Gresford (; cy, Gresffordd ) is a village and

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, ...

Wrexham County Borough Wrexham County Borough ( cy, Bwrdeistref Sirol Wrecsam) is a county borough, with city status, in the north-east of Wales. It borders England to the east and south-east, Powys to the south-west, Denbighshire to the west and Flintshire to the ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. According to the 2001 Census, the population of the community, which also includes the village of

Marford Marford is a village in Wrexham County Borough, Wales, near the Wales-England border. Marford covers some , where the hills of north-east Wales meet the Cheshire Plain. Distant landmarks that can be seen clearly from Marford include Eaton Hall ...

, was 5,334, reducing to 5,010 at the 2011 census. The Grade I listed All 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. Its bells are one of the traditional

Seven Wonders of Wales The Seven Wonders of Wales ( cy, Saith Rhyfeddod Cymru) is a traditional list of notable landmarks in north Wales, commemorated in an anonymously written rhyme: The rhyme is usually supposed to have been written sometime in the late 18th or ear ...

. The former

Gresford Colliery Gresford Colliery was a coal mine located a mile from the North Wales village of Gresford, near Wrexham. History Sinking The North Wales Coalfield, of which Gresford was part, runs from Point of Ayr, on the Flintshire coast to the Shropshire b ...

was the site of the

Gresford disaster The Gresford disaster occurred on 22 September 1934 at Gresford Colliery, near Wrexham, Denbighshire, when an explosion and underground fire killed 266 men. Gresford is one of Britain's worst coal mining disasters: a controversial inquiry into ...

, one of Britain's worst coal mining disasters, when 266 men died in an underground explosion on 22 September 1934.

History

Located close to the

England–Wales border The England–Wales border ( cy, Y ffin rhwng Cymru a Lloegr; shortened: Ffin Cymru a Lloegr), sometimes referred to as the Wales–England border or the Anglo-Welsh border, runs for from the Dee estuary, in the north, to the Severn estuary i ...

with Cheshire, the settlement existed at the time of the compilation of the

Domesday book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

, when it was recorded as "Gretford"Palmer, A. N. ''A History of Ancient Tenures of Land in North Wales and the Marches'', 1910, p.238 within the Cheshire Hundred of Duddestan; it had a church, though perhaps not on the present site. The name, derived probably from

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...

''græs'' and ''ford'' ("grassy ford"),Mills ,''A Dictionary of British Place-Names'', 2011, p.214 was later recorded as "Gresworth", "Cresford" and "Grefford", but documentary evidence shows that the place was clearly locally referred to as "Gresford" throughout its history, even under Welsh administration, and the other names merely represent alternative spellings.Palmer, p.239 The Welsh form "Gresffordd", supposedly believed to indicate an etymology from ''y groesffordd'' ("the crossroads"), seems to have been the imaginative creation of Welsh genealogists of the 15th century and later.Palmer, A. N. "Gresford, in the Counties of Denbigh and Flint", "Archaeologia Cambrensis'', 1904, p.291 This form has, however, seen media use as an alternative spelling since at least the 19th century, and although largely unused by the mainly non-Welsh speakers of the village itself, is today often used by the Welsh press, and Welsh-language media. In common with many of the towns and villages of the border lands, or

Marches In medieval Europe, a march or mark was, in broad terms, any kind of borderland, as opposed to a national "heartland". More specifically, a march was a border between realms or a neutral buffer zone under joint control of two states in which diff ...

, Gresford has gone through periods of both English and Welsh dominance. The whole area was resettled by Welsh aligned to

Owain Gwynedd Owain ap Gruffudd ( 23 or 28 November 1170) was King of Gwynedd, North Wales, from 1137 until his death in 1170, succeeding his father Gruffudd ap Cynan. He was called Owain the Great ( cy, Owain Fawr) and the first to be ...

in 1170–1203. At this time the

bishopric In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

was transferred from that of St. Werburgh's Chester to St. Asaph, and the vicars of the village were Welsh with

patronymic A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. Patronymics are still in use, including mandatory use, in many countries worldwide, alt ...

names (for example, Morud ap Gwarius, who became vicar in 1284). It is possible, however, that settlement existed on the site from quite an early date, as a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

altar was found within the church in 1908. The altar is likely to depict Nemesis; this and the unearthing of a

