Ruthin Castle ( cy, Castell Rhuthun) is a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

castle fortification in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

, near the town of

Ruthin Ruthin ( ; cy, Rhuthun) is a market town and community in Denbighshire, Wales, in the south of the Vale of Clwyd. It is Denbighshire's county town. The town, castle and St Peter's Square lie on a hill, skirted by villages such as Pwllglas and ...

in the

Vale of Clwyd The Vale of Clwyd ( cy, Dyffryn Clwyd) is a tract of low-lying ground in the county of Denbighshire in north-east Wales. The Vale extends south-southwestwards from the coast of the Irish Sea for some 20 miles (about 30 km) forming a triangl ...

. It was constructed during the late 13th century by

Dafydd ap Gruffydd Dafydd ap Gruffydd (11 July 1238 – 3 October 1283) was Prince of Wales from 11 December 1282 until his execution on 3 October 1283 on the orders of King Edward I of England. He was the last native Prince of Wales before the conquest of Wa ...

, the brother of Prince

Llywelyn ap Gruffudd Llywelyn ap Gruffudd (c. 1223 – 11 December 1282), sometimes written as Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, also known as Llywelyn the Last ( cy, Llywelyn Ein Llyw Olaf, lit=Llywelyn, Our Last Leader), was the native Prince of Wales ( la, Princeps Wall ...

, on a red

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

ridge overlooking the valley. Part of the ancient walls still remain and now form part of the Ruthin Castle Hotel.

History

Ruthin Castle occupies a site that was first used as an

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...

fort. In 1277,

Edward I of England Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vas ...

granted the land to

in gratitude for his assistance during the invasion of North Wales. It is unclear whether there was an existing fort on the site or whether Dafydd established the castle. The castle was originally given the Welsh name of ''Castell Coch yn yr Gwernfor'' ( Welsh Red Castle in the Great Marsh). The castle was most notably the base of that branch of the noble de Grey family accorded the title " Barons Grey de Ruthyn" and the head of their

marcher lordship A Marcher lord () was a noble appointed by the king of England to guard the border (known as the Welsh Marches) between England and Wales. A Marcher lord was the English equivalent of a margrave (in the Holy Roman Empire) or a marquis (in ...

of Dyffryn Clwyd. It was a base for Reginald Grey, 3rd Baron Grey de Ruthyn – the man who could be said to have sparked the rebellion of Owain Glyndŵr. Between 1579 and 1580, the Castle was used for the imprisonment and torture of Welsh poet,

recusant Recusancy (from la, recusare, translation=to refuse) was the state of those who remained loyal to the Catholic Church and refused to attend Church of England services after the English Reformation. The 1558 Recusancy Acts passed in the reign ...

schoolmaster Richard Gwyn, who was

hanged, drawn, and quartered To be hanged, drawn and quartered became a statutory penalty for men convicted of high treason in the Kingdom of England from 1352 under King Edward III (1327–1377), although similar rituals are recorded during the reign of King Henry III ( ...

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

on 15 October 1584. Gwyn was canonized in 1970 by

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his death in Augus ...

as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.Malcolm Pullan (2008), ''The Lives and Times of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales 1535-1680'', pages 143-144. At the start of 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 ...

the castle was in a state of disrepair and the necessary works were hastily performed to make it defensible. It withstood an eleven-week siege by parliamentary troops in 1646 before surrendering when the attackers announced that they intended to lay mines under the walls.

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three K ...

's forces later dismantled and demolished the castle, in a process of organised de-fortification called

slighting Slighting is the deliberate damage of high-status buildings to reduce their value as military, administrative or social structures. This destruction of property sometimes extended to the contents of buildings and the surrounding landscape. It is ...

In modern times

In 1923 the castle became Britain's first private hospital for the investigation and treatment of obscure internal diseases, but this was closed in about 1950. Since the 1960s the castle remains have been incorporated into a hotel. A guest was Prince Charles, who stayed for the night before his investiture as

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...

at Caernarfon Castle in 1969. The castle is said to be haunted; because of this reputation, it was investigated by the paranormal investigation show ''

Most Haunted ''Most Haunted'' is a British paranormal reality television series. Following complaints, the broadcast regulator, Ofcom, ruled that it was an entertainment show, not a legitimate investigation into the paranormal, and "should not be taken ser ...

'' in 2018.

References

External links

with a bibliography of sources relating to the castle
Ruthin Castle HotelThe Conservation of Ruthin Castle
2021 talk by Fiona Gale {{coord, 53.1117, -3.3118, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Castles in Denbighshire Country houses in Wales Ruthin Grade I listed buildings in Denbighshire Scheduled monuments in Denbighshire Grey family residences

History

In modern times

References

Further reading

External links