Category Archives: Ecclesiastical history

The peaceful ruins of the 1198 Cymer Cistercian Abbey, Dolgellau

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Cymer Abbey. Source: Coflein

The quiet remains of Cymer Abbey lie in a scenic valley on the edge of a shallow, bubbling stretch of the river Mawddach, which itself evokes tranquillity and peace.   In spite of being approached via a caravan park, it is a truly idyllic spot.  Cymer Abbey, Kymer deu dyfyr, meaning “meeting of the waters” and dedicated to the Virgin Mary was founded in 1198 and was one of the northernmost Cistercian abbeys in Wales.

An abbey consists of a  church and monastery headed by an abbot and populated by monks.  Because the monks were resident, usually for life, an abbey contains not merely the architectural components required for worship and contemplation, but the structures required for everyday living and self-improvement, including premises for cooking, eating, sleeping, meeting, learning and punishing.  An abbey was designed to be self-sufficient, and therefore had an important economic component to support its religious and cultural endeavours.

The Cistercians

A 12th Century interpretation of St Benedict delivering his monastic rule in the 6th Century AD.  Source:  Wikipedia, via Monastery of St. Gilles, Nimes France (1129)

The Cistercian order of monks spread through Wales during the 12th Century AD.   The European tradition of monastic living had a long heritage, based on the teachings of St Benedict of Monte Cassino in Italy in the 6th Century AD, who set down rules for monastic life, the standards to which subsequent Benedictine monastic orders adhered.  As the monastic life spread through Europe, new orders were brought into being, most of them adaptations of the Benedictine rules, but modified to reflect their own ideologies and beliefs about how best to serve God.  During the early Middle Ages, the Cistercians believed in devotion combined with hard work, an ethic at odds with the more opulent and self-indulgent Benedictine Cluniac order that was becoming dominant in France, and believed, unlike St Benedict himself, that hard work deterred from the celebration of God, and instead invested in ostentatious architecture decorated with stained glass windows, art works and precious metals, carrying out extensive and elaborate liturgical rituals, using music and song, as ways of glorifying god.

Johann Petr Molitor, Cistercian monks, murals in the Capitular Hall, Cistercian Abbey Osek, North Bohemia, before 1756. Source: Wikipedia, from the Cistercian Abbey of Osek, North Bohemia

The prosperous and comfortable Cluniac repelled many for whom the initial Benedictine vision was nearer to Christ.  The Carthusians and Cistercians were both breakaway orders that sought to return to a more honest monastic life in which humility, obedience and hard work were combined with prayer and learning.  Initially, the Cistercians embraced a much simpler way of life than contemporary orders, inspired directly by St Benedict and by the simple and sacrificial life described by Christ himself.  They established their abbeys in very remote areas, isolated themselves from urban life, and from the associated temptations.  Their undyed white tunics and cowls were an instant visual differentiator from the black tunics of other Benedictine orders, and lead to them being referred to as the White Monks.  Different roles were assigned to different monks, such as the cellarer who controlled all food and drink for the entire abbey, the novice master, and the sacrist who was responsible for the upkeep of the church.  All were were considered to be equal in status.   The abbot was in overall charge of the monastery, and his orders were law, but he slept in the same dormitory as the other monks.

The river Mawddach at Cymer Abbey

The monks worked the fields, engaged in building projects, and processed the harvest.  They were assisted by lay brothers, uneducated and lower order members of the monastic community who ate, slept and worshipped in different places from the monks, and were not given access to certain parts of the abbey.  Food was simple and plain.  Meat was not consumed, and most of the protein consumed by monks came from beans, fish, eggs and cheese.  Meat was banned by the Benedictines due to the dangers of its encouraging carnal passions, because monks were required to be celibate.  The importance of fish in the diet, as well as the requirement for fresh drinking water, meant that many abbeys, like Cymer, were built near to rivers.

By the later Middle Ages, most of the stricter Cistercian rules were relaxed, and the abbot slept in his own quarters, sometimes a separate building altogether, the monks rarely worked the land themselves, and meat was consumed along with a much more elaborate selection of foodstuffs.  The plagues of the 14th Century wiped out what remained of the lay brotherhood, and their work was carried out by servants.

The Welsh Cistercians

12th Century links between Cistercian monasteries. Source: Evans, D.H. Valle Crucis Abbey (Cadw).  Although Citeaux, the node for all Cistercian abbeys, established early new bases in France, it was Clairvaux under the lead of St Bernard that was responsible for the earliest new abbeys in Wales.  Of these Whitland was the most important for the northward spread of monasticism.  The green lines emanating from Savigny reflect the Savignac order, which merged with the Cistercians after only 20 years, in 1147. So although Basingwerk in the north and Neath in the south were founded as Savignac orders, after 1147 they were brought under the rule of  the Cistercians at Citeaux.

