Derwen is a small village situated around six miles south west of Ruthin. The village has two places of worship. St. Mary's church (NPRN 165245) is in the village centre and has evidence of 13th century origins. Derwen Welsh Calvinistic Methodist chapel (NPRN 7562) is located a little to the north west of the village. It was originally built in 1843 and rebuilt in 1908. Historic 6inch and 25inch OS maps indicate that at the turn of the twentieth century Derwen had a National School, a public house called the Blue Bell and a railway station half a mile to the south east of the village centre, on the Denbigh, Conwy and Ruthin railway. All three amenities have long since closed.

According to Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust, 'recent place-name authorities have assumed that there was a prominent oak tree near to where the various minor lanes converged on the hamlet. It was recorded as Derinney in 1254, but as Derwen in 1291. A longer version, Ll. Derewenenyall (1392) and Derwenynial (1535), incorporates an element which is seen as a version of anial meaning `desolate? or `wild?, rather than the commote known as Ial which lay well over to the east.Nothing is known of the emergence and subsequent development of Derwen. The truncated curvilinear churchyard hints at an early medieval foundation, and it is perhaps likely that the present dedication to St Mary is not original but was imposed on an already existing church after the Norman Conquest, but such an early beginning requires corroboration. And even with a church here in the Middle Ages we cannot assume that there was a settlement around
it. In the late 17th century Edward Lhuyd termed it Lhan Dherwen, and stated that there were only about 4 or 5 houses by the church. The mid 19th-century Tithe survey presented a similar picture with 4 houses (or pairs of houses) on the lane circumnavigating the churchyard.'
Sources: Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust report no. 1257 'Historic settlements in Denbighshire' by R J Silvester, C H R Martin and S E Watson, published in March 2014 (p.38-39); modern and historic OS maps; Coflein database
M. Ryder, RCAHMW, 7th January 2019.