Holywell Town F.C.


Holywell Town Football Club is a Welsh football club from Holywell, Flintshire. They are nicknamed 'The Wellmen', and play their home games at the Bartons North Wales Stadium, Holywell. They currently play in the.
Holywell Town were founding members of both the Cymru Alliance and the League of Wales and enjoyed their best period in the top flight in the early to mid-1990s, finishing as high as fifth position in the 1993-94 League of Wales table. For the 2024–25 season, they will play in the Cymru North, the fifth consecutive season competing in the second tier after winning promotion from the now-defunct Welsh National League Premier Division in the 2019–20 season.
The 2014–15 season proved to be one of The Wellmen's best season in its history, winning the old Welsh Alliance League Division 1 title with three games to go at Llanrwst United by ending the league campaign with a goal difference of +100 and winning all but three of their league games. They also won their second FAW Trophy beating fellow Welsh Alliance team Penrhyndeudraeth 4–2 at Llandudno's Maesdu Stadium, and achieved a Mawddach Challenge Cup victory, beating Llanrug United 3–2 at the Nantporth Stadium in Bangor to complete an unprecedented treble.
In the 2022–23 season, Holywell Town achieved their highest league placement in 24 years when they finished as the runners-up in the 2022-23 Cymru North table after experiencing a 25-game winning streak throughout the league campaign.

Early history

Holywell F.C.

Foundations of the Club

The history of football in Holywell can be traced back to a club that was simply known as Holywell Football Club, which was founded on 25 September 1880 at the King's Head Hotel in the town. The club's first game came a few weeks later on 23 October when the "Holywellites" played a goalless draw at home against Denbigh, before playing their first away game versus Rhyl the following Saturday. There is no evidence of who scored the first Holywell goal in a 2–2 draw against their opponents, but the second goal was scored by right-winger E. Bratt to level the scores. The first local derby between Holywell and their fierce, long-time rivals Flint occurred on 27 November 1880, with the Holywellites edging the "very interesting game" by a single goal from J.C. Douglas.
During the early history of the club, Holywell played their football on a ground known as Ffordd Fer, which was a short distance from the town centre and located near to where the local high school is now situated. The ground no longer exists on Strand Park road with houses having been built onto top of the former football ground. Holywell FC also wore red and white colours as their home strip, the same colours that the current team wears today in its current home kit.

First Welsh Cup Appearances

Holywell F.C. made their Welsh Cup debut in 1881, almost a year to the date of their first-ever game, when they played in the first round of the 1881–82 Welsh Cup. On 22 October 1881, they took on the 'A' team of Northwich Victoria but lost to the Cheshire side 0–3 at Ffordd Fer.
Holywell Dee Rovers became the second Holywell-based side to appear in the national cup competition when they competed in two consecutive competitions between 1882 and 1883. In the former tournament, they lost 1–6 away to Dolgelley Idris in the first round, before suffering another first-round defeat in their latter appearance, getting comprehensively demolished 0–16 by Davenham.
It would be another five years before another Holywell-based side competed in the Welsh Cup, with Holywell F.C. returning to make their second appearance. They too failed to progress beyond the first round of the 1888-89 Welsh Cup by losing 2–4 at home to Mold. The result was repeated in the 1890-91 version of the cup competition, this time losing 2–3 away to their local rivals.
Holywell F.C. reached the third round of the 1892-93 Welsh Cup without playing a game. In the first round, they were scheduled to play Porthmadoc, but the Caernarfonshire-based club withdrew from the competition before the match. They then earned a bye in the second round and were subsequently drawn to play against Llandudno Swifts in the third round. Alas, Holywell failed to appear for their scheduled cup match in early January 1893 and were thrown out of the competition by the FAW, thus awarding the fixture to their opponents.

