page_title: Ruthin
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Ruthin / History
caption_attribution_description: War Memorial at Ruthin, Wales. The names of the local First World War dead are listed around the base of the cross, and on the second and fourth plaques on the rear wall; the Second World War dead are on the first and fifth plaques; the soldier killed in the 1982 Falklands War is on the third plaque.
context_page_description: Ruthin is the county town of Denbighshire in north Wales and a community in the southern part of the Vale of Clwyd. The older town, the castle and St Peter's Square lie on a hill, but many newer parts in the flood plain of the River Clwyd. This emerged several times in the late 1990s – flood-control works costing £3 million were completed in autumn 2003. Ruthin is skirted by villages such as Pwllglas and Rhewl. The name comes from the Welsh words rhudd and din, reflecting the colour of the sandstone bedrock, of which the castle was built in 1277–1284. The original name was Castell Coch yng Ngwern-fôr. The mill is nearby. Maen Huail is a registered ancient monument attributed to the brother of Gildas and King Arthur, located outside Barclays Bank in St Peter's Square.
context_section_description: 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 Marcher Lord, Reginald de Grey, Justiciar of Chester, was given the Cantref (an administrative district) of Deffrencloyt (Dyffryn Clwyd, the Welsh for Vale of Clwyd), and his family ran the area for the next 226 years. The third Baron de Grey's land dispute with 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.
  The Lord de Grey established a Collegiate Church in 1310. Now the Collegiate and Parish Church of St Peter, it 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 half-timbered Old Court House (built in 1401), 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 (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 (Brieg 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.
caption: The town War Memorial
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