The secret history of the remote woodland cottage that has stood empty for 25 years

Richard Evans, local democracy reporter

A derelict woodland cottage unoccupied for nearly 25 years could be brought back into use.

The executors of Mrs Catherine Jones have applied to Denbighshire County Council’s planning committee for the resumption of use of a property known as Tyn y Llwyn as a home.

The small single-storey 19th century house can be found in a woodland known as Coed Ty’n Llwyn.

Accessible from an unadopted track, the house stands around 1 km south of Rhewl and a slightly greater distance northeast of Ruthin.

Evidence submitted to Denbighshire County Council shows the house was occupied until around 1999.

The house was registered for council tax until 2010 but fell into disrepair when it was occupied by squatters.

Mrs Catherine Jones died in 2017.

Manchester

Her son Mr Hywel Lloyd Jones moved from his former family home to Manchester in 1973.

Mr Jones now lives in Cheadle with his family but submitted a statement to Denbighshire documenting the house’s history.

“I was born in 1954 and am the second son of the late Mrs Catherine Elizabeth Jones of Tyn-y-Caeau, Rhewl, Ruthin,” he wrote.

“My brother is Rowland Jones. From the day we could lift a shovel, we worked for my father on the farm. My brother was adamant that he was going to be the dominant brother and farming my father’s farm was going to be his right.

“So I became more detached from farming and looked elsewhere for an interest.

“Around 1973 I went to live in Manchester and have lived there since. Eventually my father divided the farm between himself and my brother Rowland Jones.

“It was after my mother remarked to my father “why has Rowland got more cattle than you?” my father farmed the wood – cottage half of the farm divided by the hedge running down from the woodland gate to the lane.

“I would come home at weekends and help my father. I didn’t work for my brother as we didn’t get on.

“In the 1970’s Huw “Fachlwyd” moved into Tyn Llwyn. From then he was known as Huw Tyn Llwyn.

“Before Huw moved into Tyn Llwyn there was a family living there. I remember the man was called Glyn and was known as Glyn Tyn Llwyn.

“I’m sure that Huw’s surname was Edwards.

“Huw Tyn Llwyn worked for the council in Ruthin as a refuse wagon driver until his retirement in the 1990s.

“He lived alone in Tyn Llwyn with his terrier dogs which he loved. When the weather allowed, he would drive his vehicle through a field to get to the cottage. After heavy rain, he would park his vehicle on the lane and walk up.

“My father died in 1996, and I would continue to visit Tyn-y-Caeau to see my mother, to go to town to get her supplies and visit my sister Ann who lived in Ruthin.

“Now I would very seldom venture into the fields or lane next to Tyn-y-Caeau Farmhouse garden diagonally to the gate at the entrance to the woodland. “

The application will be discussed by Denbighshire County Council’s planning committee.