382 ON THE SETEIA AND 
and valleys of the Mersey and Dee, strongly cor- 
roborate the opinion of the former submergence 
and insulation of these localities, now high and 
dry, and forsaken even by the highest tides. 
We have, on both sides of the course of the 
Gowy, several places with names ending in the 
Saxon affix-ford, such as Wimbold’s Trafford, 
Bridge Trafford on the one side of this stream, 
and Mickle Trafford on the other side; while 
there is Stamford and Stapleford higher up the 
valley. There is also Backford and Alford on 
the raised terrace of the Wirral on the line of the 
canal. That insular elevation of new red sand- 
stone, called the Ince, standing at one hundred 
and seventeen feet above the level of the sur- 
rounding marshes, was no doubt an island in the 
midst of the waters of the Meersee in former times. 
Its name being derived from the Celto-British 
word Jnnis—an island, further supports the idea. 
The name Wallasey, also denotes its original 
insular condition, signifying the island of the 
Walli or Welch, as Anglesey is the island of the 
Angles. In the Saxon times, and long afterwards, 
it was written Walleta—a, or ey, being the affix 
for an island in the Saxon tongue. That this 
