Ruthin ( ; ) is a market town and community in Denbighshire, Wales, in the south of the Vale of Clwyd. The town, castle and St Peter's Square lie on a hill, skirted by villages such as Pwllglas and Rhewl. The name comes from the Welsh rhudd (red) and din (fort), after the colour of sandstone bedrock, from which the castle was built in 1277–1284. The Old Mill, Ruthin, is nearby. Maen Huail, a registered ancient monument associated with King Arthur and with Hueil mab Caw, the brother of the historian Gildas, stands in St Peter's Square.
Ruthin's first parish church was St Meugan's Church, which stands in a relatively isolated location at Llanrhydd, to the south-east of the town. The site of St Meugan's has apparently been in religious use since the 6th century, although the first documented reference to the building was in 1254. It is possible that the church's location indicates an earlier focus for the settlement, which was subsequently eclipsed by the town which grew up adjoining the castle.
John Grey, 2nd Baron Grey de Wilton, established St Peter's Church in 1310 on the north side of the market place in the centre of the town, now St Peter's Square. The building dominates the Ruthin skyline. It has a double nave and boasts two medieval carved roofs. These days it is known for its musical tradition. It has a large choir of children and adults and a four-manual Wadsworth-Willis organ. Behind the church can be seen the old college buildings, school and Christ's Hospital.
A Ruthin native, Sir Thomas Exmewe was Lord Mayor of the City of London in 1517–1518.
The timber-framed Old Courthouse (built in 1401) on the square, features the remains of a Gibbeting last used to execute a Franciscan priest, Charles Meehan, also known as Mahoney. He was shipwrecked on the Welsh coast at a time when Catholicism was equated with treason – Meehan was hanged, drawn, and quartered in 1679. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1987 as one of the Eighty-five martyrs of England and Wales.
During the English Civil War, the castle survived an eleven-week siege, after which it was demolished by order of Parliament. It was rebuilt in the 19th century as a country house, which has now been turned into the Ruthin Castle Hotel. From 1826 until 1921 the castle was the home of the Cornwallis-West family, members of Victorian and Edwardian high society.
In its 18th-century heyday as a town on drovers' routes from Wales into England, Ruthin was reputed to have "a pub for every week of the year". By 2007, however, there were only eleven pubs in the town. The public records of 23 October 1891 show 31 such establishments serving a population of 3,186; most have been converted into housing or shops. The Ruthin Union Workhouse was built in 1834.
The first copies of the Welsh national anthem, Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau, were printed in what is now the Siop Nain tea and gift shop on Well Street.
In 1863 the Denbigh, Ruthin and Corwen Railway, which linked in Denbigh with the Vale of Clwyd Railway (later part of the London and North Western Railway, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, and British Rail) reached the town. The route ran from Rhyl along the north coast through Denbigh and Ruthin to Corwen, before joining a route from Ruabon through Llangollen, Corwen and Bala to Barmouth. The railway and Ruthin railway station closed in 1963 under the Beeching Axe. The site of the station is now occupied by a large road roundabout (Briec Roundabout) and the Ruthin Craft Centre, which opened in 1982, but was rebuilt and reopened in 2008.
Ruthin hosted the National Eisteddfod in 1868 and 1973. The Urdd National Eisteddfod visited Ruthin in 1992 and 2006.
Ruthin was also an ancient borough, with its first municipal charter having been issued by Reginald de Grey, presumably shortly after he was awarded the lordship of the area in the late 13th century. The borough covered a larger area than the parish of Ruthin, also including parts of the neighbouring parishes of Llanrhydd, Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd, Llanynys, and Llanfwrog (including the village and parish church of the latter). The borough was reformed to become a municipal borough in 1836 under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, which standardised how most boroughs operated across the country.
Denbigh had been declared the county town of Denbighshire on its creation in 1536, with the county's courts directed to be held alternately at Denbigh and Wrexham. However, in the 1780s the county's senior courts, the great sessions, moved to Ruthin after a new courthouse was built on Record Street (the great sessions were replaced by the assizes in 1832). The county's quarter sessions continued to be held alternately at Denbigh and Wrexham, and knights of the shire (MPs for the Denbighshire constituency) were elected at Denbigh.
