View allAll Photos Tagged Origin
Governor Kay Ivey participated in a groundbreaking ceremony for Blue Origin’s new Engine Production Facility Friday January 21, 2019 in Huntsville, Ala. In June 2017, Governor Ivey announced that Blue Origin selected Huntsville, Alabama for this new, state-of-the art, 200,000 square-foot production facility. •BE-4 and BE-U3 engines will be produced at this new facility.
The facility is being located in Cummings Research Park, the nation’s second-largest research park. Blue Origin will employ up to 342 people at this facility and will make an investment of approximately $200 million in the state. (Governor's Office/Hal Yeager)
WE ARE PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THE AVAILABILITY OF ORIGINS & MORE LIMELIGHT OUTFITS FOR EID! WE ALSO HAVE THE LATEST PRET EID COLLECTION FOR EID.
ORIGINS OUTFITS: WE HAVE 3 AND 2 PIECE OUTFITS IN LINEN AND COTTON FROM £50 TO £65
LIMELIGHT: JUMPSUITS £50 / KURTEE WITH PALAZZO £45 / SINGLE KURTEE WITH BROOCH £45 / SINGLE KURTEE £35 / 3 PIECE LINEN £55
ALEEZ PRET: £130
WE ARE OPEN TODAY & TOMORROW UNTIL 9PM! OUR SPECIAL EID COLLECTION OUTFITS HAVE BEEN PRICED AS A SPECIAL OFFER THAT RANGE FROM £35-£65 FOR CASUAL AND PRET FOR £130
WE ADVISE THAT YOU VISIT OUR OUTLET ASAP BEFORE WE SELL OUT AS CUSTOMERS ARE BUYING LIKE HOTCAKES!!!! DIGITAL CAMERA
www.arqueologiadelperu.com/how-16th-century-observations-...
Documents dating back to the 16th Century provide a unique insight into one of Darwin's landmark studies -- according to new research from the University of East Anglia.
A hand colored copper-plate print, engraved by Sydenham Edwards for William Curtis' Flora Londinensis published between 177 and 1798[Credit: University of East Anglia]
In 1862, Darwin presented the case that some plant species have two floral forms that differ in height and arrangement of the male and female sexual structures -- and adopted the term 'heterostyly'.
Darwin had published his hypotheses of Natural Selection in the Origin of Species (1859) -- just a year before first noticing heterostyly. And the breakthrough influenced him to eventually unravel the origin and consequences of this reproductive mechanism.
But research to be published tomorrow shows that Darwin was not the first to observe heterostyly. It had in fact been documented in a number of 17th and 18th Century botanical records.
And the phenomenon had even been noticed as far back as the16th Century -- a time when plants were studied and catalogued for their medicinal benefits and sometimes even for magic and spells. The true significance however of the two floral forms was not realised at the time.
Lead researcher Prof Phil Gilmartin, from UEA's School of Biological Sciences, said: "Darwin is widely recognised as the first to study pin and thrum flowers in Primula and importantly he was the first to provide an explanation for the functional significance of the two types of flower.
"But while looking through illustrations from the book Flora Londinensis by William Curtis, I was struck by a Primula print which showed the two types of flower captured in a copper plate engraving dating back to the late 1700s. It predated Darwin's observations by more than 70 years."
This realisation triggered a journey into archives of botanical texts, letters, copper-plate prints, and drawings dating back to the 16th century -- in search of earlier documents that could have influenced Darwin and the origins of his idea.
The result is a paper, published in the journal New Phytologist, in which Prof Gilmartin presents the full history of Darwin's discovery for the first time.
"We already knew that heterostyly had been described as far back as 1583," he said. "But this work pulls together all the existing documentation, including early floral prints, to trace the history of the idea -- over three centuries.
"Going right back to the 16th century, much of the documentation was in the form of 'herbals' -- descriptions of plants put together for medicinal purposes. These sorts of texts would sometimes also hold information about their magical powers and legends associated with them.
"Science had clearly moved on by the time of Darwin -- but we have traced the origins of his work right back to what we think are the very first observations of heterostyly, some three centuries before his landmark paper. At least seven botanists, through the ages either drew or described the two forms of flower before Darwin made his observations. But they just didn't make the connection and realise the significance of what they were documenting."
Documents dating back to the 16th Century provide a unique insight into one of Darwin's landmark studies -- according to University of East Anglia research.In 1862, Darwin presented the case that some plant species have two floral forms. But Darwin was not the first to observe "heterostyly." It had in fact been documented in 16th, 17th and 18th Century botanical records [Credit: University of East Anglia]
Darwin's correspondence reveals that his breakthrough was assisted by his children, who gathered 522 flower stalks for his studies. But his contemporary Freidrich Hildebrand was not so fortunate -- he was thwarted when his plants were 'destroyed by children in the botanical gardens' in Bonn.
Other botanists to notice the two forms of flower include Darwin's former Cambridge tutor and mentor John Stevens Henslow who, as noted by Kohn and co-authors in 2005, had drawn both in 1826.
Records show that the two forms of flower were also documented in the 1818 volume Flore Medicale (Medical Flowers) by French botanist and physician Francois-Pierre Chaumerton, illustrated by Pierre Jean Francoise Turpin.
Other representations were found in Wilibald Artus' Hand-Atlas sammtlicher medicinisch-pharmaceutischer Gerwarchse (1848) and in William Curtis' Flora Londinensis (published on March 1, 1791) -- which is thought to contain the first printed use of the terms 'pin-eyed' and 'thrum-eyed' nearly 100 years before Darwin used the same terms.
Little did Darwin know that his own grandfather Erasmus Darwin had corresponded directly with William Curtis in November 1781 expressing his delight with the Flora Londinensis 'which he had taken ever since it was published'.
Prof Gilmartin said: "It is surprising that Darwin wasn't aware of Curtis' work. But from the evidence we have gathered, it is clear that he did not know about the engravings and descriptions of pin and thrum flowers in Flora Londinensis.
"His mentor Henslow was however aware of the images. But despite illustrating the two forms of flower himself, he did not publish them. Had he done so he would no doubt have cited Curtis' prior observations."
The botanist, fungi specialist and in later years poverty-stricken recluse Christiaan Hendrik Persoon is later cited by Darwin as having first observed heterostyly in Primula in 1794. However what Darwin did not realise was that Persoon's source of information was in fact Curtis' Flora Londinensis.
Going back further in history, high quality images of dissected Primula flowers displaying pin or thrum forms, but never together, include Elizabeth Blackwell's Curious Herbal (1737-39), an image by botanical illustrator Johannes Zorn in Icones Plantarum Medicinalium (1780), and the Flora Danica by German botanist and medical doctor Georg Christian Oeder (1761-1883).
But it is three images dating back to 1614, 1611 and 1605 that researchers believe to be the first to show the differences between Primula pin and thrum flowers.
Hortus Floridus by Crispin van de Passe the Younger, published in 1614, contains copper-plate images of plants drawn 'true to life' and arranged by season, with Primula thrum flowers depicted in Spring. Meanwhile a second part to Hortus Floridus, thought to pre-date the 1614 publication, shows Primula pin flowers. This publication is thought to be dated around 1605, and arranges plants as food or medicinal plants. Meanwhile copper-plate images of Primula pin flowers in Paul Reneaulme's Historiae Plantarum Plantae are dated to 1611.
But it is a Latin text from 1583 by the botanist Carolus Clusius -- who famously introduced tulips to the Netherlands -- that is thought to contain the first description of long and short style forms of Primula flower. This fact was rediscovered in 1943 by the Dutch botanist and scholar van Dijk while reading Clusius' Rariorum Plantarum Historia from 1601. The descriptions of pin and thrum flowers caught his attention, and the same description is also found in Clusius' Rariorum Aliquot Stirpium from 1583.
Prof Gilmartin said: "By the time Darwin published his follow-up Different Forms of Flowers in 1877, he had discovered that heterostyly had been previously observed and documented.
"The early botanists simply did not realise the significance of what they were documenting. Back in 1583, Clusius was focussed on detailed observation -- but as highlighted by van Dijk, he did not recognise that both forms are found in the same species. Had he done so, he could have provided us with the earliest description of the two forms of flower 279 years before Darwin.
"Pauli de Reneaulme really made a significant observation in 1611 because he assigned significance to the different flower forms. He attempted to classify plants by morphology, in contrast to his contemporaries who focused their groupings on seasons and flowering time."
Reneaulme described the two forms as Makrostylos (long style) and Anostemon (short style) and concluded that 'these minute details are not in vain for God and Nature distinguish these for a reason' -- however he did not explore the reason.
The Swedish botanist Carl Linneaus on the other hand wrote in 1792 that 'the botanist is not concerned with slight variations' and used Primula corollas as an example where 'flower enthusiasts focus on small floral details that no sane botanist would consider important'.
Prof Gilmartin said: "It is this difference in attention to detail and the dominance of Linnaean thinking during the 18th and 19th centuries that led to the failure to recognise the significance of such important floral morphologies.
"The recognition of two forms of flower by Clusius, de Reneaulme, Curtis, Persoon, Henslow and then Darwin, shows not only the importance of small difference that Linnaeus rejected, but the importance of seeking to understand the reasons for these differences. That is what Darwin realised, where others had only observed."
"Indeed, in his 1887 autobiography, Darwin wrote that 'no little discovery of mine ever gave me so much pleasure as making out the meaning of heterostyled flowers'," he added.
'On the Origins of Observations of Heterostyly in Primula' is published in the journal New Phytologist on August 10, 2015.
It is one of three pieces of research on Primula to be published in the August edition of the journal alongside 'Integration of genetic and physical maps of the Primula vulgaris S locus and localization by chromosome in situ hybridisation' and 'Oakleaf: an S locus-linked mutation of Primula vulgaris that affects leaf and flower development'.Source: University of East Anglia [August 09, 2015]
D'origine hongroise et né dans la région de Toronto en 1957, le céramiste Steven Heinemann vit et travaille près de Cookstown, en Ontario.
Depuis l'obtention de son MFA (Alfred University, New York, 1983), il a beaucoup enseigné au Canada et aux États-Unis. De plus, de nombreuses résidences l'ont amené du Canada (Banff Centre) aux États-Unis (Cranbrook Academy), aux Pays-Bas (EKWC), en Hongrie (ICS) , et la Corée (JINRO), entre autres.
Heinemann a exposé de façon continue depuis sa première exposition solo au Conseil des métiers d'art de l'Ontario en 1982, et son travail fait partie de nombreuses collections privées et publiques, notamment du Victoria and Albert Museum (Londres), du Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), de l'Albright Know Art Gallery à Buffalo, de l'American Craft Museum à New York. du Icheon World Ceramic Center (Corée), du National Museum of History (Taiwan), du Museum of Art and Design (New York), du Museum Boymans van Beuningen (Rotterdam), du Musée contemporain (Honolulu),
de la Banque d'œuvres d'art du Conseil des Arts du Canada et de la collection Claridge et du Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal. En 2017, sa rétrospective de carrière « Nature and Culture » a été présentée au George R. Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art de Toronto.
Il a reçu de nombreux prix nationaux et internationaux, dont le Bavarian State Prize (Allemagne), le Juror's Award (Mino, Japon), le Fletcher Challenge (Nouvelle-Zélande) et, en 1996, on lui a attribué le Saidye Bronfman Award, la plus haute distinction canadienne pour les réalisations dans l'artisanat contemporain.
www.museedelhistoire.ca/cmc/exhibitions/arts/bronfman/tra...
www.mbam.qc.ca/fr/oeuvres/35395/
www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/fr/article/steven-heinemann
On August 6th, 2016, Grayslake residents Josh Schneider and Matt Kozak helped organize "Spikefest," the first ever Spikeball tournament in Grayslake. 43 teams came from as far as Mammoth Lakes, CA and as local as Grayslake, IL to raise money for “Oasis for Orphans” and compete for prizes that included gift certificates, Spikeball sets, and lots of other sponsored items. The winning team was “Origin Oblivion” from Chicago, IL consisting of Matthew Bohnen and Joey Hafertepe. At the time, Origin Oblivion was ranked 121st in the country with 38 tournament points. They are part of Origin Roundnet, which has teams ranked 1st, 6th, and 7th in the nation. 2nd place was "Tetelestai" from Chicago, IL with Logan Cornelius and Jesse Throw. Third was "Bromigo Spikes" from Chicago, IL with Trent Weller and Zac Nabhan. Fourth place was “Origin Rezurrection” from Mt. Prospect, IL with Tony Gottuso and Ben Smith.
Unable to get out of this position. I walked by the ladder and fell off the deck and there is no way for me to get out of this position. Will have to reload last saved update.
Origin: Wu Dong Mountain, Chao Zhou, Guang Dong.
Harvest : Winter 2008
Varietal : Single Bush Yu Lan
Altitude : 400m ~ 600m
Certification : Small production direct from the farmer.
Aquired From : cantonteaco
A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen conifer such as a spruce, pine or fir, associated with the celebration of Christmas.[1] It may also be an artificial tree of similar appearance.
