MARCROSS, or MARY-CROSS (MARK-CROSS), a parish, in the union of BRIDGEND-AND-COWBRIDGE, hundred of OGMORE, county of
GLAMORGAN, SOUTH WALES, 6 miles (S. W. by w)from Cowbridge; containing 96 inhabitants. he name is said to be a
corruption of Mer Cross, " the cress on the sea-shore," the parish being situated on the coast of the Bristol Channel: on
the other sides it is surrounded by the parishes of Monknash, LantwitMajor and St. Donates. By admeasurement it con. tains
873 acres, of which 642 are arable, and 281 pasture and meadow; and the distinguishing charm,. ter of the surface is a
prevailing flatness, but with delightful views of the channel, which is on the south; there is very little wood; the soil
is of a clayey quality, producing chiefly wheat. Marcross was formerly a place of considerable importance, having been
distinguished by a castle, now demolished, and a monastery, said to have been subordinate to that of Lantwit-Major, and
probably destroyed about the same time in the ravages of the Danes and Saxons on this coast. The living is a discharged
rectory, rated in the king's books at £9. 10. 10., and in the patronage of the Archdeacon and Chapter of Llandaf: the
tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £151. 7., which with the value of the glebe-land makes a gross income of
£216. 7.: a very good parsonage-house was built about ten years since with money borrowed from Queen Anne's Bounty, under
Gilbert's act. The church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, is of a plain style of architecture, and was probably erected at
a very early period; it measures, exclusively of the chancel, 37 feet in length, by about 16 in breadth, and contains
nine inclosed seats, of which four or five may be considered free. A Sunday school affords instruction to about 20 males
and females. A bequest of for the benefit of the poor by an unknown donor is lost, no payment in regard of it having been
made since 1788, when it was in the hands of the Rev. Edward Cam, at interest. Near the village are the remains of a
cromlech, which tradition reports to have been an old church; it is not improbable that it was devoted to some religious
purpose by the Druids. Here is a mineral spring, the water of which is stated to have been successfully applied, in a
great variety of instances, to the mire of the Icing's evil.