St Meugan's Church

The Church of St Meugan stands about a mile east of the town of Ruthin. It is dedicated to Saint Meugan, a Welsh saint of the 5th or 6th centuries. Cadw suggests that the dedication references the site of a 6th-century llan settlement. It was damaged during the Conquest of Wales by Edward I and compensation was paid by the king's commissioners. The roof and rood screen date from the 15th century. The church was restored by Henry Kennedy, Diocesan Architect to the See of Bangor, in 1852. St Meugan's was replaced as the town's parish church by the more centrally located St Peter's Church. It remains an active parish church in the Diocese of St Asaph and occasional services are held.

In a tiny rural hamlet a mile or so from the town centre, St Meugan's was the original mother-church of the Welsh settlement which became Ruthin. The pretty little 15th-century building (dedicated to a hermit-saint from Caerleon in Gwent) contains many notable furnishings – above all the ‘rood screen’ which once supported a ‘rood’ or crucifix (also at Derwen). The church probably dates back to the early 1500s and is a fine example of local carpentry: richly carved with intricate tracery, with an ‘ivy-berry’ trail (which is a Vale of Clwyd speciality) along its upper rail. The Georgian west gallery opposite (for choir and ‘church band’) is an even rarer survival, and is dated 1721, as such…