The custom was developed in Central Europe, particularly Germany and Livonia (now Estonia and Latvia), where Protestant Christians brought decorated trees into their homes.[2][3][4] The tree was traditionally decorated with "roses made of colored paper, tinsel, apples, wafers, and confectionery".[2] Moravian Christians began to illuminate Christmas trees with candles,[5] which were often replaced by Christmas lights after the advent of electrification.[6] Today, there is a wide variety of Christmas ornaments, such as garlands, baubles, tinsel, and candy canes. An angel or star might be placed at the top of the tree to represent the angel Gabriel or the Star of Bethlehem, respectively, from the Nativity.[7][8] Edible items such as gingerbread, chocolate, and other sweets are also popular and are tied to or hung from the tree's branches with ribbons. The Christmas tree originated as a custom of the Lutheran Churches and only in 1982 did the Catholic Church erect the first Vatican Christmas Tree.[9]
In the Western Christian tradition, Christmas trees are erected on days such as the first day of Advent, or even as late as Christmas Eve, depending on the country;[10] customs of the same faith hold that it is unlucky to remove Christmas decorations, such as the Christmas tree, before Twelfth Night and, if they are not taken down on that day, it is appropriate to do so on Candlemas, the latter of which ends the Christmas-Epiphany season in some denominations.[10][11][12]
The Christmas tree is sometimes compared with the "Yule-tree", especially in discussions of its folkloric origins.[13][14][15] Mount Ingino Christmas Tree, a light display on the side of Mount Ingino in Gubbio, Italy, is sometimes called the tallest Christmas tree in the world.[16]
History
Origin of the modern Christmas tree
Martin Luther is depicted with his family and friends in front of a Christmas tree on Christmas Eve.
Modern Christmas trees originated in Central Europe and the Baltic states, particularly Estonia, Germany and Livonia (now Latvia) during the Renaissance in early modern Europe.[2][3] Its 16th-century origins are sometimes associated with Protestant Christian reformer Martin Luther, who is said to have first added lighted candles to an evergreen tree.[17][18] The Christmas tree was first recorded to be used by German Lutherans in the 16th century, with records indicating that a Christmas tree was placed in the Cathedral of Strasbourg in 1539 under the leadership of the Protestant Reformer Martin Bucer.[19][20] The Moravian Christians put lighted candles on those trees.[5][21] The earliest known firmly dated representation of a Christmas tree is on the keystone sculpture of a private home in Turckheim, Alsace (then part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, today part of France), with the date 1576.[22]
Possible predecessors
Modern Christmas trees have been related to the "tree of paradise" of medieval mystery plays that were given on 24 December, the commemoration and name day of Adam and Eve in various countries. In such plays, a tree decorated with apples (representing fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and thus to the original sin that Christ took away) and round white wafers (to represent the Eucharist and redemption) was used in the set for the play.[6] Like the Christmas crib, the Paradise tree was later placed in homes. The apples were replaced by round objects such as shiny red baubles.[14][15][23][24][25][26]
Fir trees decorated with apples served as the central prop for the paradise play, a kind of folk religious drama often performed on 24 December. These props were called paradise trees, and some researchers believe they were the forerunners of the Christmas tree.[27][inconsistent]
At the end of the Middle Ages, an early predecessor appears referred[clarification needed] in the 15th century Regiment of the Alcobaça Monastery in Portugal. The Regiment of the local high-Sacristans of the Cistercian Order refers to what may be considered the oldest references to the Christmas tree:
Note on how to put the Christmas branch, scilicet: On the Christmas eve, you will look for a large Branch of green laurel, and you shall reap many red oranges, and place them on the branches that come of the laurel, specifically as you have seen, and in every orange you shall put a candle, and hang the Branch by a rope in the pole, which shall be by the candle of the high altar.[28]
Yggdrasil, in Norse cosmology, is an immense and central sacred tree.
Other sources have offered a connection between the symbolism of the first documented Christmas trees in Germany around 1600 and the trees of pre-Christian traditions. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica,
The use of evergreen trees, wreaths, and garlands to symbolize eternal life was a custom of the ancient Egyptians, Chinese, and Hebrews. Tree worship was common among the pagan Europeans and survived their conversion to Christianity in the Scandinavian customs of decorating the house and barn with evergreens at the New Year to scare away the devil and of setting up a tree for the birds during Christmas time."[29]
It is commonly believed that ancient Romans used to decorate their houses with evergreen trees to celebrate Saturnalia.[30] In the poem Epithalamium by Catullus, he tells of the gods decorating the home of Peleus with trees, including laurel and cypress. Later Libanius, Tertullian, and Chrysostom speak of the use of evergreen trees to adorn Christian houses.[31]
The Vikings and Saxons worshiped trees.[30] The story of Saint Boniface cutting down Donar's Oak illustrates the pagan practices in 8th century among the Germans. A later folk version of the story adds the detail that an evergreen tree grew in place of the felled oak and states its triangular shape reminds humanity of the Trinity and how it points to heaven.[32][a]
Historical practices by region
Estonia, Latvia, and Germany
Tallinn Christmas Market in Estonia
Christmas tree and menorah with Brandenburg Gate in background
Left: Tallinn Christmas Market in Estonia; Right: Christmas tree with Hanukkah Menorah next to it in Pariser Platz in Berlin, Germany
Customs of erecting decorated trees in winter can be traced to Christmas celebrations in Renaissance-era guilds in Northern Germany and Livonia. The first evidence of decorated trees associated with Christmas Day are trees in guildhalls decorated with sweets to be enjoyed by the apprentices and children. In Livonia (present-day Estonia and Latvia), in 1441, 1442, 1510, and 1514, the Brotherhood of Blackheads erected a tree for the holidays in their guild houses in Reval (now Tallinn) and Riga. On the last night of the celebrations leading up to the holidays, the tree was taken to the Town Hall Square, where the members of the brotherhood danced around it.[33]
A Bremen guild chronicle of 1570 reports that a small tree decorated with "apples, nuts, dates, pretzels, and paper flowers" was erected in the guild-house for the benefit of the guild members' children, who collected the dainties on Christmas Day.[34] In 1584, the pastor and chronicler Balthasar Russow in his Chronica der Provinz Lyfflandt (1584) wrote of an established tradition of setting up a decorated spruce at the market square, where the young men "went with a flock of maidens and women, first sang and danced there and then set the tree aflame".
After the Protestant Reformation, such trees are seen in the houses of upper-class Protestant families as a counterpart to the Catholic Christmas cribs. This transition from the guild hall to bourgeois family homes in the Protestant parts of Germany ultimately gives rise to the modern tradition as it developed in the 18th and 19th centuries. In the present day, the churches and homes of Protestants and Catholics feature both Christmas cribs and Christmas trees.[35]
Poland
Main article: Podłaźniczka
A podłaźniczka hanging from the ceiling rafters
In Poland, there is a folk tradition dating back to an old Slavic pre-Christian custom of suspending a branch of fir, spruce, or pine from the ceiling rafters, called podłaźniczka, during the time of the Koliada winter festival.[36] The branches were decorated with apples, nuts, acorns, and stars made of straw. In more recent times, the decorations also included colored paper cutouts (wycinanki), wafers, cookies, and Christmas baubles. According to old pagan beliefs, the powers of the branch were linked to good harvest and prosperity.[37]
The custom was practiced by Polish peasants until the early 20th century, particularly in the regions of Lesser Poland and Upper Silesia.[38] Most often the branches were hung above the wigilia dinner table on Christmas Eve. Beginning in the mid-19th century, the tradition over time was almost completely replaced by the later German practice of decorating a standing Christmas tree.[39]
18th to early 20th centuries
Adoption by European nobility
German Christmas tree, book illustration (1888)
In the early 19th century, the custom became popular among the nobility and spread to royal courts as far as Russia. Introduced by Fanny von Arnstein and popularized by Princess Henrietta of Nassau-Weilburg, the Christmas tree reached Vienna in 1814, during the Congress of Vienna, and the custom spread across Austria in the following years.[40] In France, the first Christmas tree was introduced in 1840 by the duchesse d'Orléans. In Denmark, a newspaper company claims that the first attested Christmas tree was lit in 1808 by Countess Wilhemine of Holsteinborg. It was the aging countess who told the story of the first Danish Christmas tree to Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen in 1865. He had published a fairy tale called The Fir-Tree in 1844, recounting the fate of a fir tree being used as a Christmas tree.[41]
Adoption by country or region
Germany
A German Christmas tree in a room at Versailles turned into a military hospital
By the early 18th century, the custom had become common in towns of the upper Rhineland, but it had not yet spread to rural areas. Wax candles, expensive items at the time, are found in attestations from the late 18th century.
Along the Lower Rhine, an area of Roman Catholic majority, the Christmas tree was largely regarded as a Protestant custom. As a result, it remained confined to the upper Rhineland for a relatively long period of time. The custom did eventually gain wider acceptance beginning around 1815 by way of Prussian officials who emigrated there following the Congress of Vienna.
In the 19th century, the Christmas tree was taken to be an expression of German culture and of Gemütlichkeit, especially among emigrants overseas.[42]
A decisive factor in winning general popularity was the German army's decision to place Christmas trees in its barracks and military hospitals during the Franco-Prussian War. Only at the start of the 20th century did Christmas trees appear inside churches, this time in a new brightly lit form.[43]
Slovenia
Early Slovenian custom, dating back to around the 17th century, was to suspend the tree either upright or upside-down above the well, a corner of the dinner table, in the backyard, or from the fences, modestly decorated with fruits or not decorated at all. German brewer Peter Luelsdorf brought the first Christmas tree of the current tradition to Slovenia in 1845. He set it up in his small brewery inn in Ljubljana, the Slovenian capital. German officials, craftsmen and merchants quickly spread the tradition among the bourgeois population. The trees were typically decorated with walnuts, golden apples, carobs, and candles. At first, the Catholic majority rejected this custom because they considered it a typical Protestant tradition. However, this tradition was almost unknown to the rural population until World War I, after which the decorating of trees became common. The first decorated Christmas market was organized in Ljubljana in 1859.[citation needed]
After World War II, during the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia period, spruce trees set in the public places (towns, squares, and markets) were, for political reasons, replaced with fir trees, a symbol of socialism and Slavic mythology, strongly associated with loyalty, courage, and dignity. However, spruce retained its popularity in Slovenian homes during those years and came back to public places after independence.[44][45][46][47]
Italy
Main article: Christmas in Italy
Christmas tree in Milan, Italy, in front of the Milan Cathedral
The Christmas tree tradition in Italy originated from Germanic influences introduced in the late 19th century. Queen Margherita of Savoy erected the first tree at the Quirinal Palace in Rome. Domestic adoption occurred in the 1960s, with families using branches from cypress, oak, or cork trees. Decorations consisted of oranges, clementines, candies, twine, candles, and lanterns. Italians erect trees on 8 December, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, with exceptions in Milan on 7 December for Saint Ambrose and in Bari on 6 December for Saint Nicholas. Families assemble the tree together; adults position lights, while children place ornaments and the top star or angel. Trees remain until 6 January, the Epiphany. Public displays include the Vatican tree, established in 1982 by Pope John Paul II, and the hillside tree of lights in Gubbio.[48][49]
Britain
An engraving published in the 1840s of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert created a craze for Christmas trees.[50]
Although the tradition of decorating churches and homes with evergreens at Christmas was long established,[51] the custom of decorating an entire small tree was unknown in Britain until the 19th century. The German-born Queen Charlotte introduced a Christmas tree at a party she gave for children in 1800.[52] The custom did not at first spread much beyond the royal family.[b] Queen Victoria, as a child, was familiar with it and a tree was placed in her room every Christmas. In her journal for Christmas Eve 1832, the 13-year-old princess wrote:[54]
After dinner [...] we then went into the drawing room near the dining room [...] There were two large round tables on which were placed two trees hung with lights and sugar ornaments. All the presents being placed round the trees [...]
In the year following Victoria's marriage to her German cousin Prince Albert, in 1841, the custom became even more widespread[55] as wealthier middle-class families followed the fashion. In 1842, a newspaper advertisement for Christmas trees makes clear their smart cachet,[clarification needed] German origins and association with children and gift-giving.[56] An illustrated book, The Christmas Tree, describing their use and origins in detail, was on sale in December 1844.[57]
In 1847, Prince Albert wrote: "I must now seek in the children an echo of what Ernest [his brother] and I were in the old time, of what we felt and thought; and their delight in the Christmas trees is not less than ours used to be".[58]
A boost to the trend was given in 1848[59] when The Illustrated London News,[60] in a report picked up by other papers,[61] described the trees in Windsor Castle in detail and showed the main tree, surrounded by the royal family, on its cover. In fewer than ten years, the adoption of the tradition in middle and upper-class homes was widespread. By 1856, a northern provincial newspaper contained an advert alluding casually to them,[62] as well as reporting the accidental death of a woman whose dress caught fire as she lit the tapers on a Christmas tree.[63] They had not yet spread down the social scale though, as a report from Berlin in 1858 contrasts the situation there where "Every family has its own" with that of Britain, where Christmas trees were still the preserve of the wealthy or the "romantic".[64]
Their use at public entertainments, charity bazaars and in hospitals made them increasingly familiar, and in 1906 a charity was set up specifically to ensure even poor children in London slums "who had never seen a Christmas tree" would enjoy one that year.[65] Anti-German sentiment after World War I briefly reduced their popularity[66] but the effect was short-lived,[67] and by the mid-1920s the use of Christmas trees had spread to all classes.[68] In 1933, a restriction on the importation of foreign trees led to the "rapid growth of a new industry" as the growing of Christmas trees within Britain became commercially viable due to the size of demand.[69] By 2013, the number of trees grown in Britain for the Christmas market was approximately eight million[70] and their display in homes, shops and public spaces a normal part of the Christmas season.
