From the late 1950s, Local Government reform in Wales was considered more pressing than in England, due to the small size of many of the existing authorities, especially the upper tier county councils. Between 1958 and 1970 various proposals were announced and consulted upon, with varied area sizes, boundaries and the presence or absence of a tier of district authorities below county level being proposed. Finally, the Local Government Act 1972 created Clwyd as a merger of Flintshire with most of Denbighshire, along with the Edeyrnion Rural District from Merionethshire.
A 1970 white paper had introduced the name of Clwyd by reference to the River Clwyd and the Clwydian range of hills (Clwyd being the only new Welsh county not named after an ancient Welsh kingdom). Clwyd was divided into six districts, each being operated by a district or borough council: Alyn and Deeside; Colwyn; Delyn; Glyndwr; Rhuddlan and Wrexham Maelor.
Clwyd County Council and its districts were abolished by the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994, replaced by the four unitary authorities of Flintshire, Wrexham County Borough, Denbighshire, and parts of Conwy (along with some smaller communities moving to Powys). Clwyd County Council and its six districts ceased operations at midnight on 1 April 1996, and local government was immediately transferred to the new Unitary Authorities. The Preserved County of Clwyd also came into effect as of that date.
The only records Denbighshire Archives holds relating to Clwyd County Council are copy minutes dated between 1973 and 1992. Most records for the authority are held by neighbouring county in Flintshire Record Office (Ref CC).