According to Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust: 'Cerrigydrudion lies on the A5, five miles south-east of Pentrefoelas and nine miles north-west of Corwen. A number of roads converge on the A5 at Cerrigydrudion: the B5105 Ruthin road from the east, the B450 Denbigh road from the north, and a minor road from the south. The village lies immediately to the south of the upland plateaux known as Mynydd Hiraethog or alternatively the Denbigh Moors uplands. It is situated on gently rising ground on the north side of the valley of the little Nug, a tributary of the River Ceirw. [...] The earliest reference to the place is as Kerricedrudeon in 1199 (in a document of 1232). The Norwich Taxation of 1254 has Kericdrudion and Pope Nicholas? Taxation of 1291 corrupts it into Kerrye Edrudeon, both relating to the church. Minor variant forms appeared throughout the Middle Ages and in Tudor times, while the modern version of the name, as Cerrig y Druidion was recorded in 1673. Modern place-name authorities translate the name in English as "stones of the heroes", and Samuel Lewis glossed this in 1833, claiming that the name was "an allusion to a vast heap of stones which several persons now alive remember to have seen on the west side of the church...but now entirely dispersed." Perhaps inevitably, too there was antiquarian speculation of a tie in with the druids, hence the spelling of 1673. Whether the presence of the church at Cerrigydrudion attracted settlement in the Middle Ages wishing to travel from the valley of the Clwyd westwards to the Conwy had to avoid the wastes of Hiraethog, which probably meant having to follow either a coastal route or the valley of the Ceirw, so Cerrigydrudion may not have been quite as remote as it initially appears. That the trackway along the valley looped to the north of Cerrigydrudion and continued on to Cefn Brith rather than going through the village itself, is probably not significant in terms of settlement development. In 1699 in a response to Edward Lhuyd it was
reported that there were seven or eight houses around the church, a larger number than some
other villages in the region at the end of the 17th century.
Samuel Lewis in 1833 recorded that the village was small and the inhabitants occupied themselves in the breeding of cattle and sheep, the digging of peat for fuel, the spinning of woollen yarn and the knitting of stockings. At the time of the Tithe survey in 1848, the village was a small compact settlement, with most of the houses congregated around the junction of roads at the centre. Buildings included the church, Lion Inn and King's Head Inn. The plan of the roads has remained unchanged since that time. To the south of the village centre, in the valley bottom, was another cluster of buildings - houses, cottages and barns.'
The first edition of the 25inch OS maps, published in 1875, shows that Cerrigydrudion had (from north to south) Sion Wesleyan Methodist chapel (NPRN 7558); a school for girls and a separate school for boys(NPRN 411379); the Lion Hotel; St. Mary Magdalen's church (NPRN 309579); The Queen's Head Inn (NPRN 27834); Almshouses (NPRN 26761); a police station; the Saracen's Head Hotel and Jerusalem Calvinistic Methodist chapel (NPRN97330). Little had changed by the time the second edition of the 25inch OS maps was published in 1900. Rather than being divided by gender, the schools were now recorded as 'school' and 'Infant School.' The Lion Hotel had become the White Lion Hotel. Cerrigydrudion had also acquired a post office, a smithy and a new chapel - Moreia Welsh Independent chapel (NPRN 7553). On the 3rd edition of the 25inch maps, published in 1913, the only significant change that occurred in Ceririgydrudion was that the congregation of Jerusalem Calvinistic Methodists chapel had moved into a new building (NPRN 7556) slightly north of the original, which was now labelled 'Rhen Gapel - the old chapel.
In the twenty-first century, the new Jerusalem chapel remains open for services, as do the church and Moreia Welsh Independent chapel. The White Lion public house remains open, although the Queen's Head Inn has closed. In 2017, the Saracen's Head's license to sell alcohol was revoked, after staff 'sold alcohol to underage drinkers and failed to control them when things got out of hand.' At the northern edge of the village there is a fire station, an 'education centre' (which provides activities such as a youth club; fitness classes; mother and baby groups; Merched y Wawr; choirs; drama clubs and IT courses) and a primary school educating approximately ninety pupils aged three to eleven. Other amenities in Cerrigydrudion include a cafe, a village shop and post office, a butcher, and a small library. The village's bank, HSBC, closed on 13th November 2015 because 'use of the branch had fallen significantly over the past few years'
Sources: modern and historic OS maps; Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust 'Historic Settlement Survey ? eastern Conwy - 2014'; North Wales Live articles - 'Bank closure "will force people to make 30-mile round trip to cash machine"' published 24 August 2015 and 'Last orders for Conwy pub caught flogging drink to children who ended up fighting' published 20th January 2017; Estyn report on Ysgol Cerrigydrudion published April 2016; www.conwy.gov.uk - information about the education centre and the library.
M. Ryder, RCAHMW, 11th December 2018.