In southwest Wales, Whitland Abbey, which had been established from France in 1140, provided monks for new abbeys for the southwest of Wales, mid Wales, north Wales and southwest Ireland.  A new abbey required an endowment by a donor, someone with enough land and wealth to give some of it away in return for the prayers offered by the monks for the souls of the donor and his family.   Monks were considered to have a hotline to God.  Having dedicated their lives to Him, and living sin-free lives, they built up a surplus of virtue and influence that could be employed on behalf of the living in order to provide for them in the afterlife, an intercession to minimize the impact of sins committed in life.  Many early abbeys in England were sponsored by English royalty, but two distinct strands of monastic tradition were established in Wales after the Norman conquest.

Alternating courses of thin and big stone in the north wall

In Wales, earlier versions of monasticism predated the Benedictines, but were much more modest in scope.  The Benedictine version of monastic life, based on the model of the abbey, came to Wales in two movements.  In southeast Wales, new abbeys were established in the wake of the Norman conquest and had a distinctly Anglo-Norman flavour.   A second strand of monastic spread in Wales began at the Cistercian Whitland (Abaty Hendy-gwyn ar Daf) founded in 1140 by monks from St Bernard’s abbey at Clairvaux, second only to the Cistercians’ founding abbey at Citeaux.  Whitland spawned a series of abbeys that were funded by the native Welsh princes and were populated almost exclusively by Welsh monks, a pura Wallia (Welsh Wales) version of Cistercian monasticism.  By establishing new daughter abbeys under its authority, Whitland spread the Cistercian order into the poorer and more remote areas of Wales, where monks could practise their devotions in isolation but were still near enough to manors and villages to enable them to trade their produce, mainly agricultural, in exchange for the basics required for sustaining the abbey.  Cymer, for example, traded its wool and horses to the court of Llewyllyn ap Gruffud.

Cymer Abbey

Arches defining the north aisle of the church

Although the foundation charter has been lost, it is known that Cymer was founded with an endowment by Maredudd ap Cynan, Lord of Merioneth, and possibly his brother Gruffudd ap Cynan.  A charter of 1209, issued by Llewellyn ap Iorwerth, confirmed the grants and privileges of the abbey and validating its claims of ownership.

In the usual pattern, the first monks for the new abbey came from an existing abbey, in this case Cwmhir Abbey in mid Wales, itself founded from the mother house at Whitland in 1176.  Other monks could then join from the local area, paying a single fee for their clothing, food and to begin their training as novices.  The fee was not insubstantial, and although the monks took a vow of poverty, they were not themselves poor people before joining the abbey.   As it happens, Cymer was one of the less economically viable of the Welsh abbeys and was therefore unable to support a large number of monks, and these monks would have lead a relatively impoverished lifestyle compared with those in wealthier Welsh abbeys like Strata Florida or Abbey Crucis.

Abbeys followed a standardized plan, with a cruciform church making up one side of a four-sided complex that surrounded a square section of grass or garden (the garth).  Around the garth was a walkway, usually covered, called the cloister.  This connected all the buildings, and also served as a processional way. Cymer differs from the standard layout in a number of ways.

Cadw site plan showing the surviving stonework in grey and brown, and the possible abbots lodging, as well as the missing section of the abbey

First, the abbey had both church and cloister, as well as the required buildings around the cloister, but the church as it survives today was not the standard cross-shaped arrangement.  This is significant.  Only the nave and the choir section, the piece that made up the long part of the cross has been found, even after 19th Century and more recent excavations.  The nave was where the lay brethren prayed.  Beyond a division across the nave to separate the public area from the private (the pulpitum), were usually the opposing transepts, two wings that made up the arms of the cross, with a tower built over the central section.  Then, beyond this section, were the all-important choir and high altar where the most important rituals were enacted.  These parts were exclusive to the monks, and provided access to the cloister and the upstairs dormitory.  At Cymer the nave served the multiple role of nave, choir and chancel/sanctuary.  The missing, exclusive section of the church (transepts, tower, choir and high altar) means either that this was destroyed in the past, or that it was never built.  Most analysts favour the latter explanation, which suggests that the abbey was not endowed with a sufficient initial investment, and that its estates were not sufficiently profitable to enable the abbey to be built.

