Rhyl

Rhyl Clock Tower

Rhyl is a seaside town in north Wales. As of 2021, about 27,000 people live there. Rhyl has been a popular holiday destination in the UK, though its significant decline in the 1990s and 2000s has changed this, and given the town a bad reputation.

Rhyl is adjacent to Kinmel Bay to the west, and Prestatyn to the east.

The origin of the name is unknown, and no explanation seems to make sense. It is widely believed to come from "Yr Hill", a hybrid of the Welsh "yr" (the) and the English "hill". However it is in a very flat area without any hills. It may also be from "Yr Heol" (the road) but at the time it was named there was also no significant road. More recently "Yr Haul" (The Sun, i.e. "Ty'n Rhyl" = house in the sun) has been suggested without much historical basis, due to Rhyl's nickname as "Sunny Rhyl".

Until 1974 Rhyl was part of Flintshire, but then the counties were restructured and it became part of the District of Rhuddlan in Clwyd. The Rhuddlan district council was based in Rhyl. Since 1996 it has been part of Denbighshire.