Georgia
Decorated chichilaki at the Orbeliani Palace
Georgians have their own type of traditional Christmas tree called chichilaki, made from dried up hazelnut or walnut branches that are shaped to form a small coniferous tree.[71] These pale-colored ornaments differ in height from 20 cm (7.9 in) to 3 meters (9.8 ft). Chichilakis are most common in the Guria and Samegrelo regions of Georgia near the Black Sea, but they can also be found in some stores around the capital of Tbilisi.[72]
Georgians believe that the chichilaki resembles the beard of St. Basil the Great, because Eastern Orthodox Church commemorates St. Basil on 1 January.[citation needed]
The Bahamas
The earliest reference to Christmas trees being used in the Bahamas dates to January 1864 and is associated with the Anglican Sunday Schools in Nassau, New Providence:
After prayers and a sermon from the Rev. R. Swann, the teachers and children of St. Agnes', accompanied by those of St. Mary's, marched to the Parsonage of Rev. J. H. Fisher, in front of which a large Christmas tree had been planted for their gratification. The delighted little ones formed a circle around it singing 'Come follow me to the Christmas tree.'[73]
The gifts decorated the trees as ornaments and the children were given tickets with numbers that matched the gifts. This appears to be the typical way of decorating the trees in 1860s Bahamas. In the Christmas of 1864, there was a Christmas tree put up in the Ladies Saloon in the Royal Victoria Hotel for the respectable children of the neighbourhood. The tree was ornamented with gifts for the children who formed a circle about it and sang the song "Oats and Beans". The gifts were later given to the children in the name of Santa Claus.[74]
North America
General and Mrs. Riedesel celebrating Christmas
The tradition was introduced to North America in the winter of 1781 by Hessian soldiers stationed in the Province of Québec to garrison the colony against American attack. General Friedrich Adolf Riedesel and his wife, the Baroness von Riedesel, held a Christmas party for the officers at Sorel, Quebec, delighting their guests with a fir tree decorated with candles and fruits.[75]
The Christmas tree became very common in the United States in the early 19th century. Dating from late 1812 or early 1813, the watercolor sketchbooks of John Lewis Krimmel contain perhaps the earliest depictions of a Christmas tree in American art, representing a family celebrating Christmas Eve in the Moravian tradition.[76] The first published image of a Christmas tree appeared in 1836 as the frontispiece to The Stranger's Gift by Hermann Bokum. The first mention of the Christmas tree in American literature was in a story in the 1836 edition of The Token and Atlantic Souvenir, titled "New Year's Day", by Catherine Maria Sedgwick, where she tells the story of a German maid decorating her mistress' tree. Also, a woodcut of the British royal family with their Christmas tree at Windsor Castle, initially published in The Illustrated London News in December 1848, was copied in the United States at Christmas 1850, in Godey's Lady's Book. Godey's copied it exactly, except for the removal of the Queen's tiara and Prince Albert's moustache, to remake the engraving into an American scene.[77] The republished Godey's image became the first widely circulated picture of a decorated evergreen Christmas tree in America. Art historian Karal Ann Marling called Queen Victoria and Prince Albert "the first influential American Christmas tree".[78] Folk-culture historian Alfred Lewis Shoemaker states, "In all of America there was no more important medium in spreading the Christmas tree in the decade 1850–60 than Godey's Lady's Book". The image was reprinted in 1860, and by the 1870s, putting up a Christmas tree had become even more common in America.[77]
Drawing depicting family with their Christmas tree in 1809
President Benjamin Harrison and his wife Caroline put up the first White House Christmas tree in 1889.[79]
Several cities in the United States with German connections lay claim to that country's first Christmas tree. Windsor Locks, Connecticut, claims that a Hessian soldier put up a Christmas tree in 1777 while imprisoned at the Noden-Reed House,[80] while the "First Christmas Tree in America" is also claimed by Easton, Pennsylvania, where German settlers purportedly erected a Christmas tree in 1816. In his diary, Matthew Zahm of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, recorded the use of a Christmas tree in 1821, leading Lancaster to also lay claim to the first Christmas tree in America.[81] Other accounts credit Charles Follen, a German immigrant to Boston, for being the first to introduce the custom of decorating a Christmas tree to the United States.[82] In 1847, August Imgard, a German immigrant living in Wooster, Ohio cut a blue spruce tree from a woods outside town, had the Wooster village tinsmith construct a star, and placed the tree in his house, decorating it with paper ornaments, gilded nuts and Kuchen.[83] German immigrant Charles Minnigerode, entering into the social life of the Virginia Tidewater in 1842, introduced the German custom of decorating an evergreen tree at Christmas at the home of law professor St. George Tucker, thereby becoming another of many influences that prompted Americans to adopt the practice at about that time.[84] An 1853 article on Christmas customs in Pennsylvania defines them as mostly "German in origin", including the Christmas tree, which is "planted in a flower pot filled with earth, and its branches are covered with presents, chiefly of confectionary, for the younger members of the family." The article distinguishes between customs in different states, however, claiming that in New England generally "Christmas is not much celebrated", whereas in Pennsylvania and New York it is.[85]
When Edward Hibberd Johnson was vice president of the Edison Electric Light Company, a predecessor of General Electric, he created the first known electrically illuminated Christmas tree at his home in New York City in 1882. Johnson became the "Father of Electric Christmas Tree Lights".[86]
The lyrics sung in the United States to the German tune O Tannenbaum begin "O Christmas tree...", giving rise to the mistaken idea that the German word Tannenbaum (fir tree) means "Christmas tree", the German word for which is instead Weihnachtsbaum.
1935 to present
1931 issue of the Soviet magazine Bezbozhnik showing an Orthodox priest barred from cutting a Christmas tree
Under the state atheism of the Soviet Union, the Christmas tree—along with the entire celebration of the Christian holiday—was banned as a result of the Soviet anti-religious campaign.[87][88][89] The League of Militant Atheists encouraged school pupils to campaign against Christmas traditions, among them being the Christmas tree, as well as other Christian holidays, including Easter; the League established an anti-religious holiday to be the 31st of each month as a replacement.[90] With the Christmas tree being prohibited in accordance with Soviet anti-religious legislation,[89][91] the government then introduced a "New-Year spruce" (Russian: Новогодняя ёлка, romanized: Novogodnyaya yolka) in 1935 for the New Year holiday.[89][92][93] It became a fully secular icon: for example, the crowning star was regarded not as a symbol of the Bethlehem Star, but as the Red star. Secular decorations, such as figurines of airplanes, bicycles, space rockets, cosmonauts, and characters of Russian fairy tales, were also produced. This tradition has persisted after the fall of the USSR, with the New Year holiday outweighing Christmas (7 January) for a wide majority of Russian people.[94]
The Peanuts TV special A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) was influential on the pop culture surrounding the Christmas tree. Aluminum Christmas trees were popular during the early 1960s in the US. They were satirized in the TV special and came to be seen as symbolizing the commercialization of Christmas. The term "Charlie Brown Christmas tree," describing any poor-looking or malformed tree, especially a small one, also derives from the 1965 TV special, based on the appearance of Charlie Brown's Christmas tree.[95]
Public Christmas trees
An early example of public Christmas tree for the children of unemployed parents in Prague (Czech Republic), 1931
Since the early 20th century, it has become common in many cities, towns, and department stores to put up public Christmas trees outdoors, such as the Macy's Great Tree in Atlanta (since 1948), the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree in New York City, and the large Christmas tree at Victoria Square in Adelaide.
The use of fire retardant allows many indoor public areas to display real trees while remaining code-compliant. Licensed applicators of fire retardant solution spray the tree, tag it, and provide a certificate for inspection.[globalize]
The United States' National Christmas Tree has been lit each year since 1923 on the South Lawn of the White House, becoming part of what evolved into a major holiday event at the White House. President Jimmy Carter lit only the crowning star atop the tree in 1979 in honor of the Americans being held hostage in Iran.[96] This was repeated in 1980, except the tree was fully lit for 417 seconds, one second for each day the hostages had been in captivity.[96]
In some cities, a charity event called the Festival of Trees is organized, in which multiple trees are decorated and displayed.[globalize]
The giving of Christmas trees has also often been associated with the end of hostilities. After the signing of the Armistice in 1918, the city of Manchester, England, sent a tree, and £500 to buy chocolate and cakes, for the children of the much-bombarded town of Lille in northern France.[97]
In some cases, the trees represent special commemorative gifts, such as in Trafalgar Square in London, where the City of Oslo, Norway, presents a tree to the people of London as a token of appreciation for the British support of Norwegian resistance during World War II; in Boston, United States, where the tree is a gift from the province of Nova Scotia, in thanks for rapid deployment of supplies and rescuers to the 1917 ammunition ship explosion that leveled the city of Halifax; and in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, where the main civic Christmas tree is an annual gift from the city of Bergen, Norway, in thanks for the part played by soldiers from Newcastle in liberating Bergen from Nazi occupation.[98] Norway also annually gifts a Christmas tree to Washington, D.C., as a symbol of friendship between Norway and the US and as an expression of gratitude from Norway for the help received from the US during World War II.[99]
Customs and traditions
Setting up and taking down
Adding decorations to tree
Both setting up and taking down a Christmas tree are associated with specific dates; liturgically, this is done through the hanging of the greens ceremony.[100] In many areas, it has become customary to set up one's Christmas tree on Advent Sunday, the first day of the Advent season.[101][102] Traditionally, however, Christmas trees were not brought in and decorated until the evening of Christmas Eve (24 December), the end of the Advent season and the start of the twelve days of Christmastide.[103] It is customary for Christians in many localities to remove their Christmas decorations on the last day of the twelve days of Christmastide that falls on 5 January—Epiphany Eve (Twelfth Night),[104] although those in other Christian countries remove them on Candlemas, the conclusion of the extended Christmas-Epiphany season (Epiphanytide).[105][106] According to the first tradition, those who fail to remember to remove their Christmas decorations on Epiphany Eve must leave them untouched until Candlemas, the second opportunity to remove them; failure to observe this custom is considered inauspicious.[107]
Decorations
Main article: Christmas ornament
icon
This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
Christmas ornaments at the Christmas market, Strasbourg
Christmas ornaments are decorations (usually made of glass, metal, wood, or ceramics) that are used to decorate a Christmas tree. The first decorated trees were adorned with apples, white candy canes and pastries in the shapes of stars, hearts and flowers. Glass baubles were first made in Lauscha, Germany, in 1847,[108] along with garlands of glass beads and tin figures that could be hung on trees. The popularity of these decorations fueled the production of glass figures made by highly skilled artisans with clay molds.
Tinsel and several types of garland or ribbon are commonly used as Christmas tree decorations. Silvered saran-based tinsel was introduced later. Delicate mold-blown and painted colored glass Christmas ornaments were a specialty of the glass factories in the Thuringian Forest, especially in Lauscha in the late 19th century, and have since become a large industry, complete with famous-name designers. Baubles are another common decoration, consisting of small hollow glass or plastic spheres coated with a thin metallic layer to make them reflective, with a further coating of a thin pigmented polymer in order to provide coloration.
Lighting with electric lights (Christmas lights or, in the United Kingdom, fairy lights) is commonly done. A tree-topper, typically an angel or a star, is traditionally placed at the highest point to complete the decoration.
In the late 1800s, home-made white Christmas trees were made by wrapping strips of cotton batting around leafless branches creating the appearance of a snow-laden tree.
In the 1940s and 1950s, popularized by Hollywood films in the late 1930s, flocking was very popular on the West Coast of the United States. There were home flocking kits that could be used with vacuum cleaners. In the 1980s, some trees were sprayed with fluffy white flocking to simulate snow.
Symbolism and interpretations
The earliest legend of the origin of a fir tree becoming a Christian symbol dates back to 723 AD, involving Saint Boniface as he was evangelizing Germany.[109] It is said that at a pagan gathering in Geismar, where a group of people dancing under a decorated oak tree were about to sacrifice a baby in the name of Thor, Saint Boniface took an axe and called on the name of Jesus.[109] In one swipe, he took down the entire oak tree, to the crowd's astonishment.[109] Behind the fallen tree was a baby fir tree.[109] Boniface said, "let this tree be the symbol of the true God, its leaves are ever green and will not die." The tree's needles pointed heavenward and it was shaped triangularly, representing the Holy Trinity.[109]
When decorating the Christmas tree, many individuals place a star at the top of the tree, symbolizing the Star of Bethlehem.[7][110] It became popular for people to also use an angel to top the Christmas tree in order to symbolize the angels mentioned in the accounts of the Nativity of Jesus.[8] Additionally, in the context of a Christian celebration of Christmas, the evergreen Christmas tree symbolizes eternal life; the candles or lights on the tree represent Christ as the light of the world.[6][111]
Production
See also: Christmas tree production
A large scale Christmas tree farm in the United States
Undecorated Christmas trees for sale
Baling a tree
A grower in Waterloo, Nova Scotia, prunes balsam fir trees in October. The tree must experience three frosts to stabilize the needles before cutting.
