Talacre
Encyclopedia
Talacre is a village in Flintshire
on the North
Wales
coast with large holiday caravan parks adjacent. It is near Point of Ayr
on the west side of the River Dee
estuary and has a sandy beach with dunes. The hills of the Clwydian Range
behind the village form the eastern boundary of the Vale of Clwyd
. The name Talacre is a combination of the Welsh words tal, meaning end, and acrau, meaning acres. In the north-east Welsh dialect, acrau is pronounced as acre.
The village is probably most popular for the lighthouse
on the nearby beach and the Talacre Beach Caravan Park, a short walk away from the Presthaven Sands holiday park. The lighthouse has been noted for numerous ghost
ly sightings, people claiming to see a figure wearing old fashioned lighthouse keeper clothes and standing in front of the glass dome of the abandoned lighthouse.
Talacre was used by the military during World War II
, as an aircraft firing range. Fighters flew over the remote village every day, shooting at wooden targets in the dunes and at drogues towed by aircraft. It was also used for testing new devices, such as "window" the anti-radar foil that, on occasion, covered the whole village with silver.
The village is often used as part of Paul O'Grady
's comedy act, telling stories of how he spent many summers "Stuck in a four berth caravan in Talacre", and is therefore now part of popular culture as a famous "typically British" seaside holiday resort.
Part of the beach where the lighthouse is situated has been shown briefly in a recent Dulux
paint advert with the Old English Sheep Dog mascot
Flintshire
Flintshire is a county in north-east Wales. It borders Denbighshire, Wrexham and the English county of Cheshire. It is named after the historic county of Flintshire, which had notably different borders...
on the North
North Wales
North Wales is the northernmost unofficial region of Wales. It is bordered to the south by the counties of Ceredigion and Powys in Mid Wales and to the east by the counties of Shropshire in the West Midlands and Cheshire in North West England...
Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
coast with large holiday caravan parks adjacent. It is near Point of Ayr
Point of Ayr
Point of Ayr is the northernmost point of mainland Wales. It is situated immediately to the north of Talacre in Flintshire, at the mouth of the Dee estuary. It is to the southwest of the Liverpool Bay area of the Irish Sea...
on the west side of the River Dee
River Dee, Wales
The River Dee is a long river in the United Kingdom. It travels through Wales and England and also forms part of the border between the two countries....
estuary and has a sandy beach with dunes. The hills of the Clwydian Range
Clwydian Range
The Clwydian Range is a series of hills and mountains in north east Wales that runs from Llandegla in the south to Prestatyn in the north, with the highest point being the popular Moel Famau...
behind the village form the eastern boundary of the Vale of Clwyd
Vale of Clwyd
The Vale of Clwyd is a tract of low-lying ground in the county of Denbighshire in northeast Wales. The Vale extends south-southwestwards from the coast of the Irish Sea for some 20 miles forming a triangle of low ground bounded on its eastern side by the well-defined scarp of the Clwydian Range...
. The name Talacre is a combination of the Welsh words tal, meaning end, and acrau, meaning acres. In the north-east Welsh dialect, acrau is pronounced as acre.
The village is probably most popular for the lighthouse
Lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....
on the nearby beach and the Talacre Beach Caravan Park, a short walk away from the Presthaven Sands holiday park. The lighthouse has been noted for numerous ghost
Ghost
In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
ly sightings, people claiming to see a figure wearing old fashioned lighthouse keeper clothes and standing in front of the glass dome of the abandoned lighthouse.
Talacre was used by the military during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, as an aircraft firing range. Fighters flew over the remote village every day, shooting at wooden targets in the dunes and at drogues towed by aircraft. It was also used for testing new devices, such as "window" the anti-radar foil that, on occasion, covered the whole village with silver.
The village is often used as part of Paul O'Grady
Paul O'Grady
Paul James Michael O'Grady MBE is an English comedian, television presenter, actor, writer and radio DJ. He is best known for presenting the daytime chat television series, The Paul O'Grady Show and, more recently, Paul O'Grady Live, as well as his drag queen comedic alter ego, Lily Savage, as...
's comedy act, telling stories of how he spent many summers "Stuck in a four berth caravan in Talacre", and is therefore now part of popular culture as a famous "typically British" seaside holiday resort.
Part of the beach where the lighthouse is situated has been shown briefly in a recent Dulux
Dulux
Dulux is an internationally available brand of paint. It is produced by AkzoNobel . The brand name Dulux has been used by both ICI and DuPont since 1931 and was one of the first alkyd-based paints.-History:...
paint advert with the Old English Sheep Dog mascot