Acrefair
Acrefair (Welsh pronunciation: [ˌakrɛˈvɑɪr]) is a village in the county borough of Wrexham, Wales. It was formerly part of the ancient parish of Ruabon, and is located between the towns of Wrexham and Llangollen. It is close to the villages of Trefor, Cefn Mawr, Ruabon and Plas Madoc. The name Acrefair originates from the Welsh word for acres - acrau, or acre in the local Welsh dialect - and Mair, the Welsh name for Mary. We therefore have Acre-Mair, which leads to Acre-fair, as there is a soft mutation on the second element of a composite word. The English meaning of Acrefair is Mary's Acres.
Parts of Acrefair have beautiful views across the River Dee and the Dee Valley. Acrefair has a newsagents, a petrol station, a post office, a chemist and two Chinese take-aways. It boasts many buildings built from "Ruabon Red" brick, including several chapels which are now closed and converted.(citation)
Edward Lloyd Rowland established an ironworks here in c.1817. Following his bankruptcy in 1825 the works were bought by the British Iron Company. The company was re-formed in 1843 as the New British Iron Company and they continued to operate the works until its closure in 1887. The site was subsequently occupied by a succession of businesses, latterly Air Products, which produced items for the chemical industry.[1] The site ceased to be a commercial venture in late 2009.[2]
Acrefair and Cefn Mawr were also home to the Monsanto Company chemical works, which had produced chemicals since before World War II. The site was the American company's first venture in Europe. Monsanto later operated the site as FlexSys, one of their subsidiaries, but production on ths site ceased in 2010.
Coal, clay and iron were also worked in the area during its industrial period.
Acrefair railway station was formerly a station on the Ruabon to Barmouth line. It closed to passengers on Monday 18 January 1965 as part of the Beeching Axe.
References
- ^ Ifor Edwards, 'The British Iron Company', Denbighshire Historical Society Transactions, 31 (1982), pp 109-48; 32 (1983), pp 98-124
- ^ "Air Products factory, Wrexham, closes for the last time". BBC News. 18 December 2009. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
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