WILLIAM HUGGINS | WATERMILL AT ROSSETT, NORTH WALES

DuMouchelles Fine Arts Auctioneers, 15 December 2012, lot 1056

Marford Mill in Rossett, North Wales, was built in the 18th century on the foundations of a much older mill, possibly extant when a mill was recorded here in the Domesday Book of 1086. Liverpool artists often crossed into North Wales to find picturesque subjects. Huggins here treats his favourites in his distinctive palette; sunlight filtering through leaves, a dilapidated building behind, and of course his beloved chickens. Marford Mill was the King’s Mill, and was wrecked by the rebel forces of Owain Glyndŵr in the early 15th century, and destroyed by fire in the 18th. From 1544 the villagers Allington, Gresford, Burton and Llay, could patronise a rival mill on the opposite side of the road. Now known as Rossett Mill, the newer building was sketched by Turner in 1795. Both mills were acquired by Sir John Trevor of Trevalyn Hall in the 17th century. Both buildings still stand.