ABOUT MEMORIAL BUILDING
The Memorial Building used to be a Grammar School back in the day. The Grammar School was re-founded by Gabriel Goodman, a native of Ruthin, who became Dean of Westminster. It was opened in 1598, and the current stone building may be of this date. It has a brick staircase projection to the rear, probably secondary but not later than 1700. Restored in 1831-2, with further work by Lloyd Williams & Underwood in 1867, including the addition of the porch; the mullioned and transomed windows are probably C19 replacements of the originals. The Grammar School moved to a new site in 1891-3, becoming Ruthin School. In the 1990s the building was converted to apartments which were refurbished by us in early 2020.
Adjoining the former Grammar School at right-angles, and built in 1742 as dormitories and headmaster's house, is a Memorial Stone Building. Projections and rear wings probably late C19. Listed as an unusual building type retaining early-Georgian character and detail, and for group value with the adjoining Church House. The building makes a valuable contribution to the historic landscape of this fine parochial close.
The interior was recorded by RCAHMW in 1996 before it was converted to apartments. It has classical-style detail, including panelled doors, moulded architraves, beamed ceilings, and a fireplace with eared and fluted surrounds; other fireplaces are C19. Original C18 staircase with columnar balusters, square newels conjoined with caps, and moulded handrails; upper flight has been altered; window seats in front of stair-lights. Good range of cellars beneath, one with a deeply-chamfered ceiling beam, probably re-used from elsewhere, another with a half-vault.
ABOUT RUTHIN
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 (Red Castle in the Sea Swamps). 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 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.
