History of Ruthin

Ruthin's history spans more than seven centuries of continuous habitation, from the Norman-influenced Welsh chieftains of the early medieval period through Edward I's conquest, the fury of Owain Glyndŵr, the Civil War, the Georgian county town, and the Victorian prison town to the small working market town it remains today. Almost every chapter of Welsh history has a chapter in Ruthin.

Origins and the Medieval Borough

The name Ruthin derives from the Welsh "Rhuddyn" — the red fortress — a reference to the red sandstone on which the original fortification stood. There was a Welsh stronghold here before the Norman conquest, associated with the Lords of Dyffryn Clwyd, who controlled the fertile valley of the River Clwyd.

In 1277, following his first Welsh campaign, Edward I granted the lordship of Dyffryn Clwyd to Reginald de Grey. Grey began constructing a castle at Ruthin around 1277–1282 on the red sandstone outcrop above the town. Edward's policy — followed consistently at Ruthin, Denbigh, Harlech, Conwy and elsewhere — was to establish a new English borough alongside the castle, displacing or marginalising the Welsh population. The medieval street pattern of Ruthin, centred on the market square, dates from this plantation.

The town received its market charter in the 13th century, establishing the Wednesday market that continues to this day. By the 14th century Ruthin was established as the principal town of Dyffryn Clwyd, with St Peter's Church at the heart of the borough and Nantclwyd House — built 1314, and still standing — as an example of the prosperous merchant class the town was developing.

Owain Glyndŵr and the Attack of 1400

In September 1400, Owain Glyndŵr launched his bid for Welsh independence with a direct attack on Ruthin and its lord, Reginald de Grey the younger. The choice of Ruthin was personal: Grey had deliberately withheld from Glyndŵr land to which he was legally entitled, and had blocked Glyndŵr's attempts to seek redress through Parliament. When the uprising began, Ruthin was the first target.

Glyndŵr's forces attacked during the annual fair — the most commercially vulnerable moment in the town's calendar — and ravaged and burned the town. The castle held out, but the town itself was devastated. The attack marks the beginning of the most serious uprising against English rule in Welsh history, which continued until around 1415 and at its height saw Glyndŵr controlling most of Wales.

Glyndŵr's revenge on Grey came two years later. In 1402 he defeated an English force at the Battle of Bryn Glas and captured Grey himself, holding him at Dolbadarn Castle near Llanberis until Grey's family paid a ransom of 10,000 marks — a sum that reportedly ruined the Grey family. The stone in Ruthin's town square known as Maen Huail is associated with an earlier legend about King Arthur, but Owain Glyndŵr's shadow falls more substantially over the town's medieval history.

Tudor and Stuart Ruthin

Ruthin recovered from the Glyndŵr rising and prospered in the Tudor period. The Myddelton Arms on the town square, with its distinctive "eyes of Ruthin" Dutch-influenced windows, dates from the mid-16th century. St Peter's Church received its magnificent carved oak ceiling, given according to tradition by Henry VII. The Davies Brothers of Bersham, the greatest Welsh ironworkers of their era, made the church gates in 1727 — the same craftsmen who made the famous gates at Chirk Castle.

During the Civil War, Ruthin Castle was a Royalist stronghold. Parliamentary forces besieged it in 1644, withdrew, then returned in 1646 when the Royalist garrison finally surrendered to Major-General Mytton. Parliament ordered the castle's destruction, which accounts for the ruined state of the medieval fabric. The surviving towers and walls are now incorporated into the grounds of Ruthin Castle Hotel.

Georgian County Town

In the 18th century Ruthin became the principal administrative centre of Denbighshire — the county town in all but the most formal sense. Joseph Turner, architect and County Surveyor, designed both the County Hall on Record Street (1785–1790, now the library) and the Old County Gaol on Clwyd Street (1775). The gaol, built on the radial panopticon principles then considered progressive, served Denbighshire for 141 years. The last execution at the gaol took place in 1903; it closed in 1916.

Samuel Lewis, writing in his Topographical Dictionary of Wales in 1833 and 1849, described Ruthin's setting with characteristic thoroughness: "The surface is beautifully diversified, the eastern part of Llanrhud embracing a portion of the Clwydian hills, and the western part of Ruthin the meanderings of the river Clwyd, with the fertile and luxuriant meadows on its banks."

Victorian and Modern Ruthin

The 19th century saw Ruthin consolidate its role as a market and professional town — solicitors, doctors, auctioneers and the trades that serve a rural hinterland. The railway never came to Ruthin, which is both the reason for its relative obscurity and a significant factor in preserving its character. Unlike towns with direct rail access, Ruthin was never developed for mass tourism or industrialised on any scale.

Today the town retains its medieval skeleton almost intact. The market square, the street pattern, the castle grounds, the gaol, and a remarkable concentration of listed buildings make Ruthin one of the best-preserved historic towns in Wales — and, because of that same absence of a railway, one of the least known.