Gresford

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For the small towns of Gresford and East Gresford in New South Wales, Australia, see East Gresford, New South Wales.

See also: The Gresford Disaster

Map sources for Gresford at grid reference SJ353574

Gresford is a former coal mining village near Wrexham, north-east Wales. The actual village is around a mile away from the site of the colliery. Until the late 19th century, the parish boundary encompassed an enormous area including Burton, Llay (Welsh: Llai), Rossett (Welsh: Yr Orsedd), and Gwersyllt. The bells of the parish church, All Saints' Church are one of the traditional Seven Wonders of Wales. Gresford church as it stands now dates to 1492 and is a large and very well-built 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 colour and is called Millstone Grit. It is locally referred to as "Cefn" stone.

1 History
2 Gresford Colliery
3 North Wales Mineral Railway
4 Gresford Athletic
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] History

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Despite being in Wales the name Gresford is not Welsh, but Saxon in origin. Gresford was settled by the Angles of Mercia in the 7th century and 8th century. There had been battles between the descendants of the Deceangli and incoming Mercians in 613, so this seems a likely dateline.

However it is fairly certain that the new settlers simply took over an existing settlement and renamed it, as a Roman alter was found within the church in 1908. The alter is likely to depict Nemesis (Nemesi), this and the unearthing of a Roman coin hoard nearby-dating 150-300, is clear evidence of some sort of settlement. There is also a stand of yew trees within the churchyard the oldest dating to A.D. 500 — Long before Anglo-Saxon settlement. Yew trees were significant to Brythonic people and considered sacred. Yew trees were also used for cutting wood to make longbows. Erbistock also has yew trees, considered also to be one of the Seven Wonders of Wales. There is another ancient yew on the grave of Dafydd ap Gwilym in the churchyard of Ystrad Fflur (Strata Florida) Ceredigion.

Whatever the name of the settlement before the Anglo-Saxons arrived it was named Gretford in the Domesday book, its pronunciation and spelling have changed widely until the modern literate period. The village would have been within easy reach of the River Alun (sometimes spelt Alyn), and there was a ford across the river to Yr Hob (English: Hope) and Y Ffrith from Roman times. A water supply and power for a watermill were vital at these times, so the name reflected this in Gres-ford. It is reputed that at the time of the Mercian settling Gresa was the local high man. In the 19th century some misguided scholars attempted to trace the name to Welsh roots by saying the name was Y Groesffordd, which means the crossroad in English. Unfortunately there was no evidence for this in written documents of the period when the whole area was resettled by Welsh aligned to Owain Gwynedd 1170-1203. At this time the Bishopric was transferred from that of Saint Werburgh's Chester to Llanelwy (St Asaph). The vicars of the village were Welsh with patronymic names. For example, Morud ap Gwarius, who became vicar in 1284. If the village had been given a Welsh name it would have turned up in this period, and more importantly the crossroads only came into being in the 18th Century! The fact is it would have been more likely to name the village Rhyd-gresa, or Rhyd.... Rhyd being the translation of ford (crossing).

As you approach Gresford from the Wrexham direction, there was a tree known as 'The Cross Tree", and alongside this there is the base of an ancient stone cross.

Some believe that the name Gres-ford refers to a grassy ford (Crossing point or bridge which spanned the river Alyn). That the name is linked to a ford is very likely, as there is another settlement nearer to Chester, called Marford. It was believed that these names originated as Great Ford and Mere, or Lesser Ford. As one can trace these on old Ordnance Survey maps, this seems probable.

In common with many of the towns and villages of the border lands, or Marches, Gresford has gone through periods of both English and Welsh dominance.

[edit] Gresford Colliery

Work began to sink the mine shaft from 1907/08 and the colliery was in production before World War I. 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 occurred on 22 September 1934 and 266 men died in an underground explosion. The bodies of the miners were never recovered. The head gear wheel is preserved and forms part of the Gresford Disaster Memorial along with a plaque. The coal mine was located on the edge of the Alyn valley, between the Shrewsbury and Chester Railway (later G.W.R Birkenhead-Paddington line) and the old main road between Wrexham and Chester.

