The village was located 16.5 kilometers (10.3 mi) northeast of Jaffa, on the southern bank of the al-'Awja river. A short, secondary track linked it to the railway line running between Ras al-Ayn and Petah Tikva.[5]
Amill and dam built at this site in late Roman/early Byzantine period were repaired in Crusader times. The mill was mentioned in Crusader sources in 1158/9 C.E.[6]
Excavations of the mill have recovered several 14th-century coins, which indicate that it was in use in the Mamluk period.[7]
In 1870 Victor Guérin visited and described the village (which he called Ma'moudieh): "It contains at most two hundred inhabitants, who live in houses built of adobe. Several mills are set in motion by the cascading waterfalls along the Nahr el-A'oudjeh. A small bridge over the river makes it possible to cross it at this point".[9] An Ottoman village list from about the same year indicated 30 houses and a population of 69, though the population count included men only.[10][11]
In the 1945 statistics the population numbered 170 Muslims,[2] who worked in agriculture and with transportation. Cultivated lands in the village in 1944-45 included 2 dunums planted with citrus and bananas, and 31 dunums planted with cereals.[5][15] 2 dunams were classified as built-up areas.[16]
Before the outbreak of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, al-Mirr's inhabitants left on February 3, 1948, out of fear of Jewish attack.[17] According to Benny Morris, some of the inhabitants returned on February 15, but fled for the final time one month later.[17] However, according to Walid Khalidi, citing The New York Times, the villagers apparently returned yet again, as Jewish forces attacked the village in mid-May.[18] The 13 May attack would have occurred around the same time as an attack into the area by Irgun.[5]
The remains of a Turkish bridge lies where the village was.[5]
Andrew Petersen, an archaeologist specializing in Islamic architecture, visited the mill in 1991. He found that it had probably been built in several phases. Presently, it consists of a rectangular building, 60 m. NS x 10 m EW, on two levels.[19] At the lower level are at least 13 parallel water inlets. These inlets are of two different types, (indicating different construction date); a flat slab roof, and pointed vaulted roof. Between the two levels are holes in the floor, presumably this is where the millstones were connected to the turbines.[19]
^Khalidi, 1992, p. 250, citing The New York Times, 13.05.1948 and 13.05.1948. The NYT statement is based on British Army statement, which, according to Khalidi, incorrectly refers to the village of Antipatris