Truncated abbey church, seen from the refectory.

Normally, the church was the first building to be constructed in stone, with other accommodation built of wood until the church was complete, but at Cymer the ancillary buildings were built in stone even though the church was apparently incomplete, so it is all something of a puzzle.  However, the small rectangle that made up the 13th Century church seems to have done the job of a larger entity, with the nave (reserved for the laity and visitors) at the west end, the monk’s choir in the middle, and the presbytery / chancel / sanctuary (the area around the high altar) at the end.  The church was also divided into three sections length-ways by two aisles flanking the main central portion of the church (known as a basilica layout), achieved by adding columns and arches.  At the business end of the church, where the monks worshipped eight times during the day and night, were some small decorative features, such as ornamental capitals at the top of columns.  The main arch into the cloister was also slightly ornamental, and a tiny rose window topped the east end, but in keeping with Cistercian principles, there were few other ornamental flourishes, and although the abbey had a few pieces of fine silver ware, there would have been no stained glass, art works or tapestries.

The 14th Century tower

At a later date, in the fourteenth century, it was quite clearly thought that a tower was a basic requirement and that its absence was a detriment, so a small tower was added (shown on the above plan in brown).  Bizarrely, however, it was added at the wrong end.  The church was usually orientated west to east, the entrance at the west and the choir and high altar at the east.  The tower sat between east and west ends, at the point where the arms of the cross intersected with the main run of the church.  The new tower, however, was put at the west end where the  main entrance from the outside world would have been positioned.  It was small and understated in terms of its overall dimensions, but its walls were immensely thick.  It was provided with corner buttresses and was clearly built to last.

The cloister appears to have followed the standard Cistercian format.  The most important room was the Chapter House, which was on the east side of the cloister.  Here, every day for around 15-30 minutes, the monks sat on benches along the walls to hear the abbot, who sat on a raised platform, read a chapter from the rules of the order, and to discuss the upcoming business of the day.  Confessions were made and punishments decided upon.  Next to the Chapter House was often a book cupboard, where important religious texts and treatises were kept, and in some abbeys copied for wider distribution.  Between the Chapter House and the church was usually a sacristy, which held the vestments and other essentials for the daily liturgies that took place in the church.  At the other end of the Chapter House was the day room, a heated room where monks could seek respite in the cold winter months.

Cadw sign at Cymer Abbey showing an artist’s impression of the 14th Century abbey

Above this east range of rooms was usually the monks’ dormitory and latrines.  Although the abbot would have slept with the monks in the early years, by the 15th Century at Cymer he had his own house, over the site of which a farmhouse now stands.  Against the cloister wall shared with the church were often desks to enable reading and copying.    At the far end of the cloister, opposite the church, was the refectory.  At some abbeys this is perpendicular to the line of the cloister, sticking out, but at Cymer it lies along the cloister.  A stone lavatorium (washing trough or bowl) would have been close by, often in the garth, and monks ritually purified their hands with water before eating.   It is not clear what made up the west range, but it could have included, for example, the kitchen, the cellarer’s office and the lay brothers’ day room and refectory. 

Water channel running down the middle of the refectory

Cistercian abbeys were known for their skills diverting and using water.  At Cymer a v-shaped channel drew water off the river and diverted it through the refectory.  It still flows today.

The monastery was never one of the Cistercians’ more successful establishments.  In fact, it was probably one of the most understated and impoverished of the abbeys.  Most of the successful abbeys supported themselves by farming, selling wool from herds of sheep, horse breeding, tithes (a special tax on householders that supported church establishments), by taking income from estates that they owned, and by personal donations.  Its contemporary, Valle Crucis near Llangollen, founded in 1201, benefitted from all of these sources of income, but Cymer was always a very modest outpost of the Cistercian world.  Cymer lacked the big grange estates that supported Valle Crucis, had little agricultural land and few fishing rights, although it did sell its wool and horses to the prince Llewellyn ap Iorwerth (died 1240).  Most of its properties were in mountainous areas, including Llanelltyd, Llanfachreth, Llanegryn and Neigwl on the Lleyn peinsula.  Dairying seems to have been a primary activity, and Llewellyn’s charter mentions metallurgy and mining, which is surprising for such a small establishment.   Cistercian abbeys all owned loyalty to the founding abbey in France, Citeaux.   Cash was clearly short.  Every year abbots were required to visit Citeaux to participate in the General Chapter, a vast gathering of abbots and other monastic leaders that served to ensure obedience to the order and to reinforce its rules.  In 1274, the abbot of Cymer had to borrow a sum of £12.00 (today about 8,757, the equivalent of 15 horses or 34 cows) from Llewellyn ap Gruffud (died c.1282) to enable him to undertake the expense of the journey.

