The news yesterday of the proposed closure of Rhuthun/Ruthin's county archive feels a little like a small scale mirror of what happened in Rhuthun/Ruthin way back in 1974.
That was the year that historic Denbighshire's heart was ripped out of town and moved to Yr Wyddgrug/Mold. Back then, it saw the abolition of historic Denbighshire and the transfer lock, stock & barrel across the Clwydian Range to Clwyd county council's new capital, Yr Wyddgrug. Then, as now, it gave the impression that Rhuthun and Dyffryn Clwyd was something of a backwater. For the next 20 years, there was this feeling of neglect in the west, as the industrialised east of Clwyd grew ascendant. It may not last forever but this was only restored in 1996 upon the creation of new Denbighshire.
And, of all places, Yr Wyddgrug appears to be the chosen location for the combined archive. Not in the town centre, mind you, but in the aseptic campus alongside the bleak, worn-out concrete edifice that is shire hall.
It looks very much like Rhuthun will lose the visitors brought to it by the archive. It seems that no one has considered seriously or perhaps even at all Rhuthun as the new hub. Rhuthun, after all, houses a collection relating to historic Denbighshire, including Colwyn Bay and Abergele; and probably even Llanrwst. Relocating to Yr Wyddgrug will be as difficult for coastal Conwy as Rhuthun will be for Kinnerton.
Why, for example, cannot a new archive building be built adjacent to the Gaol, on Park Road car park. We hear much about County Hall being under-used, so why not put the archive there. It seems old that Denbighshire is trying to strip itself of its too large a porfolio of property assets yet is content to see a valuable user—the archive—disappear from one of its own heritage buildings which may well lay empty and unused, like 46 Clwyd Street—while subsidising Flintshire.
In fact, why not re-open 46 Clwyd Street, transfer people from County Hall there and to the current archive and open a modern archive at county hall. Simple. The vision statement of the joint service will read,
"Harnessing the power of our shared documentary heritage to promote education, well-being and identity for the people and communities of North-East Wales"
North east Wales is not just Yr Wyddgrug.
Gates locked in future?
That was the year that historic Denbighshire's heart was ripped out of town and moved to Yr Wyddgrug/Mold. Back then, it saw the abolition of historic Denbighshire and the transfer lock, stock & barrel across the Clwydian Range to Clwyd county council's new capital, Yr Wyddgrug. Then, as now, it gave the impression that Rhuthun and Dyffryn Clwyd was something of a backwater. For the next 20 years, there was this feeling of neglect in the west, as the industrialised east of Clwyd grew ascendant. It may not last forever but this was only restored in 1996 upon the creation of new Denbighshire.
And, of all places, Yr Wyddgrug appears to be the chosen location for the combined archive. Not in the town centre, mind you, but in the aseptic campus alongside the bleak, worn-out concrete edifice that is shire hall.
It looks very much like Rhuthun will lose the visitors brought to it by the archive. It seems that no one has considered seriously or perhaps even at all Rhuthun as the new hub. Rhuthun, after all, houses a collection relating to historic Denbighshire, including Colwyn Bay and Abergele; and probably even Llanrwst. Relocating to Yr Wyddgrug will be as difficult for coastal Conwy as Rhuthun will be for Kinnerton.
Why, for example, cannot a new archive building be built adjacent to the Gaol, on Park Road car park. We hear much about County Hall being under-used, so why not put the archive there. It seems old that Denbighshire is trying to strip itself of its too large a porfolio of property assets yet is content to see a valuable user—the archive—disappear from one of its own heritage buildings which may well lay empty and unused, like 46 Clwyd Street—while subsidising Flintshire.
In fact, why not re-open 46 Clwyd Street, transfer people from County Hall there and to the current archive and open a modern archive at county hall. Simple. The vision statement of the joint service will read,
"Harnessing the power of our shared documentary heritage to promote education, well-being and identity for the people and communities of North-East Wales"
North east Wales is not just Yr Wyddgrug.