Ruthin Castle

Ruthin Castle's story begins in 1277, when Reginald de Grey was granted the Cantref of Dyffryn Clwyd, with its stronghold of Ruthin, as a reward for his military service to Edward I during the conquest of Wales. The de Grey family held the castle until 1508, building it into a formidable fortification overlooking the Vale of Clwyd. It was a land dispute between the third Baron de Grey and Owain Glyndwr that helped trigger the great Welsh rising against Henry IV in 1400: Glyndwr burned Ruthin to the ground, leaving only the castle and a handful of buildings standing.

The castle's medieval life ended in the Civil War. In 1646 Parliamentary forces under Major-General Mytton laid siege to Ruthin, and the castle withstood eleven weeks of artillery bombardment before it fell. In 1648, after an Act of Parliament aimed at preventing fortresses from being reoccupied by hostile forces, it was partially dismantled. The ruins of that fortress, the battlements, the whipping pit, the drowning pit and the dungeons, are what you see in the hotel grounds today.

From 1826 until 1921 Ruthin was the home of the Cornwallis-West family, who rebuilt it in the 19th century as a grand country house in red sandstone and laid out the Italian Gardens. The mansion has been a hotel since 1963, now Ruthin Castle Hotel and Spa, with the old castle ruins in the grounds, and it hosts medieval banquets in which guests dine in costume in the shadow of the castle's darker history.

The Grey Lady is claimed to have been seen by numerous guests and members of staff over the years, most often in the hotel corridors, but also on the battlements, in the old chapel and in the grounds outside the walls where her grave is said to be. Many guests have reported encounters with unexplained phenomena at the hotel: cold spots, strange noises and sightings of shadowy figures are the commonest, along with the one-gloved soldier, the little girl, the laughter of children and moans from the chapel.

The hotel does not hide from its reputation. It has been listed among Britain's most haunted hotels by travel publications on both sides of the Atlantic, the Daily Post has reported on the axe-wielding Grey Lady and the soldier helping the castle to a haunted-hotel accolade, and its medieval banquets trade happily on the castle's grim past. Ghost-hunt companies such as Haunted Rooms have featured Ruthin among their haunted hotel stays.

A sceptical note is fair. The Grey Lady's tale of an axe, an execution and an unconsecrated grave is a legend with no surviving documentary trail from the 13th century, and the drowning and whipping pits in the grounds are grim enough to set anyone's imagination working. But the consistency of the reports, and the fact that they come from hotel staff as well as guests primed for a scare, is why Ruthin remains one of the most cited haunted castles in North Wales.

Ruthin Castle is a hotel and spa, so the way to experience it is to stay. The hotel offers restored bedrooms and suites in the 19th-century mansion, a restaurant and bar open to non-residents, and its long-running medieval banquets, at which guests dress up and dine in the castle. The ruins in the grounds, with the battlements, dungeons, whipping pit and drowning pit, can be explored by residents, and the Italian Gardens are worth a wander in daylight before the ghosts come out. Check the hotel's website for banquet dates and any seasonal ghost or Halloween events.

The castle stands at the top of the market town of Ruthin in Denbighshire, in the Vale of Clwyd. The castle ruins involve steps and uneven ground, so ask the hotel about accessibility when booking. Chester and Llangollen are both within easy reach if you want alternative bases in North Wales.