There were multiple difficulties establishing an abbot who could be trusted to run the abbey, and these resulted in disputes that would not have helped the fortunes of the abbey:

In 1443, John ap Rhys left office at Cymer and appeared as an abbot in Strata Florida Abbey. In his place a John Cobbe was chosen, but Rhys did not think to give up Cymer and banished his successor. This led to the taking of the convent and his new abbot Richard Kirby under royal custody. Once again, the monarch’s supervision was necessary in 1453. During this period, the abbey’s income was valued at a very small amount of £ 15 of annual income. Despite the royal interventions, disputes over the appointment of the abbot’s office continued at the end of the 15th century. In 1487, there was even excommunication by the general chapter of one of the monks, William, because of his self-proclaimed election. Despite this, in 1491 he was again mentioned in the documents as abbot of Cymer. Lewis ap Thomas was the last superior of the monastery since 1517. [from Janusz Michalew’s Ancient and Medieval Architecture]

The entrance from the south aisle of the church into the cloister. Only monks were permitted to use this.

It is also clear that Cymer suffered during military conflicts, which cannot have helped its fortunes.  Some of its buildings were burned during one of Henry III’s campaigns.  Llewellyn ap Gruffud made the monastery his military headquarters in  both 1275 and 1279, and  only a few years later Edward I occupied the abbey in 1284.  There are records that Edward paid £80.00 compensation to Cymer for damages inflicted during the occupation.  Today this is equivalent to £55,525 (around 94 horses or 177 heads of cattle).  By 1379 only an abbot and four monks were resident at the abbey.   In Henry VIII’s 1536 evaluation of the value of abbeys, the abbey was valued at only £51 13s and 4d (around £6,913 today, enough to purchase 3 horses or 12 cows). [Currency conversions from the National Archives Currency Convertor].  

Double archway from the main body of the church into the north aisle.

In the early 16th Century Henry VIII had fallen out with the Pope over his wished-for divorce from Catherine of Aragon.  As the head of the church in England and Wales, Pope
Clement VII was the only person who could rubber stamp the divorce.  Henry was fortunate that the Protestant movement started by Luther was taking shape in Europe, and in order to remove himself from the power of the Pope, he aligned himself with the new movement and declared himself the head of the Church of England.  No longer owing any loyalty to Catholic institutions, he set out to value them as economic units, a survey called the Valor Ecclesiasticus, and in 1536 announced that any abbeys with an income less than £200.00 should be “suppressed” under the Act of Suppression.  This effectively meant that they were closed as monastic establishments, their valuables sold or melted down.  Some villages took over the church, whilst some were given or leased to new owners.  The grandeur of some of the abbeys proved to be very attractive to some new owners.  If abandoned, the lead used in roofs and drainage stripped, leaving them vulnerable to the weather.  As a small abbey, Cymer was a victim of this first round of suppressions, and was closed in 1536/37.  Other, much larger and prestigious abbeys were disbanded over the following years.

Facing stones on one of the arches dividing the main nave from the north aisle

Although Christianity and spiritual concerns were still important in both urban and village life, there does not appear to have been much public resistance to the closure of abbeys.  The  central role of monasteries in caring for the souls of the rich had gone into decline, but the abbeys were still important parts of economic and social life, engaging in trade, dispensing charity, caring for the sick and welcoming pilgrims.  It was still considered to be good to have all that spirituality on one’s doorstep.  Still, the rumblings generated by Martin Luther, whose views on all the liturgies, prayers and rituals that took place in abbeys were soon well known (he referred to them as “dumb ceremonies”), and his comments on the Catholic fixation on saints and relics as “mere superstition,” were finding attentive audiences throughout Europe.  In fact, the world was becoming rather less superstitious as time went on and knowledge began to supplement if not replace faith.   The world in which the monasteries operated was changing, and Henry VIII gave the world a far from subtle push in a completely new direction.

The left-side lancet window at the east end of the church

Although some abbots and priors stood up for their institutions against the Act of Suppression, that was always, in practical if not spiritual terms, a mistake – they were usually killed and their establishments destroyed.  In the north of England a 30,000-strong protest descended on York demanding that their monasteries remained open.  Henry VIII promised that the grievances of the protestors would be heard if they would return to their homes, but 200 people regarded as central to the protest were rounded up and killed.