The first Denbighshire County Council was created in 1889, taking over various administrative functions previously performed by the county's at the quarter sessions. The county council decided not to meet in a single town. It initially met alternately at Denbigh and Wrexham, as the quarter sessions did. From 1891 it also met at Ruthin, and in 1900 it also started meeting in Colwyn Bay. The council then met at those four towns in rotation until that first incarnation of the county council was abolished in 1974. Although the council held its meetings in multiple towns, it decided to consolidate its main offices in a central location. It therefore built the County Offices at Ruthin, which opened in 1909.
The borough of Ruthin was abolished in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. The area became part of the new district of Glyndŵr in Clwyd. The area of the pre-1974 borough became a community called Ruthin, with its community council taking the name Ruthin Town Council. The upper tiers of local government were reorganised again in 1996, when the modern Denbighshire and its county council were created.
In 1574 Gabriel Goodman re-founded Ruthin School which was founded in 1284, making it one of the oldest private schools in the United Kingdom. In 1590, Goodman established Christ's Hospital for 12 poor persons around St Peter's Church on the square, and was Dean of Westminster for 40 years (1561–1601). Ruthin School is now a co-educational boarding and day school, with 227 pupils overall, 145 of them boarders in 2014. In September 2013, the school bought Ye Old Anchor, after its closure as a hotel in November 2012, and converted it into a boarding house for 30 upper sixth-form students.
In 1858, it was intended to extend the Vale of Clwyd line from Denbigh to Ruthin, running alongside the race-course in the town park (now Parc-y Dre housing) to the Station Hotel. However the West family prevented the line crossing the Castle Park towards Corwen. The route was diverted to the north alongside the road to Wrexham and the Station Hotel renamed the Park Place Hotel. Opposite Station Road lies Railway Terrace, a row of Grade II listed buildings, built in 1864 with evidence of trains running in a cutting in front. The first sod was cut in September 1860 by Mrs Florence West, with an inaugural service starting on St David's Day 1862. To mark this, a song was composed with words by T. Ab Gwilym, music by B. Williams and published by Isaac Clarke. The line ran 6.75 miles (10.9 km), with stations at and .Rhuthun Hanesyddol / Historic Ruthin (1979) and DCC archives.
On 13 June 1981, Ruthin hosted the Annual General Meeting of the International Football Association Board, the body which determines the laws of football.
Facilities at Ruthin Leisure Centre on Mold Road include a swimming pool, sports hall and fitness suite. Llanfwrog Community Centre on Mwrog Street provides tennis courts, a golf driving range and bowling greens.
As far as is known, only one person was ever executed in the prison: William Hughes of Denbigh, aged 42, who was hanged on 17 February 1903 for the murder of his wife, his plea of insanity having failed. Another prison personality was John Jones, known as Coch Bach y Bala – who was a kleptomaniac and poacher who had spent more than half his 60 years in all the prisons of north Wales and many in England; he twice escaped from Ruthin Gaol, first on 30 November 1879 when he walked out of prison with three others while the staff were having supper – a £5 reward was offered for his capture, which happened on the following 3 January. On 30 September 1913 he tunnelled out of his cell and using a rope made out of his bedding he climbed over the roof of the chapel and kitchen and got over the wall; after seven days living rough on the Nantclwyd Estate several miles away, Jones was shot in the leg by one of his pursuers, 19-year-old Reginald Jones-Bateman. Jones died of shock and blood loss, while Jones-Bateman was charged with manslaughter, though the charges were subsequently dropped.
Ruthin Gaol ceased to be a prison in 1916, when the prisoners and guards were transferred to Shrewsbury Prison. The county council bought the buildings in 1926 and used them for offices, the county archives and the town library. During the Second World War they were used as a munitions factory. They were then returned to the county council and became the headquarters of the Denbighshire Library Service. In 2004 the gaol was renovated and reopened as a museum.
filmed the series' fifth episode in Ruthin, where the team investigated a Victorian Era murder. Locations included the Old Gaol and the town library.