Christmas Tree Nursery in Scotland. Each of the hundreds of young trees in serried ranks here is in a black flowerpot, so presumably they are destined for eventual sale as Christmas trees in pots.
Trees on sale at a Christmas market in Vienna, painting by Carl Wenzel Zajicek (1908)
Each year, 33 to 36 million Christmas trees are produced in the United States, and 50 to 60 million are produced in Europe. In 1998, there were about 15,000 growers in America (a third of them "choose and cut" farms). In that same year, it was estimated that Americans spent $1.5 billion on Christmas trees.[112] By 2016, that had climbed to $2.04 billion for natural trees and a further $1.86 billion for artificial trees. In Europe, 75 million trees worth €2.4 billion ($3.2 billion) are harvested annually.[113]
Natural trees
See also: Christmas tree cultivation
icon
This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
The most commonly used species are fir (Abies), which have the benefit of not shedding their needles when they dry out, as well as retaining good foliage color and scent; but species in other genera are also used.
In northern Europe most commonly used are:
Norway spruce Picea abies (the original tree, generally the cheapest)
Silver fir Abies alba
Nordmann fir Abies nordmanniana
Noble fir Abies procera
Serbian spruce Picea omorika
Scots pine Pinus sylvestris
Stone pine Pinus pinea (as small table-top trees)
Swiss pine Pinus cembra
In North America, Central America, South America and Australia, most commonly used are:
Douglas fir Pseudotsuga menziesii
Balsam fir Abies balsamea
Fraser Fir Abies fraseri
Grand fir Abies grandis
Guatemalan fir Abies guatemalensis
Noble fir Abies procera
Nordmann fir Abies nordmanniana
Red fir Abies magnifica
White fir Abies concolor
Pinyon pine Pinus edulis
Jeffrey pine Pinus jeffreyi
Scots pine Pinus sylvestris
Stone pine Pinus pinea (as small table-top trees)
Norfolk Island pine Araucaria heterophylla
Paraná pine Araucaria angustifolia (when young, resembles a Pine tree)
Several other species are used to a lesser extent. Less-traditional conifers are sometimes used, such as giant sequoia, Leyland cypress, Monterey cypress, and eastern juniper. Various types of spruce tree are also used for Christmas trees (including the blue spruce and, less commonly, the white spruce), but spruces begin to lose their needles rapidly upon being cut, and spruce needles are often sharp, making decorating uncomfortable. Virginia pine is still available on some tree farms in the southeastern United States; however, its winter color is faded. The long-needled eastern white pine is also used there, though it is an unpopular Christmas tree in most parts of the country, owing also to its faded winter coloration and limp branches, making decorating difficult with all but the lightest ornaments. Norfolk Island pine is sometimes used, particularly in Oceania, and in Australia, some species of the genera Casuarina and Allocasuarina are also occasionally used as Christmas trees. But, by far, the most common tree is the Pinus radiata Monterey pine. Adenanthos sericeus or Albany woolly bush is commonly sold in southern Australia as a potted living Christmas tree. Hemlock species are generally considered unsuitable as Christmas trees due to their poor needle retention and inability to support the weight of lights and ornaments.
Some trees, frequently referred to as "living Christmas trees", are sold live with roots and soil, often from a plant nursery, to be stored at nurseries in planters or planted later outdoors and enjoyed (and often decorated) for years or decades. Others are produced in a container and sometimes as topiary for a porch or patio. However, when done improperly, the combination of root loss caused by digging, and the indoor environment of high temperature and low humidity is very detrimental to the tree's health; additionally, the warmth of an indoor climate will bring the tree out of its natural winter dormancy, leaving it little protection when put back outside into a cold outdoor climate. Often Christmas trees are a large attraction for living animals, including mice and spiders. Thus, the survival rate of these trees is low.[114] When done properly, replanting provides higher survival rates.[115]
European tradition prefers the open aspect of naturally grown, unsheared trees, while in North America (outside western areas where trees are often wild-harvested on public lands)[116] there is a preference for close-sheared trees with denser foliage, but less space to hang decorations.
In the past, Christmas trees were often harvested from wild forests, but now almost all are commercially grown on tree farms. Almost all Christmas trees in the United States are grown on Christmas tree farms where they are cut after about ten years of growth and new trees planted. According to the United States Department of Agriculture's agriculture census for 2007, 21,537 farms were producing conifers for the cut Christmas tree market in America, 5,717.09 square kilometres (1,412,724 acres) were planted in Christmas trees.[117]
The life cycle of a Christmas tree from the seed to a 2-metre (7 ft) tree takes, depending on species and treatment in cultivation, between eight and twelve years. First, the seed is extracted from cones harvested from older trees. These seeds are then usually grown in nurseries and then sold to Christmas tree farms at an age of three to four years. The remaining development of the tree greatly depends on the climate, soil quality, as well as the cultivation and how the trees are tended by the Christmas tree farmer.[118] One issue that farmers face is the destruction of pine trees by pests, such as T. piniperda.[119]
Artificial trees
Main article: Artificial Christmas tree
An artificial Christmas tree
The first artificial Christmas trees were developed in Germany during the 19th century,[120][121][self-published source?] though earlier examples exist.[122] These "trees" were made using goose feathers that were dyed green,[120] as one response by Germans to continued deforestation.[121] Feather Christmas trees ranged widely in size, from a small 5-centimeter (2 in) tree to a large 2.5-meter (98 in) tree sold in department stores during the 1920s.[123] Often, the tree branches were tipped with artificial red berries which acted as candle holders.[124]
Over the years, other styles of artificial Christmas trees have evolved and become popular. In 1930, the U.S.-based Addis Brush Company created the first artificial Christmas tree made from brush bristles.[125] Another type of artificial tree is the aluminum Christmas tree,[121] first manufactured in Chicago in 1958,[126] and later in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, where the majority of the trees were produced.[127] Most modern artificial Christmas trees are made from plastic recycled from used packaging materials, such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC).[121] Approximately 10% of artificial Christmas trees are using virgin suspension PVC resin; despite being plastic most artificial trees are not recyclable or biodegradable.[128]
Trends developed in the early 2000s included optical fiber Christmas trees, which come in two major varieties; one resembling a traditional Christmas tree.[129] One Dallas-based company offers "holographic mylar" trees in many hues.[122] Tree-shaped objects made from such materials as cardboard,[130] glass,[131] ceramic or other materials can be found in use as tabletop decorations. Upside-down artificial Christmas trees became popular for a short time and were originally introduced as a marketing gimmick; they allowed consumers to get closer to ornaments for sale in retail stores and opened up floor space for more products.[132]
Artificial trees became increasingly popular during the late 20th century.[121] Users of artificial Christmas trees assert that they are more convenient, and, because they are reusable, much cheaper than their natural alternative.[121] They are also considered much safer,[133] as natural trees can be a significant fire hazard. Between 2001 and 2007, artificial Christmas tree sales in the U.S. jumped from 7.3 million to 17.4 million.[134] Currently, it is estimated that around 58% of Christmas trees used in the United States are artificial, while numbers in the United Kingdom are indicated to be around 66%.[135]
Environmental issues
Fire damage to apartment building from Christmas tree fire
The debate about the environmental impact of artificial trees is ongoing. Generally, natural tree growers contend that artificial trees are more environmentally harmful than their natural counterparts.[134] However, trade groups, such as the American Christmas Tree Association, claim that the PVC used in Christmas trees is chemically and mechanically stable, does not affect human health, and has excellent recyclable properties.[136]
Live trees are typically grown as a crop and replanted in rotation after cutting, often providing suitable habitat for wildlife.[137] Alternately, live trees can be donated to livestock farmers who find that trees uncontaminated by chemical additives are excellent fodder.[138] In some cases, management of Christmas tree crops can result in poor habitat since it sometimes involves heavy input of pesticides.[139]
Concerns have been raised by arborists about people cutting down old and rare conifers, such as the Keteleeria evelyniana for Christmas trees.[140]
Real or cut trees are used only for a short time, but can be recycled and used as mulch, wildlife habitat, or used to prevent erosion.[141][142][143] Real trees are carbon-neutral: they emit no more carbon dioxide by being cut down and disposed of than they absorb while growing.[144] However, emissions can occur from farming activities and transportation. An independent life-cycle assessment study, conducted by a firm of experts in sustainable development, states that a natural tree will generate 3.1 kg (6.8 lb) of greenhouse gases every year (based on purchasing 5 km (3.1 mi) from home) whereas the artificial tree will produce 48.3 kg (106 lb) over its lifetime.[145] Some people use living Christmas or potted trees for several seasons, providing a longer life cycle for each tree. Living Christmas trees can be purchased or rented from local market growers. Rentals are picked up after the holidays, while purchased trees can be planted by the owner after use or donated to local tree adoption or urban reforestation services.[146] Smaller and younger trees may be replanted after each season, with the following year running up to the next Christmas allowing the tree to carry out further growth.
The use of lead stabilizer in Chinese imported trees has been an issue of concern. A 2004 study found that while in general artificial trees pose little health risk from lead contamination, there do exist "worst-case scenarios" where major health risks to young children exist.[147] A 2008 United States Environmental Protection Agency report found that as the PVC in artificial Christmas trees aged it began to degrade.[148] The report determined that of the fifty million artificial trees in the United States approximately twenty million were nine or more years old, the point where dangerous lead contamination levels are reached.[148] A professional study on the life-cycle assessment of both real and artificial Christmas trees revealed that one must use an artificial Christmas tree at least twenty years to leave an environmental footprint as small as the natural Christmas tree.[145]
Religious issues
Pope John Paul II introduced the Christmas tree custom to the Vatican in 1982. Although at first disapproved of by some as out of place at the centre of the Roman Catholic Church, the Vatican Christmas Tree has become an integral part of the Vatican Christmas celebrations,[149] and in 2005 Pope Benedict XVI spoke of it as part of the normal Christmas decorations in Catholic homes.[150] In 2004, Pope John Paul called the Christmas tree a symbol of Christ.[151] In the previous year he said: "Beside the crib, the Christmas tree, with its twinkling lights, reminds us that with the birth of Jesus the tree of life has blossomed anew in the desert of humanity. The crib and the tree: precious symbols, which hand down in time the true meaning of Christmas."[152] The Catholic Church's official Book of Blessings has a service for the blessing of the Christmas tree in a home.[153] The Episcopal Church in The Anglican Family Prayer Book has long had a ritual titled Blessing of a Christmas Tree, as well as Blessing of a Crèche, for use in the church and the home; family services and public liturgies for the blessing of Christmas trees are common in other Christian denominations as well.[154][155]
Chrismon trees, which find their origin in the Lutheran Christian tradition though are now used in many Christian denominations such as the Catholic Church and Methodist Church, are used to decorate churches during the liturgical season of Advent; during the period of Christmastide, Christian churches display the traditional Christmas tree in their sanctuaries.[156]
Some cities and institutions in the United States have renamed public “Christmas trees” as “holiday trees” or similar neutral labels in an effort to frame civic displays as inclusive of non-Christian residents. Municipal officials and legal advocates have linked the use of such terms to concerns about maintaining separation between church and state in publicly funded or government-sponsored displays. This neutral naming aims to reduce the risk that a civic tree-lighting ceremony could be interpreted as governmental endorsement of a particular religion.[157] However, these changes have often generated organized opposition from Christian groups and some public officials, who argue that dropping the word "Christmas" diminishes the holiday's religious character and long-established cultural terminology.[158][159]
See also
iconTrees portal
Badnjak
Christmas traditions
Christmas tree controversies
Eiresione
Festive ecology
Festivus pole
Hanging of the greens
Hanukkah bush
Kadomatsu
Legend of the Christmas Spider
Nardoqan
New Year tree
Tree worship
Weihnachten
Yule log
Notes
The story, not recounted in the vitae written in his time, appears in a BBC Devon website, "Devon Myths and Legends", and in a number of educational storybooks, including St. Boniface and the Little Fir Tree: A Story to Color by Jenny Melmoth and Val Hayward (Warrington: Alfresco Books 1999 ISBN 1-873727-15-1), The Brightest Star of All: Christmas Stories for the Family by Carrie Papa (Abingdon Press 1999 ISBN 978-0-687-64813-9) and "How Saint Boniface Kept Christmas Eve" by Mary Louise Harvey in The American Normal Readers: Fifth Book, 207-22. Silver, Burdett and Co. 1912.
In 1829 the diarist Greville, visiting Panshanger country house, describes three small Christmas trees "such as is customary in Germany", which Princess Lieven had put up.[53]
References
Travers, Penny (19 December 2016). "The history of the Christmas tree". Australia: ABC News. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
Perry, Joe (27 September 2010). Christmas in Germany: A Cultural History. University of North Carolina Press. p. 32. ISBN 978-0-8078-9941-0. A chronicle from Strasbourg, written in 1604 and widely seen as the first account of a Christmas tree in German-speaking lands, records that Protestant artisans brought fir trees into their homes in the holiday season and decorated them with "roses made of colored paper, apples, wafers, tinsel, sweetmeats, etc." [...] The Christmas tree spread out in German society from the top down, so to speak. It moved from elite households to broader social strata, from urban to rural areas, from the Protestant north to the Catholic south, and from Prussia to other German states.