Other religious leaders and their followers, either due to fear or pragmatism, counted their blessings and accepted the radical change if not happily, at least without active resistance.  Some abbots and priors jumped on Henry’s bandwagon and went to work elsewhere in the new church structure, whilst the remainder of the individuals in the monastic community, male and female, were pensioned off.  The immense wealth that Henry amassed with the sudden acquisition of the abbeys, their lands and their treasures was eventually spent on wars.

At the east end of the abbey, in the south aisle, an arched recess is provided with touches of decorative red sandstone.  These touches give an idea of how the abbey achieved some degree of ornamentation without the opulence of cathedrals and Cluniac abbeys.

Apparently someone, possibly the abbot, attempted to save some of the abbey’s dignity (or secure himself a nice pension) by hiding Cymer’s ecclesiastical plate, consisting of a 13th Century silver gilt chalice and paten, under a stone at Cwm-y-Mynach.  Whatever the motive, whether to return it to the abbey’s headquarters at Citeaux, or to melt it down for personal benefit, it was never retrieved.  Like most of the portable heritage of North Wales, it found its way to the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff.  I have been unable to find out if it is still there, or to find an image of it.

Following dissolution, the property was leased to John Powes, “royal servant,”  but not until May 1558.  It was probably robbed for building stone for surrounding farm buildings and dry-stone walling, and once the roof either fell into disrepair or was robbed for tiles or lead, exposure would have led to rapid deterioration.

Detail of one of the capitals, in red sandstone (detail of the above photograph).

East end of the truncated church

Spiral staircase in the 14th Century tower leading to – where? There was presumably an upper floor in the tower.

Remains of the spiral staircase in the 14th Century tower

East end of the church

Farmhouse that lies over the site of the site of what is thought to be the abbot’s quarters

 

 

Visiting

Cymer Abbey is easy to reach.  It lies just off the A487 north of Dolgellau and is well sign-posted.  After driving through a small caravan park, there are two very attractive farm buildings, and a small parking area.  Both parking and access to the abbey ruins are free of charge.  There is an information board showing the main features of the abbey.

The river Mawddach, which was a ford during Medieval times, had a lovely road bridge built over it in the 18th Century, which is now a foot bridge.  A car park on the Cymer side of Llanelltyd bridge is provided for those walking to the New Precipice Walk above the village of Llanelltyd on the other side of the bridge.  The views from the bridge, both over the river and over the surrounding countryside, are well worth adding to the abbey visit.  The bridge could do with a bit of maintenance, as the roots from the shrubs embedded into its brickwork will start to pull the mortar out and undermine the structure of the bridge.

 


Sources:

Books and papers

Burton, J. 1994.  Monastic and Religious Orders in Britain 1000-1300. Cambridge Medieval Textbooks. Cambridge University Press.

Burton, J. and Kerr, J. 2011.  The Cistercians in the Middle Ages.  Boydell Press

Davis, S.J.  2018.  Monasticism.  A Very Short Introduction.  Oxford University Press

Evans D.H. 2008, Valle Crucis Abbey, Cadw 2008

Gascoigne, B.  2003 (2nd edition).  A Brief History of Christianity. Robinson

Gies, F. and Gies, J.  1990. Life in a Medieval Village.  Harper

Gilingham, J, and Griffiths, R.A. 1984, 2000.  Medieval Britain. A Very Short Introduction.  Oxford University Press

Krüger, K. (ed.) 2012.  Monasteries and Monastic Orders. 2000 years of Christian Art and Culture.  H.F. Ullmann.

Livingstone, E.A. 2006 (Revised 2nd edition).  Concise Dictionary of the  Christian Church.  Oxford University Press

Robinson, D.M. 1995 (2nd edition). Cymer Abbey. Cadw

Robinson, D.M and Harrison, S. 2006.  Cistercian Cloisters in England and Wales Part I: Essay. Journal of the British Archaeological Association, 159:1, p.131-207


Websites

Coflein
Cymer Abbey
https://coflein.gov.uk/en/site/95420?term=cymer%20abbey

Ancient and Medieval Architecture – by Janusz Michalew
Llanelltyd – Cymer Abbey
https://medievalheritage.eu/en/main-page/heritage/wales/llanelltyd-cymer-abbey/ 

English Heritage
The Dissolution
https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/learn/histories/dissolution/

Monastic Wales
Cymer Abbey
https://www.monasticwales.org/browsedb.php?func=showsite&siteID=27