Behind the house are two gardens, the 13th-century inner garden and the outer Lord's Garden, itself believed to have been part of a 13th-century developed castle garden. Restored in the 18th century, Lord's Garden is now itself Grade II listed. In December 2013, the council successfully applied for a grant of £177,600 from the Heritage Lottery Fund, which will see Lord's Garden restored and opened to the public by 2015.
St Peter's Church is the parish church of Ruthin. It is in the diocese of St Asaph. Ruthin Town Parishes website; accessed 19 September 2014. Parts are as old as 1282.
Thomas moved to London, deciding to sell his Ruthin Estate of Exmewe House to a fellow mercer, Edward Goodman. Exmewe House or Nant Clwyd-y-Dre may have been the birthplace of Gabriel Goodman, as the family had connections with both properties.
Details of the next 200 years are unclear. It became the King's Arms in the occupation of John Price. It then became the Queen's Arms (during the reign of Queen Anne, 1702–1714). The property was purchased for £300 on 5 November 1718 by Robert Myddleton of Chirk. Chirk Castle Accounts, AD 1666–1753, edited by William Martial Myddelton. The property served as a chemist's through the 19th century until 1913. It was then sold as part of the Castle Estate sales in 1913/1919, for £1275 to Mr Lecomber, who in turn sold it to Barclays Bank, which modernised it to what can be seen today.
The site of the present post office may have been a medieval Carmelite priory of White Friars, said to have been founded and built by Reginald de Grey and partly destroyed by the Reformation. De Grey also provided a large piece of land close to the castle known as Whitefriars. During the 1860s and 1870s the site housed the Queen's Head public house and a horse-feed chandler; both buildings were destroyed by a 1904 fire; the new post office was built in 1906.
While there were residential properties at the castle end of the street, commercial properties appeared at the end close to St Peters Square. The one exception was the pub Yr Iwerddon at No. 15. The house retains a name referring to its connection with Irish drovers attending markets and fairs.
Other establishments of interest include No. 1, now Boots UK, formerly the Raven Inn, which in 1560 may have been the birthplace of Bishop Richard Parry, pupil and master (1584) of Ruthin School. He was involved with Dean Gabriel Goodman and others in translating the Bible and prayer book into Welsh. The main contributor was Bishop William Morgan, but Parry's revision in 1620 became the accepted authorised version.
The Ruthin Royal Bowling Green used the Raven as their headquarters until the Cornwallis-Wests came to live in Ruthin Castle. The club met at the Raven for its annual and quarterly meetings. When competitions took place, the staff of the Raven would take "cwrw da" (good beer) to the players. With the arrival of the Wests, the bowling green laid out inside the curtilage of the castle forced the club to find an alternative green. The option accepted was the rear of No. 8 Castle Street "Gorphwysfa", then called the Constitutional Club, later renamed the Conservative Club.
The police station is a Grade II listed building of 1890. Before it was built, the original one was housed in Ruthin Gaol. The new one gave convenient access to the courts. It contains four cells, which are no longer used, and a much reduced number of police officers.
Nos 10 and 12, a late 18th-century family town house, is Grade II listed. It retained its late Georgian character until converted into today's boutique hotel and art gallery. The cellars are said to have been built of stone from Ruthin Castle. The building has had many uses: as a boarding house for Ruthin School until 1893, a doctors home, a family home, whose most famous resident was Cynthia Powell, wife of John Lennon while their son Julian Lennon attended Ruthin School, a restaurant from the 1930s and a hotel. Today's hotel architecture and art have won several awards.
The Wynnstay Hotel And Wayfarer Wool Shop, two separate buildings, were once connected by an archway, through which coaches and horses entered to the rear of the properties, where there were stables. The present Wayfarers shop is shown in the title deeds as an outbuilding consisting of "an old saddle room, l with a room over and Gentleman's Convenience".
The Wynnstay Hotel, now a private house, is first recorded in 1549 and known for many years as the Cross Foxes, which formed the heraldic arms of the Wynnstay family, which originated from Wrexham. Its members boasted they could travel from Chester to the Llŷn Peninsula without once leaving their own land. It was an important coaching inn for Ruthin to Denbigh travellers and served the Ruthin, Mold and Chester Royal Mail service. The pub in its heyday had a bowling green and tennis courts, and a central porch demolished in 1969.
