ACCORDING to local legend it's the Old Quay House pub and its Irish landlord Connah that gave rise to the town name Connah’s Quay.

Until the 18th century, the area where Connah's Quay and its neighbours Shotton, Aston and Queensferry now stand was nothing more than fields with a handful of inhabitants. But then the River Dee began to silt up, ending Chester's shipping activities and forcing people and commerce to flood in to the new port.

Large volumes of locally mined coal were despatched to Ireland and the advent of the railways connected Connah's Quay to Wrexham, Mold and the nearby town of Buckley, famed for its bricks, clay and pottery products.

The town grew from a small port to a major railway town but by the late 1950s, the docks had silted up, the port had virtually ceased trading and the railway was in terminal decline.

"Connah's Quay has such a rich heritage," says Jo Danson, from Nannerch, one of a number of history enthusiasts working on a project to develop a digital ibeacon trail through the town.

"The story of the town, how it grew with the industry and the port is amazing and what we want to do is help bring that past to life."

The new trail is being developed as part of the ‘Our Back Yard’ project - the name for the Big Lottery Fund's Create your Space Programme in Connah's Quay. The programme is aimed at empowering communities to improve their natural environment for current and future generations. In August 2017 it was successful in securing nearly £650,000 for the five year project with the installation of an i-beacon network providing information about Connah's Quay through interactive devices just one of the many ideas that were put forward after a consultation with the community.

"The trail will include many areas of the town, looking at the industrial past, the natural environment and its’ heritage," explains Richard Aram, community consultation co-ordinator for Groundwork North Wales, who are facilitating the project.

"The trail will link the town with the estuary and will highlight open spaces such as Wepre Park, Central Park, Princess Park and Golftyn Park. It will also become part of the North East Wales app that is available to download for free from the App Store or Google Play."

In layman's terms a walk round around the town will prompt your phone to 'ping' at certain points with the app then revealing all manner of interesting facts, figures, videos and audio and photographs from Connah's Quay's illustrious history.

But crucial to the success of the project is securing memories and items from local residents with which to build the digital history of the town and this week saw the first drop in session at Connah's Quay library where people can come and share their experiences of living in the town.

"We are after a range of things from old photographs and family memories to more modern information about people who worked in the steelworks or remember the docks," says Richard.

"The docks were incredibly busy with the coal and the pottery coming down from Buckley and it made Connah's Quay a real hub of activity with a fascinating history.

"Thankfully there are still people who can remember those times and we've already unearthed so much."

The ultimate aim for Groundwork North Wales is that the community take greater control over the life of the project so it becomes self-sustaining and a key aspect is getting local schools involved as well as other groups such as the Quay Waterman’s Association and Connah’s Quay Town Council.

"We want to work with young people," adds Richard. "When we work with the schools hopefully they will go back and have those conversations and discussions with their grandparents that brings out some family history."

"If someone had told me ten years ago that you could have access to so much information to your mobile phone I wouldn’t have believed them," adds Jo.

"Thankfully this is what's known as a native app which means all the information is on your phone so you don't use lots of mobile data and it's perfect for areas that struggle for coverage.

"Unlike a traditional leaflet we can get so much content on there from old photographs to audio and film. You could be standing in Central Park and have the view you have today but flick the screen across and see it how it was when it was a brickworks.

"It is one of the most ambitious heritage trails in the UK and we believe it will encourage people to come and spend time exploring because it is a tremendous way of telling them what’s so special about Connah's Quay.”

Another drop in session for people to share their memories and photos and learn more about the project will be held at Wepre Park Visitor Centre on Tuesday December 4 between 11am – 2pm with everyone encouraged to just drop in. For more information please contact the Our Back Yard Team on 01978 757524 or email ourbackyard@groundworknorthwales.org.uk