Name: Ruthin
Location: Glwyd
Country: Wales
Review
this castle
Now part of the Castle Hotel, Ruthin was one of the new lordship castles ordered by Edward I to be built between 1277 and the 1280s as part of his scheme of the conquest and annexation of Wales. This castle was in its time formidable but the bulk of its structure has either disappeared or been absorbed, and it is difficult to define its shape. Its basic plan appears to have been two stone enclosures, each with a
twin-towered gatehouse and flanking cylindrical towers, three of which have survived in some form. The castle stood on a red sandstone ridge gently rising above the
Clwyd.
The building work began in the summer of 1277. Then it seems the castle and the lands about were granted to Dafydd, brother of Llywelyn the Last, and records are not clear as to what was done over the next years or by whom. In 1283, by which time Llywelyn had been slain and Dafydd taken and executed, Ruthin reverted to Edward, and it is possible that work was continued. Master James of St George is mentioned as being involved, though in some undisclosed capacity. The reconstruction work is considered tasteful and elegant but it is nonetheless unhelpful in assessing the original
form
