Rhug (normally Y Rug in Welsh; sometimes given the antiquarian spelling Rûg) is a township in the parish of
Corwen
Corwen is a town and community in the county of Denbighshire in Wales. Historically, Corwen is part of the county of Merionethshire. Corwen stands on the banks of the River Dee beneath the Berwyn mountains. The town is situated west of Llango ...
,
Denbighshire
Denbighshire ( ; cy, Sir Ddinbych; ) is a county in the north-east of Wales. Its borders differ from the historic county of the same name. This part of Wales contains the country's oldest known evidence of habitation – Pontnewydd (Bontnewy ...
,
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
, formerly in the old
cantref
A cantref ( ; ; plural cantrefi or cantrefs; also rendered as ''cantred'') was a medieval Welsh land division, particularly important in the administration of Welsh law.
Description
Land in medieval Wales was divided into ''cantrefi'', which were ...
of
Edeirnion
Edeirnion or Edeyrnion is an area of the county of Denbighshire and an ancient commote of medieval Wales in the cantref of Penllyn. According to tradition, it was named after its eponymous founder Edern or Edeyrn. It was included as a Welsh t ...
and later a part of
Merionethshire
, HQ= Dolgellau
, Government= Merionethshire County Council (1889-1974)
, Origin=
, Status=
, Start= 1284
, End=
, Code= MER
, CodeName= ...
, two miles from
Corwen
Corwen is a town and community in the county of Denbighshire in Wales. Historically, Corwen is part of the county of Merionethshire. Corwen stands on the banks of the River Dee beneath the Berwyn mountains. The town is situated west of Llango ...
[Rug Chapel] and ten miles north east of
Bala. It includes the hamlet of Bonwen. It is situated near the
River Dee, under
Berwyn range
The Berwyn range (Welsh: ''Y Berwyn'' or ''Mynydd y Berwyn'') is an isolated and sparsely populated area of moorland in the northeast of Wales, roughly bounded by Llangollen in the northeast, Corwen in the northwest, Bala in the southwest, an ...
. About 1150, it was ruled by the ''Maer Du'' or "Black Mayor of Rhug" and later became part of the lands of the
barons of Edeirnion (see
Hughes of Gwerclas
Hughes of Gwerclas were a native Welsh royal family descended from Owain Brogyntyn the illegitimate but acknowledged son of Madog ap Maredudd (one of the last Kings of Powys, of the House of Mathrafal) by a daughter of the "Maer du" or "black m ...
) who ruled from
Gwerclas Castle.
History
![Rhug 02272](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/Rhug_02272.jpg)
The Lordship of Rhug contained the townships of Aber Alwen in the ecclesiastical parish of Corwen, which is where the manor house of Rhug was situated. It was apparently at Rhug that King
Gruffudd ap Cynan
Gruffudd ap Cynan ( 1137), sometimes written as Gruffydd ap Cynan, was King of Gwynedd from 1081 until his death in 1137. In the course of a long and eventful life, he became a key figure in Welsh resistance to Norman rule, and was remembe ...
was staying when he was betrayed by Meirion Goch of Llŷn, in 1080. Hugh Lupus, Earl of Chester and Hugh, Earl of Salop, hearing that the prince was at Rhug came with a group of soldiers under the pretence of visiting him. Meirion Goch persuaded Gruffudd to go with a small guard to meet them, not knowing of the kidnapping plot by the earls, and was seized and carried off to
Chester
Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...
Castle. He was kept there for twelve years in chain and irons. The guards that accompanied Gruffudd were likewise taken prisoners, and after having been barbarously treated, and their right-hand thumbs cut off, were then allowed to go free. It was said that
Owain Brogyntyn
Owain ''Brogyntyn'' ap Madog ( fl. 1160–1186) was the third and illegitimate son of king Madog ap Maredudd, the last king of a united Kingdom of Powys. He was the son of Madog by the daughter of the ''Maer du'' or "black mayor" of Rûg in ...
resided at Rhug after he became Lord of
Dinmael
Dinmael was a medieval lordship and cwmwd in north Wales which usually formed a part of the patrimony of the kingdom of Powys. The name, of Old Welsh origin, means "the King's Fort" (''Din'' "fort" + ''Mael'' "king") and probably refers to a now fo ...
and Edeirnion, and the lordship of Rhug devolved to the descendants of Bleddyn, Lord of Dinmael, the second son of Owain Brogyntyn. Margaret Wen, lady of Rhug, the sole daughter and heiress of Ieuan ap Howel ap Rhys, Lord of Rhug, married Piers Salusbury of Bachymbyd.
[The History of the Princes, the Lords Marcher, and the Ancient Nobility of Powys Fadog]
Rhug Chapel
Colonel
William Salusbury (1580–1660), affectionately known as "Old Blue Stockings", was a colourful character famed for his part as a
Royalist
A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governme ...
in the defence of
Denbigh Castle
Denbigh Castle and town walls (; cy, Castell Dinbych a waliau tref; ) were a set of fortifications built to control the lordship of Denbigh after the conquest of Wales by Norman King Edward I in 1282. The King granted the lands to Henry de Lac ...
in the
English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...
