Gresford
| |
|---|---|
 | |
  Gresford Location withinWrexham | |
| Population | 5,010 (2011 Census)[1] |
| OS grid reference | SJ353549 |
| Community |
|
| Principal area | |
| Preserved county | |
| Country | Wales |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | WREXHAM |
| Postcode district | LL12 |
| Dialling code | 01978 |
| Police | North Wales |
| Fire | North Wales |
| Ambulance | Welsh |
| UK Parliament | |
| Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament | |
53°05′13″N2°57′58″W / 53.087°N 2.966°W /53.087; -2.966  Map of the community | |
Gresford (/ˈɡrɛsfərd/;Welsh:GresfforddWelsh pronunciation:[ˈɡrɛsfɔrð]) is a village andcommunity inWrexham County Borough,Wales.
According to the 2001 Census, the population of the community, which also includes the village ofMarford, was 5,334,[2] reducing to 5,010 at the 2011 census.
The Grade I listedAll Saints' Church, Gresford has been described as the finest parish church in Wales, and has the most surviving medieval stained glass of any Welsh church.[3] Its bells are one of the traditionalSeven Wonders of Wales.
The formerGresford Colliery was the site of theGresford disaster, one of Britain's worst coal mining disasters, when 266 men died in an underground explosion on 22 September 1934.
The name Gresford is generally supposed to have been derived from theOld English elementsgræs andford ('grassy ford').[4][5][6][7] The name was recorded asGretford in theDomesday Book of 1086,[8] and was later rendered asGresworth,Cresford andGrefford, although documentary evidence suggests that these were merely alternative spellings and the name remainedGresford throughout.[7][9]
A cymricized[4] formGroesffordd was in use by the 16th century, withy groes ffordd, implying a meaning 'crossroads', noted in a document of 1591.[4][7] This etymology was repeated in some 19th-century guidebooks;Samuel Lewis recorded the name was "anciently Croesfordd" which he translated as 'the road to the cross'. Lewis stated that the shaft of this cross was still present in his time, and was located half a mile to the south of the present church.[10] The namecross (croes ory groes in Welsh) appears in a number of locations in Welsh tithe maps[11] and a damaged wayside cross is recorded as a medieval relic.[12] This derivation is also recorded byThomas Morgan[13] andNicholas Carlisle.[14]
There is some evidence ofRoman andPost-Roman settlement in the Gresford area. These include a Roman altar thought to depict the Greek GoddessNemesis found within the church in 1908, and ahoard ofRoman coins dating from between 150 and 300 AD. Gresford is known to have been the site of an ancientCeltic church and a stand ofyew trees in thechurchyard has been dated to 500AD.
Gresford is also home to two historic wells, including Parsonage Well enclosed by stone and inscribed with the initialsA:E:M:N—most likely representing Anne, Elizabeth, Maria, and Newcome—daughters ofRev. Henry Newcome, who served as Gresford’s vicar in the late 18th to early 19th century. Gresford is also home to All Saints’ Well (also known as St Catherine’s Well) a historical source of village water and possibly a pilgrimage site.[15]
In common with many of the towns and villages of theEngland–Wales border orMarches, Gresford has gone through periods of both English and Welsh occupation during theAnglo-Welsh wars, being variously part of theHundred of Duddestan and thecommote ofMaelor Gymraeg;[16] The whole area was resettled by Welsh aligned toOwain Gwynedd in 1170–1203. At this time thebishopric was transferred from that ofSt. Werburgh'sChester toSt. Asaph, and the vicars of the village were Welsh withpatronymic names (for example,Morud ap Gwarius, who became vicar in 1284).
Approaching Gresford from the Wrexham direction, on the left hand side of the road, there was a tree known as the 'Cross Tree', and alongside this there is the base of an ancient stone cross. This tree was removed after 1984, and has since been replaced with a young tree.
Until the late 19th century, theparish boundary encompassed a large area, including thetownships ofBurton,Llay,Rossett andGwersyllt, as well as several townships later included inIsycoed. The bells of theparish church,All Saints' Church are one of the traditionalSeven Wonders of Wales. Gresford Church dates to 1492 and is a large building considering the size of what the population would have been in the present day boundaries of the parish. The base of the church tower has earlier remnants of a previous building and an earlier roofline of a former transept can be detected in the tower. The colour of the stone is quite distinctive, and is typical of the Wrexham area. It is a sandy brownMillstone Grit, locally referred to asCefn stone.
Pant Iocyn (laterPant-yr-Ochain) house was built in the 1550s alongside the road from Gresford to Wrexham byEdward Almer, MP and three times High Sheriff of the county. It was one of the chief houses in east Denbighshire and descended in the Almer family until it was bought and enlarged bySir Foster Cunliffe, 3rd Baronet in 1785. The 18th-century addition now serves as a gastro pub.[17]
Henry Dennis and his son, Henry Dyke Dennis, began sinking a coal mine near Gresford in 1888,[18] taking four years for the 3,280 ft deep shafts to be completed. The coalmine was located on the edge of theAlyn Valley, between theShrewsbury and Chester Railway (later the GWR Birkenhead-Paddington line) and the old main road between Wrexham and Chester. The first coal was produced from June 1911, with full production reached before the outbreak of theFirst World War. The coal was renowned in the area as being of very good quality and hot burning.
Gresford Colliery was the site of one of Britain's worst coal mining disasters. TheGresford Disaster occurred on 22 September 1934, when 266 men died following an underground explosion. The bodies of only 11 of the miners underground at the time of the explosion were recovered. Theheadgear wheel is preserved and forms part of the Gresford Disaster Memorial, along with a plaque. The disaster is commemorated in thehymn tune "Gresford", which is also known as "the Miners' Hymn", written byRobert Saint ofHebburn, himself also a miner.[19] This tune has been played regularly by many collierybrass bands over the years and is found on a number of recordings, and is also played at the annual Miners' Picnics around theNorth of England, especially at theDurham Miners' Gala.
The colliery lasted until 1973 when it was closed due to geological problems.
 | This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved. Find sources: "Gresford" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(September 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
The stone-builtGresford (for Llay) Halt, on theShrewsbury and Chester Railway was midway up the notorious Gresford Bank. The bank was so steep that arefuge siding was required at the station in the event of engines having to leave some of their load behind to get up the hill. Banking engines were also used on occasions. The station was demoted to halt status in 1956 and was closed altogether from 1964.
All Saints' Voluntary Aided Church in Wales School is the village primary school. It still uses part of the school building constructed in 1874,[20] in memory ofThomas Vowlier Short, aChrist Church, Oxford Universitytheologian, and formerBishop of St Asaph.[21]
Gresford has a football team,Gresford Athletic F.C., which currently competes in theCymru North. The club was founded in 1946 and plays its home games at Clappers Lane.
Gresford has a cricket club, Gresford Cricket Club, which also plays at Clappers Lane.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Geographic | |
| Other | |