Plas Coch (also known as the Conservative Club) is a Grade II listed building of medieval origin and a former 17th-century town house. It was rebuilt in 1613 using red sandstone from the castle and became home to the castle Constable. The building has two storeys with attics and four large windows on each floor. In 1963 it became a banqueting hall owned by Rees Jones, who used to trade at the village hall in Llanfair. It became the Conservative Club in 1977, and having been slightly altered, now offers all-round function facilities.
By road, Ruthin is south-east of Denbigh, north of Corwen, west of Mold and east of Cerrigydrudion.
The nearest major urban centres are Wrexham at , Rhyl at , Chester at and Liverpool at to the north-east. Ruthin is skirted by villages such as Llanbedr Dyffryn Clwyd, Pwllglas and Rhewl.
Governance
Administrative history
Demographics
Education
Transport
Bus
Rail
Sport
Tourism
Ruthin Gaol
The Craft Centre
Nantclwyd y Dre
Cae Ddôl
Gŵyl Rhuthun Festival
Listed buildings
St Peter's Square
The Myddleton Arms is also known as the Seven Eyes. It is said to have been built in the 14th century. The Dutch style design, long, steeped roof is attributed to Sir Richard Clough, an Elizabethan merchant. It has four tiers of dormer windows, each at a different elevation, known locally as the seven eyes of Ruthin. The property was acquired in 1595 by Sir Hugh Myddleton, who provided London with it first fresh water supply. The view of The Myddleton on the square is in fact of the rear of the building. The front looks out over the Clwydian Hills.
Formerly a confectionery and bakery shop rented by Thomas Trehearne, the property was owned by the Castle estate. The property also served as a chemist's shop and later as Dick's boot store. On 1 May 1898, Harris Jones took a lease of the property for 21 years as a draper, hosier, glover and dressmaker; he also sold oilcloths, linoleum and other floor coverings. The shop and house were put up for sale in the 1913 by the castle estate along with the Castle Hotel and the Myddleton Arms, which were purchased by William Owen. His lease expired in 1919 with Jones transferring to what is now Gayla House, where he converted the ground floor from residential to retail premises in 1923. The premises are now owned by the HSBC Bank.
Formerly the Beehive, this served for 75 years as general drapery and millinery shop. The exact date of the building is not known, but remains of timber framing with wattle and daub indicate that the building is very old. An advertisement claimed the building had been built before 1397. The main section of the building was demolished to make way for the bank. Ruthin Court Rolls refer to a man named Telemann in Ruthin and to a house "in the high St." The rolls record that in 1397, Howell de Rowell passed it on to John Le Sergant. Little is known of the family – possibly a retainer of Edward 1st or Reginald de Grey, probably of Norman French descent. On 24 February, Sergant transferred the tenancy to his daughter Sibilia. The property passed to the Exmewe family by the marriage of Sibilia to Richard Exmewe, their son Thomas being Lord Mayor of London in 1517. Little is known of Exmewe family.
Now trading as the Celtic Hair Studio at 2 Well Street. Originally a public house, it was reputedly built in 1401, making it the oldest pub in Ruthin. Lewis Jones, in his 1884 "Handbook For Ruthin and the Vicinity", stated that the old property, formerly the Ruth Inn, had been adapted as a post office some 25 years before. It ceased trading in 1773. In 1850, the building was converted into a drapery, then becoming the town post office again until 1904.
Clwyd Street
Located at 33, 35 and 37 Clwyd Street opposite the gaol and now a florist, it was originally the Red Lion public house. In 1824 the hangman, Sam Burrows, was staying at the Red Lion on the night before the execution of John Connor, a highway robber. He gave a detailed demonstration of how he actually hanged a man, unfortunately the stool was accidentally kicked away and Burrows almost hanged himself. The public house ceased trading in 1905.
Now flats, the Royal Oak is one of the finest buildings in Ruthin, having three cruck frames, it is a Grade II* listed building.
Porth y Dŵr
Castle Street
Record Street
Well Street
Other areas
Rose Cottage
Scott House
The Town Hall
Notable people
Sport
Geography
Twin town
See also
External links
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