Lamb, Martha Joanna (1883). The Magazine of American History, Volume X. Historical Publication Co. p. 473. The Christmas Tree originated in the Protestant districts of Germany.
Christmas trees were hung in St. George's Church, Sélestat since 1521:"Office de la Culture de Sélestat—The history of the Christmas tree since 1521" (PDF). 18 December 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 December 2013.
Kelly, Joseph F. (2010). The Feast of Christmas. Liturgical Press. p. 94. ISBN 978-0-8146-3932-0. German Lutherans brought the decorated Christmas tree with them; the Moravians put lighted candles on those trees.
Becker, Udo (1 January 2000). The Continuum Encyclopedia of Symbols. A & C Black. p. 60. ISBN 978-0-8264-1221-8. In Christianity, the Christmas tree is a symbol of Christ as the true tree of life; the candles symbolize the "light of the world" that was born in Bethlehem; the apples often used as decorations set up a symbolic relation to the paradisal apple of knowledge and thus to the original sin that Christ took away so that the return to Eden-symbolized by the Christmas tree-is again possible for humanity.
Mandryk, DeeAnn (25 October 2005). Canadian Christmas Traditions. James Lorimer & Company. p. 67. ISBN 978-1-55439-098-4. The eight-pointed star became a popular manufactured Christmas ornament around the 1840s and many people place a star on the top of their Christmas tree to represent the Star of Bethlehem.
Jones, David Albert (27 October 2011). Angels. Oxford University Press. p. 24. ISBN 978-0-19-161491-0. The same ambiguity is seen in that most familiar of angels, the angel on top of the Christmas tree. This decoration, popularized in the nineteenth century, recalls the place of the angels in the Christmas story (Luke 2:9–18).
Gillian Cooke, A Celebration of Christmas, 1980, page 62: "Martin Luther has been credited with the creation of the Christmas tree. [...] The Christmas tree did not spring fully fledged into [...] tree was slow to spread from its Alsatian home, partly because of resistance to its supposed Lutheran origins."
Crump, William D. (15 September 2001). The Christmas Encyclopedia, 3d ed. McFarland. p. 386. ISBN 978-0-7864-6827-0. Christmas trees in the countryside did not appear until World War I, although Slovenians of German ancestry were decorating trees before then. Traditionally, the family decorates their Christmas tree on Christmas Eve with electric lights, tinsel, garlands, candy canes, other assorted ornaments, and topped with an angel figure or star. The tree and Nativity scene remain until Candlemas (February 2)
McGregor, Kate (30 November 2023). "It's Bad Luck To Take Your Tree Down Before January 6". AOL. According to the tradition of the 12 days of Christmas (explained above), January 6 is the earliest you should be taking down your Christmas tree. According to the legend, bad luck will befall those who stop the Christmas cheer any earlier.
"Candlemas". British Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 6 January 2017. Retrieved 26 December 2016. Any Christmas decorations not taken down by Twelfth Night (January 5th) should be left up until Candlemas Day and then taken down.
Foley, Daniel J. (1999). The Christmas Tree. Omnigraphics. p. 45. ISBN 978-1-55888-286-7.
Dues, Greg (2008). Advent and Christmas. Bayard. pp. 13–15. ISBN 978-1-58595-722-4. Next to the Nativity scene, the most popular Christmas tradition is to have a Christmas tree in the home. This custom is not the same as bringing a Yule tree or evergreens into the home, originally popular during the month of the winter solstice in Germany.
Karas, Sheryl (1998). The Solstice Evergreen: history, folklore, and origins of the Christmas tree. Aslan. pp. 103–04. ISBN 978-0-944031-75-9.
"Celebrate Christmas Italian Styles at These City Events". TripSavvy. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
Haidle, Helen (2002). Christmas Legends to Remember'. David C Cook. p. 119. ISBN 978-1-56292-534-5.
Debbie Trafton O'Neal, David LaRochelle (2001). Before and After Christmas. Augsburg Fortress. p. 22. ISBN 978-0-8066-4156-0.[permanent dead link]
Senn, Frank C. (2012). Introduction to Christian Liturgy. Fortress Press. p. 118. ISBN 978-1-4514-2433-1. The Christmas tree as we know it seemed to emerge in Lutheran lands in Germany in the sixteenth century. Although no specific city or town has been identified as the first to have a Christmas tree, records for the Cathedral of Strassburg indicate that a Christmas tree was set up in that church in 1539 during Martin Bucer's superintendency.
"The Christmas Tree". Lutheran Spokesman. 29–32. 1936. The Christmas tree became a widespread custom among German Lutherans by the eighteenth century.
Blainey, Geoffrey (24 October 2013). A Short History of Christianity. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 418. ISBN 978-1-4422-2590-9. Many Lutherans continued to set up a small fir tree as their Christmas tree, and it must have been a seasonal sight in Bach's Leipzig at a time when it was virtually unknown in England, and little known in those farmlands of North America where Lutheran immigrants congregated.
Ehrsam, Roger (1999). Le Vieux Turckheim. Ville de Turckheim: Jérôme Do Bentzinger. ISBN 978-2-906238-83-1.
Lazowski, Philip (2004). Understanding Your Neighbor's Faith. KTAV Publishing House. pp. 203–04. ISBN 978-0-88125-811-0.
Foley, Michael P. (2005). Why Do Catholics Eat Fish on Friday?. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 18. ISBN 978-1-4039-6967-5.[permanent dead link]
Ball, Ann (1997). Catholic Traditions in Crafts. Our Sunday Visitor. p. 19. ISBN 978-0-87973-711-5.[permanent dead link]
"Christmas tree". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2003. The modern Christmas tree [...] originated in western Germany. The main prop of a popular medieval play about Adam and Eve was a fir tree hung with apples (paradise tree) representing the Garden of Eden. The Germans set up a paradise tree in their homes on 24 December, the religious feast day of Adam and Eve. They hung round white discs on it (symbolizing the host, the Christian sign of Christ's body in the Eucharist); in a later tradition, the wafers were replaced by cookies of various shapes. Candles, too, were often added as the symbol of Christ. In the same room, during the Christmas season, was the Christmas pyramid, a triangular construction of wood, with shelves to hold Christmas figurines, decorated with evergreens, candles, and a star. By the 16th century, the Christmas pyramid and paradise tree had merged, becoming the Christmas tree.
Gulevich, Tanya (30 October 2023). Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations. Omnigraphics. p. 168. ISBN 978-0-7808-0625-2.
Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal (National Library of Portugal)—Codices Alcobacenses ([1] Archived 21 February 2013 at the Wayback Machine ); [BN: cod. alc. CLI / 64, Page. 330] Translated from original Portuguese
"Christmas tree". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2012. Archived from the original on 30 October 2012. Retrieved 2 November 2012.
"BBC Religion & Ethics—Did the Romans invent Christmas?". BBC Religion & Ethics. 17 December 2012. Archived from the original on 7 December 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
Churco, Jennie M. (December 1938). "Christmas and the Roman Saturnalia". The Classical Outlook. 16 (3): 25–26. JSTOR 44006272.
Fritz Allhoff, Scott C. Lowe (2010). Christmas. John Wiley & Sons. His biographer, Eddius Stephanus, relates that while Boniface was serving as a missionary near Geismar, Germany, he had enough of the locals' reverence for the old gods. Taking an axe to an oak tree dedicated to Norse god Thor, Boniface chopped the tree down and dared Thor to zap him for it. When nothing happened, Boniface pointed out a young fir tree amid the roots of the oak and explained how this tree was a more fitting object of reverence as it pointed towards the Christian heaven and its triangular shape was reminiscent of the Christian trinity.
Amelung, Friedrich (1885). Geschichte der Revaler Schwarzenhäupter: von ihrem Ursprung an bis auf die Gegenwart: nach den urkundenmäßigen Quellen des Revaler Schwarzenhäupter-Archivs 1, Die erste Blütezeit von 1399–1557 [History of the Tallinn Blackheads: from their origins until the present day: from the testimonial sources of the Tallinn Blackheads archive. 1: The first golden age of 1399–1557] (in German). Reval: Wassermann.
Weber-Kellermann, Ingeborg (1978). Das Weihnachtsfest. Eine Kultur- und Sozialgeschichte der Weihnachtszeit [Christmas: A cultural and social history of Christmastide] (in German). Bucher. p. 22. ISBN 978-3-7658-0273-7. Man kann als sicher annehmen daß die Luzienbräuche gemeinsam mit dem Weinachtsbaum in Laufe des 19. Jahrhunderts aus Deutschland über die gesellschaftliche Oberschicht der Herrenhöfe nach Schweden gekommen sind. (English: One can assume with certainty that traditions of lighting, together with the Christmas tree, crossed from Germany to Sweden in the 19th century via the princely upper classes.)
Foley, Michael P. (6 September 2022). Why We Kiss under the Mistletoe: Christmas Traditions Explained. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-68451-281-2.
Janota E. Lud i jego zwyczaje. Lwów, 1878, str. 41–42
"Zwyczaje, obrzędy i tradycje w Polsce. Mały słownik". Księgarnia Mateusza (in Polish). Archived from the original on 15 December 2019. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
Rok karpacki: obrzędy doroczne w Karpatach polskich Urszula Janicka-Krzywda. 1988, s. 13 "W całych Karpatach znano drzewko wigilijne zwane podłaźnikiem. Był to wierzchołek jodły zawieszany u powały szczytem na. dół, ubierany jabłkami i tzw. światami"
"Słomiane snopy i podłaźniczki – to nasze poprzedniki choinki. Te zaś ozdabiano jabłkami". Niezależna. 24 December 2019. Retrieved 25 December 2019.
"News Detail". Jüdisches Museum Wien (in German). Retrieved 20 September 2021.
"Danmarks første juletræ blev tændt i 1808". Kristelig Dagblad. 17 December 2008. Archived from the original on 13 December 2013.
Marbach, Johannes (1859). Die heilige Weihnachtszeit nach Bedeutung, Geschichte, Sitten und Symbolen [The holy Christmas season for meaning, history, customs and symbols] (in German). p. 416. Was ist auch eine deutsche Christenfamilie am Christabend ohne Christbäumchen? Zumal in der Fremde, unter kaltherzigen Engländern und frivolen Franzosen, unter den amerikanischen Indianern und den Papuas von Australien. Entbehren doch die nichtdeutschen Christen neben dem Christbäumchen noch so viele Züge deutscher Gemüthlichkeit. [English: What would a German Christian family do on Christmas Eve without a Christmas tree? Especially in foreign lands, among cold-hearted Englishmen and frivolous Frenchmen, among the American Indians and the Papua of Australia. Apart from the Christmas tree, the non-German Christians suffer from a lack of a great many traits of German 'Gemütlichkeit'.]
Hermelink, Jan (2003). "Weihnachtsgottesdienst" [Christmas worship]. In Grethlein, Christian; Ruddat, Günter (eds.). Liturgisches Kompendium (in German). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. p. 290. ISBN 978-3-525-57211-5.
"Zgodovina okraševanja: Božično drevesce ali novoletna jelka" (in Slovenian). dormeo.net. 15 December 2021.
"Zgodovina okraševanja: Božično drevo s sporočili" (in Slovenian). vecer.com. 10 December 2021.
"Rojstvo tradicije: od bršljana, bele omele do okraskov polne jelke" (in Slovenian). mestnik.si. 4 December 2021.
"Kako smo nekoč praznovali novo leto" (in Slovenian). ljubljana.si. 15 December 2021. Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
Rinaldi, Claudia (1 December 2016). "Italian Christmas tree traditions: past & present". Gourmet Project. Retrieved 30 November 2025.
"Christmas in Italy | Il Cenacolo SF". Il Cenacolo Italian Cultural Club. Retrieved 30 November 2025.
Bingham, John (25 December 2016). "Queen's Christmas Day message: Monarch quotes from Bible to address a nation shaken by year of atrocities". telegraph.co.uk. Archived from the original on 27 December 2017. Retrieved 25 December 2017.
Stow, John (1603). Survey of London. London: John Windet. Archived from the original on 16 August 2017. Retrieved 3 January 2017. Against the feast of Christmas every man's house, as also the parish churches, were decked with holm, ivy, bays, and whatsoever the season of the year afforded to be green.
"The History of the Christmas Tree at Windsor". Archived from the original on 24 December 2011. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
Hole, Christine (1950). English Custom and Usage. London: B. T. Batsford Ltd. p. 16.
Victoria (1912). Viscount Esher (ed.). The girlhood of Queen Victoria: a selection from Her Majesty's diaries. J. Murray.
Marie Claire Lejeune (2002). Compendium of symbolic and ritual plants in Europe. Man & Culture. p. 550. ISBN 978-90-77135-04-4.
"GERMAN CHRISTMAS TREES. The nobility and gentry are respectfully informed that these handsome JUVENILE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS are supplied and elegantly fitted up ...":Times [London, England] 20 December 1842, p. 1.
The Christmas Tree: published by Darton and Clark, London. "The ceremony of the Christmas tree, so well known throughout Germany, bids fair to be welcomed among us, with the other festivities of the season, especially now the Queen, within her own little circle, has set the fashion, by introducing it on the Christmas Eve in her own regal palace." Book review of The Christmas Tree from the Weekly Chronicle, 14 December 1844, quoted in an advert headlined "A new pleasure for Christmas" in The Times, 23 December 1844, p. 8.
