Heritage Open Days

Was it me or were there fewer people than last year in Rhuthun for the weekend’s Heritage Open Days? Given the more favourable weather forecast and the most welcome daily morning sunshine, I’d have expected far more. Saturday afternoon was busier than an average Saturday but nowhere near excessively so.

Yet, I’m told all the tours were fully booked and busy. Indeed, the organisers apparently crammed a few extras in. There just seemed fewer people wandering around in between and, compared to last year, fewer Saturday visitors indulging themselves in cafés. Perhaps those outside the town who wish to take a look either have other heritage choices or have already ‘done’ Rhuthun. It’s difficult to think of anything else Rhuthun could muster to ‘hook’ visitors. Even the prospect of free entry to the Old Gaol wasn’t the attraction it perhaps should’ve been.

But there are other measures of success than the sum of visitors, like the greater number of buildings open to view. Among them was Hengoed, near Bontuchel, a late entry that didn’t feature in the brochure.

Hengoed is a 15th century timber cruck constructed building that is remarkable more from within than without. In fact, unlike the interior, the exterior is not original. That from the 19th century it was continuously used for agricultural purposes accounts for its internal authenticity and completeness. With no fewer than five crucked trusses, it’s said to represent the very zenith of this type of construction. The size and finish of its timbers indicated an auspicious residency of considerable import. Was I mistaken, though, when I heard that the timber here used was dated as the oldest recorded in any surviving building in Britain? Can this be true? If so, it’s surely remarkable.

Of another addition, Tŷ Gwyn at Llanfwrog, the Heritage Day blurb interestingly stated the building once may have held a ‘wooden fireplace’. Is that for burning wood or a contradiction in terms? Sounds as useful as the proverbial chocolate teapot when in fact it’s likely to mean the hearth once had a sturdy timber lintel.