Roman coin Roman currency for most of Roman history consisted of gold, silver, bronze, orichalcum and copper coinage. From its introduction to the Republic, during the third century BC, well into Imperial times, Roman currency saw many changes in form, denom ...

hoard nearby-dating 150–300, is possible evidence of a settlement. There is also a stand of yew trees in the churchyard, the oldest dating to A.D. 500 — long before Anglo-Saxon settlement. 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. Pant-yr-ochain Inn - geograph

Until the late 19th century, the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

boundary encompassed a large area, including the

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, C ...

s of Burton, Llay,

Rossett Rossett ( cy, Yr Orsedd ) is a village, community and electoral ward in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. Rossett is served by the A483 road. At the time of the 2001 census, Rossett community (including Rossett itself and the villages of Bur ...

and Gwersyllt, as well as several townships later included in

Isycoed Isycoed ( cy, Is-y-coed) is a community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It lies around 5 miles to the east of Wrexham, close to the River Dee on the border with England. There is a primary school in Bowling Bank, and a late-Georgian church, ...

. The bells of the

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

All Saints' Church All Saints Church, or All Saints' Church or variations on the name may refer to: Albania *All Saints' Church, Himarë Australia * All Saints Church, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory * All Saints Anglican Church, Henley Brook, Western Aust ...

are one of the traditional

. 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 brown Millstone Grit, locally referred to as "Cefn" stone. Pant Iocyn (later Pant-yr-Ochain) house was built in the 1550s alongside the road from Gresford to Wrexham by Edward 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 by Sir Foster Cunliffe, 3rd Baronet in 1785. The 18th century addition now serves as a gastro pub.

Gresford Colliery

Henry Dennis and his son, Henry Dyke Dennis, began sinking a coal mine near Gresford in 1888, taking four years for the 3,280 ft deep shafts to be completed. The coalmine was located on the edge of the Alyn Valley, between the Shrewsbury 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 the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. 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. The

Gresford Disaster The Gresford disaster occurred on 22 September 1934 at Gresford Colliery, near Wrexham, Denbighshire, when an explosion and underground fire killed 266 men. Gresford is one of Britain's worst coal mining disasters: a controversial inquiry into ...

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. The headgear wheel is preserved and forms part of the Gresford Disaster Memorial, along with a plaque. The disaster is commemorated in the hymn tune "Gresford", which is also known as "the Miners' Hymn", written by Robert Saint of

Hebburn Hebburn is a town in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It governed under the borough of South Tyneside; formerly governed under the county of Durham until 1974 with its own urban district from 1894 until 1974. It is on the sout ...

, himself also a miner. This tune has been played regularly by many colliery brass bands over the years and is found on a number of recordings, and is also played at the annual Miners' Picnics around the North of England, especially at the

Durham Miners' Gala The Durham Miners' Gala, founded by Pete Doherty, is a large annual gathering and labour festival held on the second Saturday in July in the city of Durham, England. It is associated with the coal mining heritage (and particularly that of miner ...

. The colliery lasted until 1973 when it was closed due to geological problems.

Transport

The stone-built Gresford (for Llay) Halt, on the Shrewsbury and Chester Railway was midway up the notorious Gresford Bank. The bank was so steep that a

refuge siding A refuge siding is a single-ended, or dead-end, siding off a running line, which may be used to temporarily accommodate a train so that another one can pass it. For example, a refuge siding might be used by a slow goods train to allow a fast pass ...

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.

Education

All Saints' Voluntary Aided Church in Wales School is the village primary school. It still uses part of the school building constructed in 1874, in memory of Thomas Vowlier Short, a Christ Church, Oxford University

theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

, and former Bishop of St Asaph.

Sport

Gresford has a football team, Gresford Athletic F.C., which currently competes in the

Cymru North The Cymru North is a regional football league in Wales, covering the northern half of the country. It has clubs with semi-professional status and together with the Cymru South, it forms the second tier of the Welsh football league system. The f ...

. 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.

References

External links

Wrexham County Borough Council: Gresford Colliery Disaster

Gresford Athletic

www.geograph.co.uk: photos of Gresford and surrounding area

Welsh Coal Mines website: research the history of the local pit

Gresford Sailing Club
{{authority control Villages in Wrexham County Borough Communities in Wrexham County Borough Mining communities in Wales