North Wales Coast League

In March 1893, Holywell F.C. became one of the seven founder members of the North Wales Coast League, and had 58 players registered with the club within six months of the league commencing. Holywell finished in fourth position in the inaugural season of the North Wales Coast League. This was followed by three seasons of fifth-place league finishes in the division before ending in the 1897–98 season, when the club finished in sixth place. This would be the worst position the club would end up during their time in the Coast League.
The club reached their first cup final in 1898, when they faced Bangor City for the North Wales Senior Cup, but lost the final 3–0 to Bangor. The following season, the club would reach its highest position during their tenure within the league, earning third position in the league, although this was followed up the next season by returning to their familiar fifth place in the league. However, after being engulfed by the Baron Corvo episode of 1899, the team eventually resigned from the North Wales Coast League at the end of the 1900–01 season, and joined the Chester & District League Division One for a season. After finishing seventh in the nine-team league, the club withdrew from the league after just a season. Holywell returned to competitive football in the 1904–05 season when they joined the local Flintshire League, but finished bottom of the table having won no games all season, drawing just four games, and suffering a two-point deduction for playing an ineligible player.

Holywell United and Holywell Victoria

During the middle of the 1900s, Holywell F.C. changed its name to Holywell United F.C. before changing its name once again to Holywell Victoria F.C. as they competed in the Flintshire League structure. After a couple years of playing in the Flintshire League, the club switched back to the Chester & District League. During their three-year stay in the regional league, The Vics competed in Division One of the structure, finishing as high as third place in the 1908–09 season.
The club later rejoined the North Wales Coast League for the 1912–13 season under the Holywell United monicker they won multiple trophies. In their debut season in the league, Holywell United finished in seventh position. However, in the following 1913–14 season, they achieved the North Wales Coast League and Amateur Cup double, by earning 15 victories from their 17 league games and also beating Colwyn Bay 1–0 in the final at Rhyl.
They almost made it a treble-winning season as Holywell United also made it to the final of the Welsh Amateur Cup, but lost 0–1 to Cardiff Corinthians at the neutral venue of Newtown.
It was during this period when Holywell United hosted their biggest game at that time, playing a friendly match against Everton XI at their Ffordd Fer ground. The Merseysiders included at least five players with English First Division experience within the team, and ran out 4–1 winners in front of a large Holywell crowd.
After World War I, Holywell United finished as the North Wales Coast League runners-up to Holyhead Railway Institute in the 1920–21 season, ending up just three points behind the league champions and scoring 92 goals that season, almost two dozen more goals than any other team in the league for that season. They also reached the final of the North Wales Coast Amateur Cup once again but lost to Holyhead 3–1. However, in the following season's NW Coast Cup final, which was to be a replay of the previous season's final, Holywell defeated Holyhead 1–0 in the final played at Llandudno, with Hewitt scoring the game's only goal.
From the 1921–22 season until the 1928–29 season, Holywell United competed in the newly formed Welsh National League, but could not replicate the high performances of previous years and had limited success during this period of time. Nonetheless, the club did manage to reach the semi-finals of the 1926-27 Welsh Cup - the furthest a Holywell-based club had gotten in the national cup competition up to that date 4–2
The club also reached two consecutive Welsh Amateur Cup finals in 1926 and 1927, replicating the feat of twelve years prior. On both occasions, United took on Newport-based side Lovell's Athletic in the finals held at Newtown and Flint respectively, and lost both fixtures by a 0–2 scoreline as their opponents won two of their three consecutive cups.

Holywell Arcadians

During the mid-to-late 1920s, the club first appeared under the new name of Holywell Arcadians, and competed in Division 2 of the Welsh National League. For the following three seasons, Holywell Arcadians competed in the Welsh Football League, which ran alongside the North Wales Football Combination, and was the forerunner of the Welsh League. The Arcadians became two-time Welsh Football League champions by getting the title in the 1930–31 and 1932–33 seasons, as well as being runners-up in between.

History of Holywell Town

In 1946, former soldiers who had been demobilised and returned home from fighting in World War II established the club at Halkyn Road, where it has played its home games ever since. It was also around this period that the moniker of The Wellmen was adopted by the club, a nickname which the club still uses to this day.