What, I hear you ask , is this Great Question?
The Great Question has been hovering around from the start of the renovation works and gathered pace as work progressed.
We researched the archives for hints on who lived at Plas Coch and the further in time we got The Great Question remained unanswered.
It still is.
This is it : Who was this house built for?
We know now thanks to the Dendrochronology results that the house was built in 1608. According to the legend on the outside wall of the building that Plas Coch was built as lodgings for the Constable of the Castle. So you would be forgiven for thinking; That’s easy! Just look for who the Constable of the Castle was around 1608. It all sounds so simple…right? That’s what I thought too…
I searched online and visited a variety of interesting websites. Articles in newspapers were trawled, online archives even parliament websites too, to see what I could see. There was plenty to read, but on the subject of the Constable of Ruthin Castle very little.
I could find the names up until the middle of the 16th Century with the father and son team Henry and Charles Somerset who were granted the role for life. The son, Henry, passed away in 1549 and it would appear the Constable of Ruthin castle….vanished. There was…nothing…
Hmm…
It was like the job role was made redundant. Which, as I discovered in talking to local historian Gareth Evans, it most likely was. It was suggested that the job was on hold until repairs at the castle had been authorised. This was most likely due to the castle being badly maintained and in a bad state of repair. In 1632 Ruthin Castle was sold to Sir Thomas Myddleton of Chirk. A report recorded that the castle was not worth using the stone as it was easier to get them from the quarry. So the job may just have vanished into the mists of time. I could find names for Constables and Sheriffs, but none of them specifically the Constable of Ruthin Castle.
So does this mean the legend on the outside wall of Plas Coch is false? Unsubstantiated? Are we blindly believing everything? I’m on a bit of a mission now to try and track down who this elusive gentleman could possibly be…don’t worry … I’ll keep you posted.
