Ruthin Castle is a medieval castle fortification in Wales, near the town of Ruthin in the Vale of Clwyd. It was constructed during the late 13th century by Dafydd ap Gruffydd, the brother of Prince Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, on a red sandstone ridge overlooking the valley. Part of the ancient walls still remain and now form part of the Ruthin Castle Hotel.
Ruthin Castle occupies a site that was first used as an Iron Age fort. In 1277, Edward I of England granted the land to Dafydd ap Gruffydd 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.
Between 1579 and 1580, the Castle was used for the imprisonment and torture of Welsh poet, recusant schoolmaster Richard Gwyn, who was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Wrexham in 1584. Gwyn was canonized in 1970 by Pope Paul VI as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.
At the start of the English Civil War 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's forces later dismantled and demolished the castle, in a process of organised de-fortification called slighting.
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.
References:The Jan Hus Memorial stands at one end of Old Town Square. The huge monument depicts victorious Hussite warriors and Protestants who were forced into exile 200 years after Hus, and a young mother who symbolises national rebirth. The monument was so large that the sculptor designed and built his own villa and studio where the work could be carried out. It was unveiled in 1915 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Jan Hus' martyrdom. The memorial was designed by Ladislav Šaloun and paid for solely by public donations.
Born in 1369, Hus became an influential religious thinker, philosopher, and reformer in Prague. He was a key predecessor to the Protestant movement of the sixteenth century. In his works he criticized religious moral decay of the Catholic Church. Accordingly, the Czech patriot Hus believed that mass should be given in the vernacular, or local language, rather than in Latin. He was inspired by the teachings of John Wycliffe.