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detached bit of Gresford, containing the old vicarage, on its southern border. The area of Marford and Hoseley was thus raised to 750 acres.

The older form of the name "Marford" was "Merford." In the rate-books the present spelling appears for the first time in 1805. In "Merford" "Mere" is either "mere," a lake, or a lake, or "mere," a boundary, probably the latter; so that "Merford" would mean the boundary ford. "Merffordd" was a name which was invented by sixteenth and early seventeenth century genealogists, and was unknown to people on the spot. The explanation of the old and well-attested name of the township is to be sought in the English, not in the Welsh language. Whatever the first component of "Merford" stands for, there can be no mistake as to the second; it designates the old ford over the Alyn where Marford Bridge' now is; but it was only a small detached bit of Marford which reached the Alyn. The main portion of the township did not for centuries touch the river. Yet it must once have done so. How, otherwise, could it have acquired its name? The conclusion is that Marford, as a whole, must once have extended to the ford. We shall find other reasons hereafter (in the present chapter, and especially in the chapter on Allington) for concluding that Marford at an earlier date had a larger area than it now has.

Both the mills by Marford Bridge, although sometimes known as "Rossett Mills," are generally called "Marford Mills," which indeed is their proper name; yet only the Lower Mill, burned down in 1791 and since rebuilt, was in the detached part of Marford above named. The upper Mill, as already has been said, is not in Marford at all, but in Burton. Nevertheless, "Merford Mill" appears to have been its ancient name. It was certainly so called in 1620. However, it stands

1 By "Marford Bridge" here I mean the bridge over the Alyn by the Upper Mill, of which I give an illustration from a photograph by Mr. C. G. Caldecott. Notice the footpath under the nearest arch. The more southerly Marford Bridge spans the mill leat.

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MARFORD BRIDGE, OVER THE ALYN BY THE UPPER MILL.
Photograph by C. G. Caldecott, Wrexham.)

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(From an old Water-colour Painting of fifty or sixty years ago.)

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