. Although a warrior in early years, he later became a successful writer of Welsh verse and was noted for his “
high church
The term ''high church'' refers to beliefs and practices of Christian ecclesiology, liturgy, and theology that emphasize formality and resistance to modernisation. Although used in connection with various Christian traditions, the term originate ...
” views. In 1637 he had a private chapel built in collaboration with Bishop
William Morgan, who was sympathetic to Salisbury's views and the first translator of the Bible into Welsh. The resulting chapel, dedicated to The Holy Trinity, is quite plain and unremarkable to external view. A small construction in stone, it consists of a simple nave/chancel with access through a timber arched door at the west end of the church into an extremely small porch and a door and porch at the north chancel wall for the use of the minister. Above the west door is a single external bell.
The chapel is set in pretty woodland some quarter mile from the busy A5 junction at Ty'n-y-cefn and maintained since 1990 by Cadw (a Welsh word meaning “to keep”, the historic environment service of the Welsh Government). On buying a joint ticket to see this chapel with the ancient church at
Llangar
Llangar is a former civil parish in Denbighshire in Wales, south west of Corwen, its post town, and north east of Bala. It is situated at the confluence of the rivers Alwen and Dee, and includes the small hamlets of Bryn, Cymer, and Gwyn ...
, some three miles away, the visitor will assume that the chapel is as plain inside as out but nothing could be further from the truth. On passage through the heavy oak west door the visitor enters a very small porch with barely enough room for two people before a second timber door. On the right a wall holds a bell rope and to the left is a timber staircase leading through a quarter landing to the right and to the gallery. Taking the stairs will afford the visitor a remarkable view of a church so ornate and richly adorned to be completely in contrast to the plain exterior. Immediately and closely visible is the rood roof ornately decorated throughout with intertwining rose motifs. Wall panels are intricately carved and painted, elaborately carved and painted angels adorn the walls the colours bright and clear. (See Gallery).
The nave is separated from the chancel with a low rood screen of sturdy and ornately carved construction. Each window is finished with bright stained glass, of different ages, and with different depictions. The pews are built of oak and the aisle ends of the pews are, unusually, finished with huge oak timber scalloped plinth which are richly carved with beasts and birds.
[ ] Large chandeliers provided the lighting and are supported on long iron rods from the roof. The nave is simple in contrast. The north wall bears a large painting of a memento mori, a recumbent skeleton designed to remind the congregation of their own mortality. Apart from the altar itself and tiled sanctuary, installed in the late nineteenth or early twentieth centuries, all here is original despite the
Protestant Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
.
Outside the chapel, some 30 yards west of the West Door, is a pillar on a double stone base that appears to be a town or
market cross
A market cross, or in Scots, a mercat cross, is a structure used to mark a market square in market towns, where historically the right to hold a regular market or fair was granted by the monarch, a bishop or a baron.
History
Market crosse ...
though there is no obvious evidence of a settlement in this area and the chapel was built many centuries after such crosses were normally erected.
To the north of the West Door is a circular iron railing protecting memorial stones to the Wynn family. Inside the church is a memorial to Robert Vaughan of the estate of Nannau near
Llanfachreth
Llanfachreth is a settlement approximately three miles north-east of Dolgellau, Gwynedd, in the community of Brithdir and Llanfachreth within the historic boundaries of Merionethshire ( cy, Meirionnydd, Sir Feirionnydd), Wales.
History
Llan ...
in Wales. He had interests in Rhug and oversaw restoration of the chapel with great sympathy to the original intent.
Vaughan, in 1854, remodelled the exterior bell tower and windows yet left the interior virtually untouched despite the requirements of the recent restoration. The pews, however, were widened and provided with backs though finished in a colour and style similar to that of the original Neo-Jacobean.
Gallery
File:Rhug solid pew ends.JPG, Rhug solid timber pew ends
File:Rhug East Window.JPG, Rhug East Window
File:Rhug window.JPG, Rhug window
File:Rhug Ancient Cross and 17th C Chapel.JPG, Rhug Ancient Cross
File:Rhug Chapel.JPG, Rhug Chapel
File:Rhug Wynn family memorials.JPG, Rhug Wynn family memorials
References
;Sources
*''The History of the Princes, the Lords Marcher, and the Ancient Nobility of Powys Fadog, and the Ancient Lords of Arwystli, Cedewen, and Meirionydd and Many of the Descendants of the Fifteen Noble Tribes of Gwynedd'', 1887, London, by
Jacob Youde William Lloyd
Jacob Youde William Lloyd (1816–1887) was an English Anglican cleric, Catholic convert, antiquarian and genealogist. To 1857 his name was Jacob Youde William Hinde.
Life
He was the eldest son of Jacob William Hinde, of Ulverstone, Lancashire, a ...
External links
Rhug Estate
{{authority control
Villages in Denbighshire
History of Wales
Medieval Wales
Corwen