Ruthin
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 and din, 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.
History
There is evidence of Celtic and later Roman settlements in the area. However, little is known of the history of the town before the construction of Ruthin Castle was started in 1277 by Dafydd, the brother of prince Llywelyn ap Gruffudd. However, he forfeited the castle when he rebelled against King Edward I with his brother; Edward's queen, Eleanor, was in residence in 1281. The original name was Castell Coch yng Ngwern-fôr. The Marcher Lord, Reginald de Grey, Justiciar of Chester, was given the cantref of Deffrencloyt, and his family ran the area for the next 226 years. The land dispute between Reginald Grey, 3rd Baron Grey de Ruthyn, and Owain Glyndŵr triggered Glyndŵr's rebellion against King Henry IV, which began on 16 September 1400, when Glyndŵr burned Ruthin to the ground, reputedly leaving only the castle and a few other buildings standing.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 on the square, features the remains of a gibbet 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 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 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.
Governance
There are two tiers of local government covering Ruthin, at community and county level: Ruthin Town Council and Denbighshire County Council. The town council is based at the Old Courthouse on St Peter's Square. The county council is also based in the town, having its main offices at County Hall on Wynnstay Road.Administrative history
Ruthin historically formed part of the ancient parish of Llanrhydd. It became a separate parish following the construction of St Peter's Church in the early 14th century. Ruthin was the main town in the cantref of Dyffryn Clwyd, which became a marcher lordship following the Conquest of Wales by Edward I in the late 13th century. The lordship of Dyffryn Clwyd was also known as the lordship of Ruthin; it became part of Denbighshire on the county's creation in 1536 under the Laws in Wales Act 1535.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. 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 county's quarter sessions continued to be held alternately at Denbigh and Wrexham, and knights of the shire were elected at Denbigh.
The first Denbighshire County Council was created in 1889, taking over various administrative functions previously performed by the county's magistrates 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.
Demographics
At the 2021 census, the community had a population of 5,698. Of the population over three years old, 38% could speak Welsh. The built up area covers a very similar area to the community; built up area populations were reported to the nearest five people, and Ruthin's built up area was reported to have a population of 5,700.Education
The town's principal school is Ysgol Brynhyfryd, a comprehensive school for 11 to 18 year olds. Its Grade II listed building was built about 1830 as the home of local solicitor, before becoming in 1898 Ruthin County School for Girls.. In 2001–2002 the listed building became the Sixth Form Centre. The school's sports facilities, including the swimming pool, are used as the town's Leisure Centre. It also features a theatre and arts complex, Theatr John Ambrose, named after a headmaster of the school in the 1980s and 1990s. This was opened by the actor Rhys Ifans, a former pupil of Ysgol Pentrecelyn and Ysgol Maes Garmon in Mold, but brought up in Ruthin.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. 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.