Open Yale Courses (Yale University, Connecticut)
The Early Middle Ages, 284–1000 (course given by Professor Paul H. Freedman)
https://oyc.yale.edu/history/hist-210

Vintage Postcards #24: The 1894 school on Pen Y Bryn

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The school on Pen Y Bryn prior to the posting date of 1909

The former school in around 1977, minus many original features

I was puzzled when I saw this building in other photographs of the village, because it looked to me like a Nonconformist chapel, but I had no recollection of seeing it.  Local residents Dai and Helen Williams told me that it was once a school and has now been converted to apartments.  I vaguely recalled that in my general reading about chapels, there had been a small chapel on the side of Pen Y Bryn, the small hill with the folly on top, and that this was converted to or replaced by a school.

Aberdovey in the late 1880s/early 1890s, from the book Round The Coast

Sure enough, Hugh M. Lewis (who attended the school) says that the school replaced a small Congregational Chapel called Capel Bach (Low Chapel) that had been built on the site in 1845. In the photograph to the right it is shown overlooking the sea at the very far right of the scene.  The photograph, from the book Round the Coast, is described on an earlier post.  The chapel was abandoned when the Congregationalists built a bigger chapel on the seafront, on Glandyfi Terrace, opposite today’s Information Centre, where it still stands (you can read about the Congregationalist buildings in Aberdovey on an earlier post).

Lewis says that the old chapel was knocked down in order to erect a purpose-built school that cost £600.00 and opened in January 1894 with 102 pupils.  The building is rendered today, but was presumably built of local stone, and has brick features around the windows.  The bell at the front of the school was used to call children to attend, in the same way that church bells call congregations to worship.  Playgrounds were segregated, one for girls and one for boys.  This was not the first school in the village, and I’ll talk about education, which was influenced by religious interests, on a future post.  I love the washing hanging on the line in the foreground – not a usual feature of picture postcards these day, unless you happen to be in Venice.

Other buildings of note are also shown in the photograph, all covered on earlier posts.  At the far left is the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, and in the middle of the photograph, now Dovey Marine, the roof of Calvinistic Methodist Chapel in the middle of Chapel Square is just visible.  In the background, the tower of St Peter’s Church is clearly visible, and just beyond and set above it, the Calvinist Tabernacl dominates.

I realized that it had to be somewhere near the footpath from Chapel Square up to Pen-Y-Bryn, and when I walked up there, it turns out that one side sits along the footpath.  The photographs above were taken from the footpath and from Pen-Y-Bryn.

The card is by Sir Evelyn Wrench’s early postcard company (about whom more on an earlier post).  Wrench had been out of business for five years when this postcard was posted in 1909 from Aberdovey to an address in the village of Bawdeswell near East Dereham, Norfolk.  This says a lot about the dangers of using postmarks to date photographs on postcards!

Main Source:

Hugh M. Lewis.  Aberdyfi Portrait of a Village.

View of the interior of the Calvinist Tabernacl of 1864 on Sea View Terrace

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With many, many thanks to Dai and Helen Williams for getting in touch and lending me this superb photograph of the interior of the Calvinist Methodist Tabernacl on Sea View Terrace, built in 1864 to replace their earlier chapel in Chapel Square.  I have updated my earlier post about the chapel with this photograph, but for those who have already read it, it seemed a good idea to post the photograph separately as well.  It shows not only the organ and the pews, as well as some of the decorative features, but also, to the left, the gallery.  It quite clearly had a magnificent interior, now converted to apartments.

Calvinistic Methodist Tabernacl, 1864

St Peter’s Church, Aberdovey (built 1842)

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St Peter’s Church

St Peter’s Church is the Anglican Parish Church (Church in Wales / Yr Eglwys yng Nghymru).  It was built in 1842.  According to Hugh M. Lewis (Aberdyfi: Portrait of a Village) it was established on the site of a preceding Chapel of Ease, built in 1837.  A wooden sign has been retained at the base of the tower of St Peter’s which says that the Chapel of Ease could seat 372 people, and that 186 places were “appropriated free sittings,” meaning that they were not allocated to any one family or business, and were exempt from any rental of pews that might be paid for the upkeep of the church and its clergy.  The church was built on the site of a row of former thatched cottages called Tai Pen Shelff, which were in the process of demolition by the time they were shown in the following 1834 sketch (from the Hugh M. Lewis booklet Aberdyfi, A Glimpse of the Past). The main entrance of the church faces out over the mouth of the Dyfi estuary on Sea View Terrace, and can also be accessed via Church Street to its rear, through the churchyard. 