Godfrey and Margaret Scheele (1977). The Prince Consort, Man of many Facets: The World and The Age of Prince Albert. Oresko Books. p. 78. ISBN 978-0-905368-06-1.
At the beginning of the year the custom was well-enough known for The Times to compare the January budget of 1848 with gifts handed out beneath "the Christmas tree": The Times (London, England), 21 January 1848, p. 4.
Special Christmas supplement edition, published 23 December 1848.
The Times (London, England), 27 December 1848. p. 7
"Now the best Christmas box / You can give to the young / Is not toys, nor fine playthings, / Nor trees gaily hung ...": Manchester Guardian, Saturday, 5 January 1856, p. 6.
Manchester Guardian, 24 January 1856, p. 3: the death of Caroline Luttrell of Kilve Court, Somerset.
The Times (London, England), 28 December 1858, p. 8.
The Poor Children's Yuletide Association. The Times (London, England), 20 December 1906, p. 2. "The association sent 71 trees 'bearing thousands of toys' to the poorest districts of London."
"A Merry Christmas": The Times (London, England), 27 December 1918, p. 2: "... the so-called "Christmas tree" was out of favour. Large stocks of young firs were to be seen at Covent Garden on Christmas Eve, but found few buyers. It was remembered that the 'Christmas tree' has enemy associations."
The next year a charity fair in aid of injured soldiers featured 'a huge Christmas-tree'. 'St. Dunstan's Christmas Fair'. The Times (London, England), 20 December 1919, p. 9.
'Poor families in Lewisham and similar districts are just as particular about the shape of their trees as people in Belgravia ...' 'Shapely Christmas Trees': The Times (London, England), 17 December 1926, p. 11.
Christmas Tree Plantations. The Times (London, England), 11 December 1937, p. 11.
"Christmas tree grower Ivor Dungey gets award". BBC News. 27 November 2013. Archived from the original on 31 July 2018. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
"Chichilaki–Georgian version of Christmas tree". Georgian Journal. Retrieved 31 December 2018.
"Georgians rediscover Christmas tree traditions". BBC News. 21 December 2011. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
13 January 1864 Nassau Guardian[full citation needed]
28 December 1864 Nassau Guardian[full citation needed]
Werner, Emmy E. (2006). In Pursuit of Liberty: Coming of Age in the American Revolution. Greenwood Pu
Origin: yadi.sk/i/BAkUEV9aSkcEUw
Author: Unknown
Raw converter: Capture One
WB: As Shot
Curve: Film Standard
Camera Profile: NikonD610-C1-EO-NXD-Standard
On August 6th, 2016, Grayslake residents Josh Schneider and Matt Kozak helped organize "Spikefest," the first ever Spikeball tournament in Grayslake. 43 teams came from as far as Mammoth Lakes, CA and as local as Grayslake, IL to raise money for “Oasis for Orphans” and compete for prizes that included gift certificates, Spikeball sets, and lots of other sponsored items. The winning team was “Origin Oblivion” from Chicago, IL consisting of Matthew Bohnen and Joey Hafertepe. At the time, Origin Oblivion was ranked 121st in the country with 38 tournament points. They are part of Origin Roundnet, which has teams ranked 1st, 6th, and 7th in the nation. 2nd place was "Tetelestai" from Chicago, IL with Logan Cornelius and Jesse Throw. Third was "Bromigo Spikes" from Chicago, IL with Trent Weller and Zac Nabhan. Fourth place was “Origin Rezurrection” from Mt. Prospect, IL with Tony Gottuso and Ben Smith.
County Hall (Welsh: Neuadd y Sir Rhuthun) is a municipal building in Wynnstay Road, Ruthin, Denbighshire, Wales. The structure is the headquarters of Denbighshire County Council.
The first public building in the town was the old court house in St Peter's Square which, in its current incarnation, dated back to 1421. It was succeeded by the old county hall in Record Street, which was designed by Joseph Turner as a record office for the Court of Great Sessions in Wales and completed in 1790. It was enhanced by the addition of a tetrastyle portico with Doric order columns supporting a modillioned pediment in 1866. The building also served in a judicial capacity as the venue for the courts of assize, with the justices meeting there on a regular basis. Following the implementation of the Local Government Act 1888, which established county councils in every county, Denbighshire County Council set up its headquarters in the building. However, by the early 20th century, the county leaders considered the building to be too small and decided to commission a more substantial structure.
The new building was designed by Walter Douglas Wiles in the neoclassical style, built in a combination of Eyarth stone and Runcorn stone and was completed in March 1909. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage on the corner of Market Street and Wynnstay Road. The corner bay featured a round headed doorway with a fanlight and voussoirs on the ground floor and a carved panel above; there were three small windows on the first floor separated by colonnettes; the bay was flanked by full-height Ionic order columns supporting a modillioned segmental pediment. The Market Street and Wynnstay Road elevations were decorated in a similar style with slightly projecting bays which featured tri-partite windows on the ground floor, windows separated by colonettes on the first floor and full-height pilasters supporting triangular pediments. Internally, the principal rooms were the council chamber and the offices for the county officers.
Following local government reorganisation in 1974, the building became the offices of Glyndŵr District Council and, following the creation of unitary authorities in 1996, it became the offices of the new Denbighshire County Council.
Most of the building was demolished in 2002, but retaining the main facades to Wynnstay Road and Market Street. A large modern building was then built behind the facade, with the works being procured under a private finance initiative contract. The works were undertaken by Ion Developments at a cost of £20 million and was completed in May 2004. In November 2015, the county council bought the developer out of its 25-year contract at a cost to the council of £17 million.
Ruthin is a market town and community in Denbighshire, Wales, in the south of the Vale of Clwyd. It is Denbighshire's county town. The town, castle and St Peter's Square lie on a hill, skirted by villages such as Pwllglas and Rhewl. The name comes from the Welsh rhudd (red) and din (fort), after the colour of sandstone bedrock, from which the castle was built in 1277–1284 The Old Mill, Ruthin, is nearby. Maen Huail, a registered ancient monument attributed to the brother of Gildas and King Arthur, stands in St Peter's Square.
The population at the 2001 census was 5,218, of whom 47 per cent were male and 53 per cent female. The average age was 43.0 years and 98.2 per cent were white. According to the 2011 census, the population had risen to 5,461. 68 per cent of which were born in Wales and 25 per cent in England. Welsh speakers account for 42 per cent of the town's population. The community includes the village of Llanfwrog.
There is evidence of Celtic and later Roman settlements in the area. However, little is known of the history of the town before the construction of Ruthin Castle was started in 1277 by Dafydd, the brother of prince Llywelyn ap Gruffudd. However, he forfeited the castle when he rebelled against King Edward I with his brother; Edward's queen, Eleanor, was in residence in 1281. The original name was Castell Coch yng Ngwern-fôr (Red Castle in the Sea Swamps). The Marcher Lord, Reginald de Grey, Justiciar of Chester, was given the Cantref (an administrative district) of Deffrencloyt (Dyffryn Clwyd, the Welsh for Vale of Clwyd), and his family ran the area for the next 226 years. The third Baron de Grey's land dispute with Owain Glyndŵr triggered Glyndŵr's rebellion against King Henry IV, which began on 16 September 1400, when Glyndŵr burned Ruthin to the ground, reputedly leaving only the castle and a few other buildings standing.
The Lord de Grey established a Collegiate Church in 1310. Now the Collegiate and Parish Church of St Peter, it dominates the Ruthin skyline. It has a double nave and boasts two medieval carved roofs. These days it is known for its musical tradition. It has a large choir of children and adults and a four-manual Wadsworth-Willis organ. Behind the church can be seen the old college buildings, school and Christ's Hospital.
A Ruthin native, Sir Thomas Exmewe was Lord Mayor of the City of London in 1517–1518.
The half-timbered Old Court House (built in 1401), on the square, features the remains of a gibbet last used to execute a Franciscan priest, Charles Meehan, also known as Mahoney. He was shipwrecked on the Welsh coast at a time when Catholicism was equated with treason – Meehan was hanged, drawn, and quartered in 1679. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1987 as one of the Eighty-five martyrs of England and Wales.
During the English Civil War, the castle survived an eleven-week siege, after which it was demolished by order of Parliament. It was rebuilt in the 19th century as a country house, which has now been turned into the Ruthin Castle Hotel. From 1826 until 1921 the castle was the home of the Cornwallis-West family, members of Victorian and Edwardian high society.
In its 18th-century heyday as a town on drovers' routes from Wales into England, Ruthin was reputed to have "a pub for every week of the year". By 2007, however, there were only eleven pubs in the town. The public records of 23 October 1891 show 31 such establishments serving a population of 3,186; most have been converted into housing or shops. The Ruthin Union Workhouse was built in 1834.
The first copies of the Welsh national anthem, Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau, were printed in what is now the Siop Nain tea and gift shop on Well Street.
In 1863 the Denbigh, Ruthin and Corwen Railway, which linked in Denbigh with the Vale of Clwyd Railway (later part of the London and North Western Railway, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, and British Rail) reached the town. The route ran from Rhyl along the north coast through Denbigh and Ruthin to Corwen, before joining a route from Ruabon through Llangollen, Corwen and Bala to Barmouth. The railway and Ruthin railway station closed in 1963 under the Beeching Axe. The site of the station is now occupied by a large road roundabout (Brieg Roundabout) and the Ruthin Craft Centre, which opened in 1982, but was rebuilt and reopened in 2008.
Ruthin hosted the National Eisteddfod in 1868 and 1973. The Urdd National Eisteddfod visited Ruthin in 1992 and 2006.
The town's principal school is Ysgol Brynhyfryd (Brynhyfryd School), a comprehensive school for 11 to 18 year olds. Its Grade II listed building was built about 1830 as the home of local solicitor, before becoming in 1898 Ruthin County School for Girls. (The town's boys travelled five miles by train to Denbigh High School.) The school went co-educational in 1938, with feeder junior schools up to around six miles away. Building work in the 1950s and the early 1970s increased the number of pupils from 700 to 1000 in a few years, as the minimum school-leaving age rose from 15 to 16). In 2001–2002 the listed building became the Sixth Form Centre. The school's sports facilities, including the swimming pool, are used as the town's Leisure Centre. It also features a theatre and arts complex, Theatr John Ambrose, named after a headmaster of the school in the 1980s and 1990s. This was opened by the actor Rhys Ifans, a former pupil of Ysgol Pentrecelyn and Ysgol Maes Garmon in Mold, but brought up in Ruthin.
In 1574 Gabriel Goodman re-founded Ruthin School which was founded in 1284, making it one of the oldest private schools in the United Kingdom. In 1590, Goodman established Christ's Hospital for 12 poor persons around St Peter's Church on the square, and was Dean of Westminster for 40 years (1561–1601). Ruthin School is now a co-educational boarding and day school, with 227 pupils overall, 145 of them boarders in 2014. In September 2013, the school bought Ye Old Anchor, after its closure as a hotel in November 2012, and converted it into a boarding house for 30 upper sixth-form students.
Ruthin has daytime bus services on Mondays to Saturdays, with the last bus on most routes leaving between 5.30 and 7.30 pm. There is no service on Sundays or public holidays.[11] Routes serving Ruthin are Stagecoach 1 and 2 to Mold (1 via Llanarmon and Llanferres, 2 via Llanarmon, Graianrhyd, and Erryrys), X1 runs three times a day to Chester via Llanferres and Mold – frequency of the buses to Mold varies throughout the day between 30 minutes and 2 hours. Route X51 by Arriva runs basically hourly between Rhyl, St Asaph, Denbigh, Ruthin, and Wrexham (Rhyl bus station is next to the railway station, providing Ruthin's most convenient access to the national rail network, while Wrexham railway station is a short distance from its bus station.) Route 55, by Llew Jones Coaches, operates to Corwen at intervals of 50–135 minutes through the day, with three buses extended to Llangollen, and two of these via Llangollen to Wrexham. Route 76, by M & H Coaches, runs six times a day between Denbigh and Ruthin via Llandyrnog, Llangynhafal, and Llanbedr DC; two of these also serve Llanfair DC, Graigfechan, and Pentrecelyn. Less regular services include a weekly route 71 on Fridays between Corwen, Cerrigydrudion, Ruthin, and Morrisons' supermarket in Denbigh, and route 72 on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for Cyffylliog, Clocaenog, Bontuchel, Betws Gwerfil Goch, Melin-y-Wig, Derwen, and Clawddnewydd. Ruthin town has route 73, operating three buses a day around Ruthin on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
The Ruthin railway line and station closed in the 1960s. They had connected Ruthin to Denbigh and Rhyl to the north and Corwen to the south.
In 1858, it was intended to extend the Vale of Clwyd line from Denbigh to Ruthin, running alongside the race-course in the town park (now Parc-y Dre housing) to the Station Hotel. However the West family prevented the line crossing the Castle Park towards Corwen. The route was diverted to the north alongside the road to Wrexham and the Station Hotel renamed the Park Place Hotel. Opposite Station Road lies Railway Terrace, a row of Grade II listed buildings, built in 1864 with evidence of trains running in a cutting in front. The first sod was cut in September 1860 by Mrs Florence West, with an inaugural service starting on St David's Day 1862. To mark this, a song was composed with words by T. Ab Gwilym, music by B. Williams and published by Isaac Clarke. The line ran 6.75 miles (10.9 km), with stations at Rhewl and Llanrhaiadr.
