haes the destinction o being the auldest inhabitit pairt o Wales. Pontnewydd (Bontnewydd-Llanelwy) Palaeolithic site haes remains o Neanderthals frae 225,000 years ago. There are several castles in the region- Denbigh Castle, Rhuddlan Castle, Ruthin Castle, Castell Dinas Bran an Bodelwyddan Castle.

## Formation

The present principal aurie wis formit on 1 Aprile 1996, unner the Local Govrenment (Wales) Act 1994, frae various pairts o the coonty o Clwyd. It includit the destrict o Rhuddlan (which wis formit in 1974 entirely frae Flintshire), the commonties o Trefnant an Cefn Meiriadog frae the destrict o Colwyn (which wis entirely Denbighshire) an maist o the Glyndŵr destrict. The pairt o the Glyndŵr destrict includit the entirety o the umwhile Edeyrnion Rural Destrict, which wis pairt o the admeenistrative coonty o Merionethshire prior tae 1974 &ndash; which covered the parishes o Betws Gwerfil Goch, Corwen, Gwyddelwern, Llangar, Llandrillo yn Edeirnion an Llansanffraid.

Ither principal auries containing pairt o historic Denbighshire are Conwy, which pickt up the remainder o the 1974&ndash;1996 Colwyn, an the Denbighshire pairts o the 1974&ndash;1996 Aberconwy an aw, an Wrexham, which corresponds tae the pre-1974 burgh o Wrexham alang wi maist o the Wrexham Rural Destrict an several parishes frae Glyndŵr an aw.

The post-1996 Powys includes the historic Denbighshire parishes o Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant, Llansilin an Llangedwyn, which haed formit pairt o Glyndŵr destrict.

## Geography
:*See [[Leet o places in Denbighshire]] for a leet o touns an veelages.*

The aurie is maistly hilly moorland, wi the Clwydian Range in the east, the Hiraethog Moors (Mynydd Hiraethog) in the wast an the Berwyn range adjacent tae the soothren boondary. The broad, fertile Vale o Clwyd runs sooth tae north in the centre, an thare is a narrae coastal plain in the north. Average temperaturs are 2&nbsp;°C in Januar an 19&nbsp;°C in Julie.

## Population
Denbighshire's total population at the Unitit Kinrick Census 2001 wis 93,065, wi the lairgest touns on the coast at Rhyl (pop. c.25,000) an Prestatyn (pop. c.18,000). The inland touns are hintle smawer, Denbigh haeing a population o 8,500, Ruthin 5,000, an Llangollen 3,300. 28% o the population speaks Welsh, mainly in the upland aurie an the Vale o Clwyd.

## Economy
There are nae hivy industrial sites in the county although most of the towns have small industrial parks or estates for light industry, the economy of the area being based on agricultur and tourism. A muckle proportion of the working population is employed in service industries in the service sector. The uplands support the rearing of sheep and beef cattle, while in the Vale of Clwyd dairy farming and the growing of wheat and baurley crops predominates.

On 19 November 2004, Denbighshire wis grantit Fairtrade County status.

Denbighshire is hame tae Wales lairgest Medieval Festival, stagit annually ower the seicont weekend in August at Bodelwyddan Castle.

## See an aw
* List of Lord Lieutenants of Denbighshire
* List of High Sheriffs of Denbighshire
* Denbighshire (UK Parliament constituency)
* Leet o places in Denbighshire

## Freemit airtins
*
*http://www.euratlas.com/Atlas/wales/denbigh_landscape.html Denbighshire landscape