Aberdovey in 1834, the site of St Peter’s (Source: A Pictorial History of Aberdyfi by Hugh M. Lewis 1989)

St Peter’s Church Interior

St Peter’s has an instantly recognizable appearance typical of Anglican churches in England and Wales, with a square bell tower topped with crenellations, a chancel, simple lancet windows along each side, a big arched stained glass window at the east end in the chancel with three others on the south side of the church, and a slate roof.  Set on a site above the road, it has a very prominent position in the centre of the village, with the main churchyard extending in a slope at the rear of the church towards a gateway on Church Street. The style is Gothic Revival and it is made of local stone with bathstone dressings. The interior layout is straight forward with a west tower, a simple nave, a rather fine tiled aisle along the nave, and a vestry incorporated into the north side. The bell tower was fitted with two bells, the largest of which was inscribed to the Reverend Richard Scot, BD. The smaller was simply inscribed with the year 1838. The church is Grade 2 listed. 

The view from St Peter’s Church over the busy wharf in 1850 (Source: A Pictorial History of Aberdyfi by Hugh M. Lewis 1989)

The new church, with its own newly appointed vicar, substantially altered the character of the sea front, unlike the earlier Calvinistic Methodist and Wesleyan Methodist chapels, which were set back from the road in Chapel Square (at that date Copperhill Square).  The view to the right shows St Peter’s in relation to the busy heart of Aberdovey, its wharf and jetty.  Increasing import and export activity translated into growing demand from an expanding population and a growing number of visitors, which resulted in the addition of the new chancel with a hammer roof and and two stained glass windows in 1890.  The chancel has a very Victorian feel to it, with plenty of wood carving and the incorporation of ecclesiastical symbolism including the crossed keys symbolizing St Peter and the chi-rho representing the first two letters, in the Greek alphabet, of ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ, Christ.  The wooden altar rail features a set of motifs picked out in gold.

Altar Rail

The Creed and Paternoster

The main entrance to the church is a doorway in the south side of the west tower, overlooking the sea.  A flight of stairs in the tower leads up to the bell chamber, and the commemorative wooden plaque that was installed when the Chapel of Ease was built is preserved on the wall at the foot of the stairs.  Entering the nave, above the west doorway, on each side, are the Creed and the Paternoster, both written in Welsh. The interior is relatively plain, but has a number of features of note.  At the east end of the church, The Ten Commandments are displayed in Welsh either side of the the rood arch that separates the the nave from the chancel.

St Peter’s statined glass

There are four stained glass windows, of which only one dates to the original construction.  The window to the right of the door, depicts John 21:15 “Feed my lambs,” made by Ward and Hughes, in 1873.  At the far end of the nave, also on the right, is an original window from 1837 by David Evans, with a  simple but very attractive pattern framing plain glass.  On the south side of the chancel there is a small window with another finely coloured scene showing the the Good Shepherd, by James Powell and Sons and designed by Frank Mann.  At the far end, above the altar and dominating the church, is a window by James Powell showing a series of narratives, dominated by Matthew 19:14 “Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven,”  which was installed in 1890 and bears at its base the inscription “In Loving Memory of Maria Jane Pugh of Craigydon Who Died December 15th 1872.”

St Peter’s Church Organ

The organ chamber was added in 1907, with an organ built by Brindley & Foster.  Charles Brindley started the business and was joined by Foster in 1854.  Brindley trained in Germany, probably under the renowned organ builder Edmund Schulze.  He went on to set up his first workshop in Sheffield, employing German organ builders.  He was soon joined by organist and voicer (a person who regulates organ pipes) A. Healey Foster, and between them they continued to improve the design, technical sophistication and reliability of the organs that they produced.  At the International Invention Exhibition of 1885 they were awarded a silver medal for excellence.  Charles Brindley retired in 1887 and died in 1893 but was replaced by his son who, with Foster, continued to make improvements, with two major innovations in 1902 and 1904.  From 1885 a total of 18 patents were filed and between 1909 and 1914 they built an organ every month on average, but in the post-World War I years they struggled and the company eventually went into receivership in 1936.  The organ’s electric pump was added in 1934 in memory of Hugh Copner Wynne-Edwards, contributed by his wife.