The local football club is Ruthin Town. In rugby union, Clwb Rygbi Rhuthun/Ruthin RFC has several teams: 1st XV, 2nd XV, 3rd XV, Youth, Juniors & Women's XV.
On 13 June 1981, Ruthin hosted the Annual General Meeting of the International Football Association Board, the body which determines the laws of football.
Facilities at Ruthin Leisure Centre on Mold Road include a swimming pool, sports hall and fitness suite. Llanfwrog Community Centre on Mwrog Street provides tennis courts, a golf driving range and bowling greens.
The first House of Correction, or Bridewell, was built at the bottom of Clwyd Street, next to the river, in 1654, to replace the Old Court House, where able-bodied idlers and the unemployed were sent to work. Following John Howard's investigations into prison conditions the Denbighshire justices resolved to build a new model prison in Ruthin on the site of the old Bridewell. Work began in January 1775. In 1802 the prison had four cells for prisoners and nine rooms for debtors. By 1837 it could hold 37 inmates. The Prisons Act of 1865 set new standards for the design of prisons – as the Ruthin County Gaol did not meet the standards, plans were drawn up for a new four-storey wing. The new prison for up to 100 prisoners was built in the style of London's Pentonville Prison at a cost of £12,000. On 1 April 1878 the Ruthin County Gaol became HM Prison Ruthin, covering the counties of Denbighshire, Flintshire, and Merionethshire. As far as is known, only one person was ever executed in the prison: William Hughes of Denbigh, aged 42, who was hanged on 17 February 1903 for the murder of his wife, his plea of insanity having failed. Another prison personality was John Jones, known as Coch Bach y Bala – who was a kleptomaniac and poacher who had spent more than half his 60 years in all the prisons of north Wales and many in England; he twice escaped from Ruthin Gaol, first on 30 November 1879 when he walked out of prison with three others while the staff were having supper – a £5 reward was offered for his capture, which happened on the following 3 January. On 30 September 1913 he tunnelled out of his cell and using a rope made out of his bedding he climbed over the roof of the chapel and kitchen and got over the wall; after seven days living rough on the Nantclwyd Estate several miles away, Jones was shot in the leg by one of his pursuers, 19-year-old Reginald Jones-Bateman. Jones died of shock and blood loss, while Jones-Bateman was charged with manslaughter, though the charges were subsequently dropped.
Ruthin Gaol ceased to be a prison in 1916, when the prisoners and guards were transferred to Shrewsbury. The County Council bought the buildings in 1926 and used them for offices, the county archives and the town library. During the Second World War they were used as a munitions factory. They were then returned to the County Council and became the headquarters of the Denbighshire Library Service. In 2004 the Gaol was renovated and reopened as a museum.[15]
Most Haunted: Midsummer Murders filmed the series' fifth episode in Ruthin, where the team investigated a Victorian Era murder. Locations included the Old Gaol and the town library.
The Craft Centre had ten studios occupied by crafters who could be watched while they worked at glass blowing, ceramic manufacture, painting, furniture restoration, etc. The original Craft Centre was demolished early in 2007, and a new Craft Centre opened in July 2008 in a £4.3 million scheme, which contains six craft workshops, larger galleries and an expanded craft retail gallery, two residency studios, an education space and a tourist information centre, and a restaurant.
Nantclwyd y Dre (previously known as Tŷ Nantclwyd), in Castle Street, was built about 1435 by a local merchant Gronw ap Madoc. The building was sold to the county council in 1982, restored from 2004, and opened to the public in 2007. It contains seven rooms which have been restored to represent various periods in the building's history. Visitors can also observe a colony of Lesser horseshoe bats in the attic rooms.
Behind the house are two gardens, the 13th-century inner garden and the outer Lord's Garden, itself believed to have been part of a 13th-century developed castle garden. Restored in the 18th century, Lord's Garden is now itself Grade II listed. In December 2013, the council successfully applied for a grant of £177,600 from the Heritage Lottery Fund, which will see Lord's Garden restored and opened to the public by 2015.
This is Ruthin's main park area, which includes a children's play area, a lake, walks and picnic area. A skate park was built in 2007 and a zip wire and trim trail added later. The River Clwyd runs through the park.
Gŵyl Rhuthun Festival was founded in 1994 and has been held annually since 1996. The festival is a week filled with events and performances held in various locations around the town, beginning with Ruthin Carnival. The pinnacle of the festival is the Top of Town event held on Ruthin’s historic town square on the last Saturday of the week.
According to the historian Peter Smith, "Until the 18th century most towns in Wales had many black-and-white houses (such as Tŷ Nantclwyd y Dre). Ruthin is the only example we have left. It should be carefully conserved, as the last memory we have of these towns." Seven Eyes is a Grade II* listed building of some importance, situated in St Peter's Square.
St Peter's Church is the parish church of Ruthin. It is in the diocese of St Asaph. Parts are as old as 1282.
The Myddleton Arms is also known as the Seven Eyes. It is said to have been built in the 14th century. The Dutch style design, long, steeped roof is attributed to Sir Richard Clough, an Elizabethan merchant. It has four tiers of dormer windows, each at a different elevation, known locally as the seven eyes of Ruthin. The property was acquired in 1595 by Sir Hugh Myddleton, who provided London with it first fresh water supply. The view of The Myddleton on the square is in fact of the rear of the building. The front looks out over the Clwydian Hills.
Formerly a confectionery and bakery shop rented by Thomas Trehearne, the property was owned by the Castle estate. The property also served as a chemist's shop and later as Dick's boot store. On 1 May 1898, Harris Jones took a lease of the property for 21 years as a draper, hosier, glover and dressmaker; he also sold oilcloths, linoleum and other floor coverings. The shop and house were put up for sale in the 1913 by the castle estate along with the Castle Hotel and the Myddleton Arms, which were purchased by William Owen. His lease expired in 1919 with Jones transferring to what is now Gayla House, where he converted the ground floor from residential to retail premises in 1923. The premises are now owned by the HSBC Bank.
Formerly the Beehive, this served for 75 years as general drapery and millinery shop. The exact date of the building is not known, but remains of timber framing with wattle and daub indicate that the building is very old. An advertisement claimed the building had been built before 1397. The main section of the building was demolished to make way for the bank. Ruthin Court Rolls refer to a man named Telemann in Ruthin and to a house "in the high St." The rolls record that in 1397, Howell de Rowell passed it on to John Le Sergant. Little is known of the family – possibly a retainer of Edward 1st or Reginald de Grey, probably of Norman French descent. On 24 February, Sergant transferred the tenancy to his daughter Sibilia. The property passed to the Exmewe family by the marriage of Sibilia to Richard Exmewe, their son Thomas being Lord Mayor of London in 1517. Little is known of Exmewe family.
Thomas moved to London, deciding to sell his Ruthin Estate of Exmewe House to a fellow mercer, Edward Goodman. Exmewe House or Nant Clwyd-y-Dre may have been the birthplace of Gabriel Goodman, as the family had connections with both properties.
Details of the next 200 years are unclear. It became the King's Arms in the occupation of John Price. It then became the Queen's Arms (during the reign of Queen Anne, 1702–1714). The property was purchased for £300 on 5 November 1718 by Robert Myddleton of Chirk. The property served as a chemist's through the 19th century until 1913. It was then sold as part of the Castle Estate sales in 1913/1919, for £1275 to Mr Lecomber, who in turn sold it to Barclays Bank, which modernised it to what can be seen today.
Now trading as the Celtic Hair Studio at 2 Well Street. Originally a public house, it was reputedly built in 1401, making it the oldest pub in Ruthin. Lewis Jones, in his 1884 "Handbook For Ruthin and the Vicinity", stated that the old property, formerly the Ruth Inn, had been adapted as a post office some 25 years before. It ceased trading in 1773. In 1850, the building was converted into a drapery, then becoming the town post office again until 1904.
The site of the present post office may have been a medieval Carmelite priory of White Friars, said to have been founded and built by Reginald de Grey and partly destroyed by the Reformation. De Grey also provided a large piece of land close to the castle known as Whitefriars. During the 1860s and 1870s the site housed the Queen's Head public house and a horse-feed chandler; both buildings were destroyed by a 1904 fire; the new post office was built in 1906.
Located at 33, 35 and 37 Clwyd Street opposite the gaol and now a florist, it was originally the Red Lion public house. In 1824 the hangman, Sam Burrows, was staying at the Red Lion on the night before the execution of John Connor, a highway robber. He gave a detailed demonstration of how he actually hanged a man, unfortunately the stool was accidentally kicked away and Burrows almost hanged himself. The public house ceased trading in 1905.
Now flats, the Royal Oak is one of the finest buildings in Ruthin, having three cruck frames, it is a Grade II* listed building.
At No. 65 Clwyd Street, this Grade II* listed building retains much of the medieval timber frame internally, the oak for which was felled in 1455 and 1456. Its original purpose is unknown, although it has a medieval arched doorway facing towards the 13th-century mill, and a 15th-century solar (private living quarters) with an open roof with cusped windbraces. It is said to have been converted for domestic use in 1586 and occupied by the Moyle family. A two-storey porch with glazed windows (previously described as a balcony) and internal timber panelling was added, possibly in 1655 when further alterations were made. The building was extensively altered in the 19th century, being converted partly into a shop. Porth y Dŵr originally formed a single building with No. 67 Clwyd Street (listed Grade II), and adjoined the medieval west gate to the town, which was demolished in 1786.
All buildings on Castle Street are listed by Cadw. These are the earliest settlements outside the walls of the castle. Some have burgage plots at the back, established by de Grey in 1283. The plots and linear arrangement have barely changed since their foundation.
While there were residential properties at the castle end of the street, commercial properties appeared at the end close to St Peters Square. The one exception was the pub Yr Iwerddon at No. 15. The house retains a name referring to its connection with Irish drovers attending markets and fairs.
Other establishments of interest include No. 1, now Boots, formerly the Raven Inn, which in 1560 may have been the birthplace of Bishop Richard Parry, pupil and master (1584) of Ruthin School. He was involved with Dean Gabriel Goodman and others in translating the Bible and prayer book into Welsh. The main contributor was Bishop William Morgan, but Parry's revision in 1620 became the accepted authorised version.
The Ruthin Royal Bowling Green used the Raven as their headquarters until the Cornwallis-Wests came to live in Ruthin Castle. The club met at the Raven for its annual and quarterly meetings. When competitions took place, the staff of the Raven would take "cwrw da" (good beer) to the players. With the arrival of the Wests, the bowling green laid out inside the curtilage of the castle forced the club to find an alternative green. The option accepted was the rear of No. 8 Castle Street "Gorphwysfa", then called the Constitutional Club, later renamed the Conservative Club.
No. 2. The Wine Vaults with a six-column Tuscan colonnade were 'known as the Black Horse in the 1820s. This is verified by the Welsh Office survey.
No. 7. Sir John Trevor House served as Totty's the Lawyers in the 1700s, later as an antique shop and tea shop, and finally as a private residence offering bed and breakfast accommodation. Sir John Trevor was Speaker of the House of Commons from 1690 to 1695, when he was dismissed for embezzlement. He was the only Speaker forced to resign, until the forced departure of Michael Martin on 19 May 2009.
"Gorphwysfa" was part of the Castle estate until sold off its owners in 1919. The Rifle Volunteer Corps founded in 1859 stored its armoury at the house until a drill hall was built in Borthyn in 1885. The property became the Conservative Club in November 1885.
No. 9, known as "Corwen", held the offices of Phillips the Attorney. It is now a private residence.
No. 11, Ardwyn, is a private residence on three storeys, formerly the offices of the attorneys Smarts.
No. 12, Plas-yn-Dre, cannot be dated accurately. It was rebuilt in 1823, as recorded by a stone above the front door. It housed the North and South Wales Bank. L. G. Thomas, prime mover in the founding the Presbyterian Church in Wynnstay Road in 1886, was bank manager and lived here.
Nos 16 and 18 are wooden-framed buildings with a 19th-century frontage. They formed part of the Castle estate sales of 1913 and 1919. They probably represent the first use of stucco in Ruthin.
The Old County Hall, now Ruthin Library, is a Grade II Listed Building in Record Street, originally named Stryd y Chwain (Welsh for Flea Street) due to its very low standard of living. The inferior housing was demolished to make way for the county court and much grander houses between 1785 and 1788. The present name reflects the storing of records from the assizes and shire hall. In 1860 it became the county court, with a portico added at that time. It served as an assize court and housed its records until the 1970s. The library opened in the early 1990s.
The police station is a Grade II listed building of 1890. Before it was built, the original one was housed in Ruthin Gaol. The new one gave convenient access to the courts. It contains four cells, which are no longer used, and a much reduced number of police officers.
Castle Mews, a Grade II listed building is now a shopping precinct. It dates back to the 15th century, with examples of wattle and daub just inside the building on the right hand side. Remodeled in the early 19th century, it became the Cross Keys coaching inn serving the Ruthin to Chester route, with a change of horses in Mold. It later became a temperance commercial hotel and was home to one of the three Ruthin Friendly Societies: groups of male workers of similar background who contributed small amounts on a weekly basis for insurance against injury and old age. At a later date it was the offices of Ruthin Rural District Council.
