Ruthin and District Civic Association

Open Doors in Denbighhire

SLOW WALKS AROUND RUTHIN

Written by Derek Jones, with pictures by Miles Anderson, this splendid (bilingual) booklet describes three "Slow Walks" around the streets of Ruthin.

Ruthin is a gem,a market town with a well-preserved thirteenth-century street pattern, and a wealth of buildings that illustrates the different phases of its history. As Derek says, Ruthin is "small enough to allow you to see it in detail". Derek's eye for detail will be well known to readers of About Wales, where he regularly publishes his observations on Welsh towns. Here, characteristically, he reveals both the special buildings and the ordinary, but fascinating backcloth structures that lend the town so much character.

I guess he will also go down in history as the inventor of the "Slow Walk". It's a species of town trail that encourages the visitor to take his time, to stand and stare, and, like slow food, to savour a place at leisure.

The booklet (32 pages, A5, full colour) documents three mooches around the town, alongside a note on local stone and timber and some suggestions about places to go outside Ruthin. Each is distinguished by the author's interest in new buildings, as well as the adaptation of older structures to meet modern need. Here we have, therefore, an encomium of the splendid new Ruthin Craft Centre, alongside obvious gems such as the castle, gaol and County Hall, and a wealth of chapels, shops and houses, set within text that is as sensitive to streetscape as it is to individual features.

Slow Walks will be eyeballed jealously by publishers in this genre. It deserves to have an online existence alongside print, and this would be an ideal companion project for a go-ahead civic society. MG

The Ruthin and District Civic Association is the local organisation concerned with the quality of buildings, old and new, throughout Ruthin and nearby villages. Each year, along with Denbigh and other societies, it organises an Open Heritage weekend, during which the doors of historic buildings are opened free of charge, as part of Open Doors Days in Wales.

Ruthin Gaol

The Old Gaol, Clwyd Street, Ruthin, Built in 1775. The Plaque at the top reads:
THE MAGISTRATES, SENSIBLE OF THE MISERABLE STATE OF THE ANCIENT PRISON, IN COMPASSION TO THE UNFORTUNATE, CAUSED THIS BUILDING TO BE ERECTED IN THE YEAR MDCCLXXV Jos. Turner Architect

© Copyright George Lloyd and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence