It’s hard to overestimate the importance of a source of fresh water to a community - a genuinely life sustaining resource. Thus, springs were essential, and there can be little surprise that they have been a source of veneration, myth and legend throughout human history, from prehistoric times to our present, whether it be the world famous St Winefride’s Well at Holywell, or the less well known, more modest Pistyll in the village of Caergwrle. Yet, the Pistyll in Hope Street and indeed other local springs, was no less important to the people of the village, relying on its ever reliable flow (it is claimed that it has never frozen), its clarity and freshness well into the 20th century. We take clean, piped water and a reliable sewage system for granted today, which seems entirely reasonable, but it was not always the case, of course. The Pistyll on Hope Street was also used by the drovers and packhorse trains that crossed the Alyn by the Packhorse Bridge on nearby Fellow’s Lane, and at Sarn Lane and no doubt the Pont-y-delyn on Fagl Lane.
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​Nicknamed the, ‘Devil’s Tongue’ for the very obvious fact that the carved stone over which the waters flow resemble an ever proffered tongue, the Pistyll is supplied by a spring on Celyn Drive, which itself is supplied from Hope Mountain.