Nos 10 and 12, a late 18th-century family town house, is Grade II listed. It retained its late Georgian character until converted into today's boutique hotel and art gallery. The cellars are said to have been built of stone from Ruthin Castle. The building has had many uses: as a boarding house for Ruthin School until 1893, a doctors home, a family home, whose most famous resident was Cynthia Lennon, wife of John Lennon while their son Julian attended Ruthin School, a restaurant from the 1930s and a hotel. Today's hotel architecture and art have won several awards.
The Wynnstay Hotel And Wayfarer Wool Shop, two separate buildings, were once connected by an archway, through which coaches and horses entered to the rear of the properties, where there were stables. The present Wayfarers shop is shown in the title deeds as an outbuilding consisting of "an old saddle room, l with a room over and Gentleman's Convenience".
The Wynnstay Hotel, now a private house, is first recorded in 1549 and known for many years as the Cross Foxes, which formed the heraldic arms of the Wynnstay family, which originated from Wrexham. Its members boasted they could travel from Chester to the Llŷn Peninsula without once leaving their own land. It was an important coaching inn for Ruthin to Denbigh travellers and served the Ruthin, Mold and Chester Royal Mail service. The pub in its heyday had a bowling green and tennis courts, and a central porch demolished in 1969.
Plas Coch (also known as the Conservative Club) is a Grade II listed building of medieval origin and a former 17th-century town house. It was rebuilt in 1613 using red sandstone from the castle and became home to the castle Constable. The building has two storeys with attics and four large windows on each floor. In 1963 it became a banqueting hall owned by Rees Jones, who used to trade at the village hall in Llanfair. It became the Conservative Club in 1977, and having been slightly altered, now offers all-round function facilities.
The Spread Eagle recalls the coat-of-arms of the Goodwin family. Formerly an inn, records show it traded only from 1792 to 1915, after which it became a temperance hotel, then a retail shop.
Rose Cottage is a privately owned residence and a Grade II* listed building on the corner of Rhos Street and Haulfryn. It is listed as an "exceptional survival of a medieval cruck-framed hall-house of relatively low status, retaining its plan-form, character and detail".
Situated in the Corwen Road just past Ruthin Castle, Scott House was built 1933 to house the nursing staff of Duff House Sanatorium, which acquired Ruthin Castle and 475 acres (192 ha) of land for their private clinic in April 1923. The Grade II listed building set in landscaped grounds was later divided into flats.
Ruthin Town Hall is located in Market Street. It was designed by J. W. Poundley and D. Walker in the High Victorian Gothic style and completed in 1865.
Notable people
Ida de Grey (1368 in Ruthin Castle – 1426), a Cambro-Norman noblewoman
Sir Thomas Exmewe (ca.1454–1529), Lord Mayor of London 1517–18
Gabriel Goodman (1528–1601), Dean of Westminster, re-founded Ruthin School
Godfrey Goodman (1582/3 – 1656), Anglican Bishop of Gloucester.
Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon (1732–1802), politician and barrister, went to Ruthin School.
Joseph Ablett (1773–1848), philanthropist, purchased Llanbedr Hall in Llanbedr Dyffryn Clwyd
Dorothea Eliza Smith (1804–1864), a botanical artist noted for painting South American fruit.
Daisy, Princess of Pless (1873 in Ruthin Castle – 1943), society beauty, wife of Prince Hans Heinrich XV von Hochberg
Wynn Edwards (1842–1900), American farmer and politician
Stanley J. Weyman (1855–1928), English novelist, lived in Ruthin for 33 years and died there.
Sir Henry Haydn Jones MP (1863–1950), politician, slate quarry owner, and owner of the Talyllyn Railway
Władysław Raczkiewicz (1885–1947), the first president of the Polish government in exile, died at Ruthin Castle.
Hafina Clwyd (1936–2011), journalist, town councillor, then mayor of Ruthin (2008–2009)
Cynthia Lennon (1939–2015), first wife of John Lennon, settled in Ruthin. Her son, musician Julian Lennon (born 1963) attended Ruthin School.
Robin Llwyd ab Owain (born 1959), author, poet, and Wikipedian, lives in Ruthin.
Rhys Meirion (born 1966), English National Opera classical tenor; taught near Ruthin
Actors Rhys Ifans (born 1967) and his brother Llŷr Ifans (born 1968) come from Ruthin.
Seren Gibson (born 1988), glamour model, attended Ysgol Brynhyfryd.
Sport
Eric Jones, 2019
John Challen (1863–1937), amateur sportsman, played first-class cricket and football
Charles Foweraker (1877–1950), football manager of Bolton Wanderers F.C. from 1919 to 1944
Eric Jones (born 1935), climber, skydiver and BASE jumper.
Doug Dailey MBE (born 1944), racing cyclist
Tom Pryce (1949–1977), Formula One racing driver
Eifion Lewis-Roberts (born 1981), rugby union player for Ruthin RFC, lives in Llanbedr Dyffryn Clwyd.
Rob Higgitt (born 1981), Scarlets rugby union centre, a former resident.
Neil Taylor (born 1989), footballer with 338 club caps and 43 for Wales, attended Ysgol Brynhyfryd.
Ruthin is situated on the River Clwyd, at the point where it enters the low-lying pastures of the Vale of Clwyd. The Clwydian Range lies to the east and the Clocaenog Forest and Denbigh Moors to the west.
By road, Ruthin is 8 miles (13 km) south-east of Denbigh, 12 miles (19 km) north of Corwen, 10 miles (16 km) west of Mold and 14 miles (23 km) east of Cerrigydrudion.
The nearest major urban centres are Wrexham at 17 miles (27 km), Rhyl at 18 miles (29 km), Chester at 23 miles (37 km) and Liverpool at 34 miles (55 km) to the north-east. Ruthin is skirted by villages such as Llanbedr Dyffryn Clwyd, Pwllglas and Rhewl.
Denbighshire is a county in the north-east of Wales. It borders the Irish Sea to the north, Flintshire to the east, Wrexham to the southeast, Powys to the south, and Gwynedd and Conwy to the west. Rhyl is the largest town, and Ruthin is the administrative centre. Its borders differ from the historic county of the same name.
Denbighshire has an area of 326 square miles (840 km2) and a population of 95,800, making it sparsely populated. The most populous area is the coast, where Rhyl (25,149) and Prestatyn (19,085) form a single built-up area with a population of 46,267. The next-largest towns are Denbigh (8,986), Ruthin (5,461), and Rhuddlan (3,709). St Asaph (3,355) is a city. All of these settlements are in the northern half of the county; the south is even less densely populated, and the only towns are Corwen (2,325) and Llangollen (3,658).
The geography of Denbighshire is defined by the broad valley of the River Clwyd, which is surrounded by rolling hills on all sides except the north, where it reaches the coast. The Vale of Clwyd, the lower valley, is given over to crops, while cattle and sheep graze the uplands. The Clwydian Range in the east is part of the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
This part of Wales contains the country's oldest known evidence of habitation – Pontnewydd (Bontnewydd-Llanelwy) Palaeolithic site has Neanderthal remains of some 225,000 years ago. The county is also home to several medieval castles, including Castell Dinas Brân, Denbigh, and Rhuddlan, as well as St Asaph Cathedral. Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod takes place in the town each July.
The main area was formed on 1 April 1996 under the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994, from various parts of the county of Clwyd. It includes the district of Rhuddlan (formed in 1974 entirely from Flintshire), the communities of Trefnant and Cefn Meiriadog from the district of Colwyn (entirely Denbighshire) and most of the Glyndŵr district. The last includes the former Edeyrnion Rural District, part of the administrative county of Merionethshire before 1974, covering the parishes of Betws Gwerfil Goch, Corwen, Gwyddelwern, Llangar, Llandrillo yn Edeirnion and Llansanffraid.
Other principal areas including part of historical Denbighshire are Conwy, which picked up the remainder of 1974–1996 Colwyn, the Denbighshire parts of 1974–1996 Aberconwy, and Wrexham, which corresponds to the pre-1974 borough of Wrexham along with most of Wrexham Rural District and several parishes of Glyndŵr. Post-1996 Powys includes the historically Denbighshire parishes of Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant, Llansilin and Llangedwyn, which formed part of Glyndŵr district.
Researchers have found signs that Denbighshire was inhabited at least 225,000 years ago. Bontnewydd Palaeolithic site is one of the most significant in Britain. Hominid remains of probable Neanderthals have been found, along with stone tools from the later Middle Pleistocene.
In 2021 February, archaeologists from Aeon Archaeology announced a discovery of over 300 Stone Age tools and artifacts in Rhuddlan. They revealed scrapers, microliths, flakes of chert (a hard, fine-grained, sedimentary rock composed of microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline quartz), flints and other rudimentary tools. An expert, Richard Cooke, believes the lithic remains belonged to ancient peoples, who while passing through the area, made camp by the river more than 9,000 years ago.
The eastern edge of Denbighshire follows the ridge of the Clwydian Range, with a steep escarpment to the west and a high point at Moel Famau (1,820 ft (555 m)), which with the upper Dee Valley forms an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley – one of just five in the Wales. The Denbigh Moors (Mynydd Hiraethog) are in the west of the county and the Berwyn Range adjacent to the southern edge. The River Clwyd has a broad fertile Vale running from south–north in the centre of the county. There is a narrow coastal plain in the north which much residential and holiday-trade development. The highest point in the historic county was Cadair Berwyn at 832 m or 2,730 ft), but the boundary changes since 1974 make Cadair Berwyn North Top the highest point. Denbighshire borders the present-day principal areas of Gwynedd, Conwy County Borough, Flintshire, Wrexham County Borough, and Powys.
Rhyl and Prestatyn form a single built-up area in the north of the county, with a population of 46,267. They are immediately adjacent to the Kinmel Bay and Abergele built-up area in neighbouring Conwy, and at the eastern end of series of coastal resorts which that also includes Colwyn Bay and Llandudno further west.
According to the 2021 United Kingdom census, Denbighshire's population was approximately 95,800. According to previous censuses, the population of Denbighshire was 93,734 in 2011 and 93,065 in 2001. The largest towns on the coast are Rhyl (2001 population c. 25,000) and Prestatyn (2001 population c. 18,000). According to the 2011 Census returns, 24.6 per cent stated they could speak Welsh.
Since the 20th-century demise of the coal and steel industries in the Wrexham area, there is no heavy industry in the county. Although most towns have small industrial parks or estates for light industry, the economy is based on agriculture and tourism. Much of the working population is employed in the service sector. The uplands support sheep and beef cattle rearing, while in the Vale of Clwyd dairy farming and wheat and barley crops predominate. Many towns have livestock markets and farming supports farm machinery merchants, vets, feed merchants, contractors and other ancillaries. With their incomes on the decline, farmers have found opportunities in tourism, rural crafts, specialist food shops, farmers' markets and value-added food products.
The upland areas with their sheep farms and small, stone-walled fields are attractive to visitors. Redundant farm buildings are often converted into self-catering accommodation, while many farmhouses supply bed and breakfast. The travel trade began with the arrival of the coast railway in the mid-19th century, opening up the area to Merseyside. This led to a boom in seaside guest houses. More recently, caravan sites and holiday villages have thrived and ownership of holiday homes increased. Initiatives to boost the economy of North Wales continue, including redevelopment of the Rhyl seafront and funfair.
The North Wales Coast Line running from Crewe to Holyhead is served by Transport for Wales and Avanti West Coast services. Trains leaving Crewe to pass through Chester, cross the River Dee into Wales, and continue through Flint, Shotton, Holywell Junction (closed in 1966), Prestatyn, Rhyl, and stations to Bangor and Holyhead, which has a ferry service to Ireland.
There are no motorways in Denbighshire. The A55 dual carriageway runs from Chester through St Asaph to the North Wales coast at Abergele, then parallel to the railway through Conwy and Bangor to Holyhead. The A548 run from Chester to Abergele through Deeside and along the coast, before leaving the coast and terminating at Llanrwst. The main road from London, the A5, passes north-westwards through Llangollen, Corwen and Betws-y-Coed to join the A55 and terminate at Bangor. The A543 crosses the Denbigh Moors from south-east to north-west, and the A525 links Ruthin with St Asaph.
There are local bus services between the main towns. Several services by Arriva Buses Wales run along the main coast road between Chester and Holyhead, linking the coastal resorts. Another route links Rhyl to Denbigh.
Denbighshire is represented in the House of Commons by three MPs. The Welsh Labour Party lost to the Welsh Conservatives in the 2019 general election for the first time.
The following MPs were elected from Denbighshire in 2019:
Simon Baynes (Welsh Conservatives) in Clwyd South, first elected in 2019.
David Jones (Welsh Conservatives) in Clwyd West, first elected in 2005.
James Davies (Welsh Conservatives) in Vale of Clwyd, first elected in 2019.
Denbighshire is also represented in the Senedd by three members elected in 2021:
Ken Skates (Welsh Labour) in Clwyd South, first elected in 2011
Darren Millar (Welsh Conservatives) in Clwyd West, first elected in 2007
Gareth Davies (Welsh Conservatives) in Vale of Clwyd, first elected in 2021.
In 2019, research by UnHerd in association with the pollster FocalData showed that most people across the county support the British monarchy.