The colliery lasted until 1973 when it was closed due to "geological problems". The effect that the tragedy had upon the area cannot be imagined today. Within the Wrexham coalfield, Gresford was not established as an industrial village as the likes of Brymbo, (Brynbaw in Welsh meaning hill of dirt), or Coedpoeth had been. It had been more agricultural in nature before the coming of the mine, so many men came to work from other villages as well as from Gresford itself. Virtually every single village for miles around had someone lost down the Dennis shaft. To this day, Wrexham town library has the memorial book on display with a list of the poor souls still buried underground. To the mine owners' eternal shame, the miners' wages were docked half a day's pay as the victims hadn't completed a full day's shift.

[edit] North Wales Mineral Railway

The railway that runs today between Shrewsbury and Chester via Wrexham through Gresford, might not today with its single track give many clues to its important past. It was responsible for opening up the Wrexham area to outside trade for it rich mineral reserves. when the North Wales Mineral Railway opened the Shrewsbury and Chester in 1847 it was greeted with great joy and fanfare. There was also a branch via an inclined plane to Brymbo and Minera from a Junction at Rhosrobin-Wheatsheaf Junction, this was later replaced by the much easier Wrexham and Minera Branch. Another branch also went from Gobowen to Oswestry (Welsh: Croesoswallt) in Shropshire. The line was hugely successful but became a source of contention between the London and Birmingham - later the LNWR and Brunel's Great Western Railway. The railway wars of the 1840s led to much hostility and wasteful competition in the race for one company to take over another. Eventually the Shrewsbury and Chester was absorbed by the Great Western Railway no doubt to the chagrin of the London and North Western Railway directors. This is evidenced by the refusal of the Chester station master to allow the proper servicing and paths for GWR trains to the shared station. Eventually parliament was involved to rectify this situation.

Gresford station was built of stone and was a very pretty building, it was midway up the notorious Gresford bank. The bank was so steep that a refuge 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. There are many stories from people over the age of 50 of them as children standing on 'Blackies' bridge (footbridge over railway) and watching the engines struggle up the hill. Gresford station was demoted to Gresford Halt for Llay from 1956 and was closed altogether from 1964.

Engines of the 57xx, 45xx, 43xx, 38xx, Hall, County, Grange and Manor were among the many classes of engine that used the line in later years of steam along with British Railways Standard Classes. There were also ex-LMS engines used on the line in the 1960s. Until the 1967 season there were mainline expresses between Birkenhead and London. The line would have been very busy. When the heavy industry of the Wrexham area is accounted for, one can imagine how important this transport artery would once have been.

[edit] Gresford Athletic

The history of the present day Gresford Athletic football (soccer) club stretches back to 1946 although it is known that the club existed in the 1920's. The club remained in the Welsh National (Wrexham area) league until the introduction of the Cymru Alliance league in season 1990-91 when they became one of the founder members of the league. They remained in the Cymru Alliance league for four seasons before being relegated back to the Welsh National league, during the four-year period they reached the league cup final losing to a very strong Rhyl side at NEWI Cefn Druids.

They became Champions of the Welsh National Premier league in season 1995-96 but because of financial difficulties could not meet the ground criteria for promotion back to the Cymru Alliance. The following season a new committee was formed with the intention of getting the club back into the Cymru Alliance. This was achieved by becoming Champions (pictured below)of the Welsh National Premier league in season 2000-2001. This time the committee managed to raise the finance to upgrade their Clappers Lane ground to Cymru Alliance standards. The were also beaten finalist in the Welsh Trophy that season.

Manager Alan (Sammy) Jones has been with the club since the late 1980's and his success's include the North East Wales challenge cup, league titles with the first team and youth team, he has also led the club to Welsh National, Welsh Trophy and Cymru Alliance league cup finals.

The Reserve team had also had their success which including winning the Welsh National Division one cup final. Last season under the management of Ady Roberts and assistant Simon Ainge was one of the best ever for the Reserve team, finishing third in the league and reaching two cup finals. For season 2005/2006 Ady Roberts and Simon Ainge will again be in charge of the Reserves.