The village of Leeswood is located approximately three and a half miles south east of Mold, just off the A5104. As Leeswood has expanded it has incorporated the smaller settlements of Pontblyddyn to the north east and Pontybodkin and Coed Talon to the south.
The first edition of the 25inch OS maps, published in 1872, shows that in the last quarter of the nineteenth century Leeswood was surrounded by industry. To the south there was the Wood Pit Colliery, the Coed Talwrn Foundry and the Canneline Oil Works. To the south west there was the Leeswood Vale Oil Works and Leeswood Green Colliery. Half a mile to the west the map records an unnamed colliery, oilworks and brickworks, whilst to the north there was an ironworks and a colliery (NPRN 400797) between Leeswood and Pontblyddyn. Leeswood was the biggest of the four settlements, as it continues to be today. The map records a number of terraced workers housing and amenities such as Bethel Calvinistic Methodist chapel (NRPN 8206); Horeb Wesleyan Methodist chapel (NPRN 12481); a National School for boys and girls and three public houses - the Oakley Arms, the Lion Hotel and the Leeswood Arms. Coed Talon is named 'Coed Talwrn' on the 1872 map. It has a Presbyterian chapel (NPRN 8040) and a public house called the Black Diamond. Pontybodkin does not have any places of worship but it does have a post office and a public house called the Miner's Arms. Pontblyddyn is the smallest of the four settlements, but it still has a corn mill, a cricket ground and a public house called the Bridge Inn.
The cricket ground is not recorded in the second edition of the 25inch maps, published in 1899, but otherwise Pontblyddyn had not changed much since 1972. Leeswood had expanded and acquired more amenities including a Wesleyan Methodist chapel (NPRN 8211); Bethania Baptist chapel (NPRN 8204); the Lion Hotel and another school (NPRN 410777), although the Leeswood Arms has vanished. The unnamed colliery on the north western edge of Leeswood is named the Phoenix Colliery. Leeswood Green Colliery is not recorded on the second edition of the 25inch maps, but in its place is the Erith Brick, Tile and Terra Cotta works. The Miner's Arms is no longer marked at Pontybodkin, but Coed Talon, immediately to the south west, had expanded. Now known as 'Coed-Talon,' the village had retained its public house and chapel. In addition, it had another public house called the Coed Talon Hotel, several timber yards and a railway station (NPRN 41383) on the Mold and Tryddyn branch of the London and North West Railway. A school had been built on the southern edge of the village, and the Canneline Oil Works had been replaced by the Gem Brick, Tile and Terra Cotta Works.
In the twenty-first century, Pontblyddyn's cricket ground has returned and the Bridge Inn remains open. Leeswood has continued to grow, and its amenities now include a Methodist chapel, a surgery, a sports recreation area, a small supermarket, a post office, a fish and chips shop and a kebab shop. The village primary school - Ysgol Derwenfa - educates approximately 140 pupils. Pontybodkin's Welsh Independent chapel remains open, although its post office has closed. Coed Talon has not expanded much since the beginning of the twentieth century. The railway line has been dismantled although the Railway Inn remains open and the area that was a brick works has become the Wood Pit Nature Reserve.
Sources: modern and historic OS maps; google maps; Coflein database; Estyn report on Ysgol Derwenfa, published in January 2014
M. Ryder, RCAHMW, 20th February 2019