Memorial to Mrs  Scott

As with most Anglican churches, a number of memorials line the walls of the nave. The ornate Gothic style memorial to Mrs Susan Scott is of particular interest, having been contributed by her pupils.  Over a period of twenty years Mrs Scott ran a boarding school for young ladies to teach them social graces in the building now known as Penhelig Lodge, which has been discussed on an earlier post.  It is difficult to make out the inscription in the adjacent photograph, but as well as listing her parentage it reads: “Died in Penhelig on the XIV day December MDCCCXLII in the LXV year of her age.  In testimony of their admiration of her character, gratitude for her affectionate and maternal care, this tablet is erected by some of her pupils who are sensible that they shall best perpetuate her memory by conforming their lives in her excellent example.”  The size of the memorial and the warmth and sincerity of the message say much about how Mrs Scott was regarded by her pupils.  The rest of the memorials are fairly plain plaques in brass or stone, commemorating people who died elsewhere, former vicars and parishioners, all beautifully kept.

Memorials

In 2014 a conservation project was started to restore the late 19th Century soft furnishings in the church, of which the Celtic cross that hangs from the pulpit is a particularly fine example (see photographs at the end of the post).  The Glorias meet on the first Monday of the month from 2pm-4pm in the church.  Anyone with an interest in sewing or embroidery is very welcome to join.

The bells of St Peter’s (Source: Aberdyfi, Portrait of a Village by Hugh. M. Lewis.

At the time of the church’s construction a gallery was installed, but this was removed in 1907, the same year that the organ was installed.  In 1936, ready for the centenary of the establishment of the Chapel of Ease in 1937, the Reverend Alfred Abel placed on order with bellfounders John Taylor for 10 chime bells on which the famous song The Bells of Aberdyfi (described on an earlier post) could be played.  Donations contributed £600.00 (in today’s money approximately £30,397) for the set of bells that are played by a carillon, a keyboard-like device with wooden keys called batons that are connected to individual bells and can be used to produce quite complex tunes.  The bells are each engraved with a dedication.  The smallest is 1ft 3.5ins in diameter, and the largest is 3ft 1in.   They were formally dedicated in a service held on 27th June 1937.

One of the running themes of the church is how important donations were to maintaining and upgrading the church throughout the 19th Century and early 20th Century.  Examples include the furnishing of the new chancel, the stained glass window over the altar, the electric pump for the organ and the new set of bells.  All are indications of both how central the church was to the Anglican members of the community.

St Peter’s Church porch

The rectangular churchyard is entered via a gate through an archway in a stone porch on Sea View Terrace.  The gate is topped with a lovely curvilinear wrought iron feature with curving leaves and a central circular panel topped with a cross bearing the Welsh words, in gold, “ER  COF AM A. ABEL FICER 1931 -1945,” meaning, roughly, “In memory of A. Abel, vicar 1931-1945”  The porch is topped by a sun dial. 

According to the church website, repair work took place in 2010 following a serious outbreak of dry rot, which had  inflicted damage to the ceiling and walls.  A wooden window near the vestry had to be replaced and lime plaster was stripped from the walls and ceiling around the entrance to the church.  In 2017 the church was awarded £100,000 by the Listed Places of Worship Roof Repair Scheme, to pay for repairs to the tower, which included re-plastering the damaged interior walls.

Gravestone of Mary Jane, daughter of Captain John and Jane Rees (Schooner John Wesley) who died in 1862, aged 9.

The churchyard is small.  A small number of graves are at the front of the church, but most are in the churchyard to the rear, where a number of gravestones are still in position, all east-facing.   Most of those that remain date to the early and mid 19th Century.  They are inscribed in either Welsh or English and many of them are reminders of Aberdovey’s connections with the sea and the seagoing trade.  Examples are the gravestones of Jane Lewis, wife of Captain Elias Lewis who died in 1862, age 33; Evan Evans, a boatman who died in 1863; Anne, wife of William Lloyd, timber merchant, aged 39 years; and Mary Jane, daughter of Captain John and Jane Rees (Schooner John Wesley) who died in 1862, aged 9.  As in most graveyards of this period, there are a sad number of child burials, some infants.  The gravestones are all slate, and are all very finely carved.  There are also a small number of tombs, with inscribed lids.

Aberdovey war memorial

Set into its sea-facing wall is a memorial to local men lost in the First and Second World Wars. This was first erected in 1919.  Made of granite, the memorials are set into slate, and as well as providing a focus for Remembrance Day events are a constant and much-needed reminder of the sacrifices made during both wars. You can find official details on the Imperial War Museum (IWM) website.

St Peter’s Church is part of the Bro Ystumanner Ministry Area, which covers the Dyfi Estuary and Dysynni Valley and includes five other churches: St Cadfan in Tywyn, St Peter ad Vincula in Pennal (posted about on this blog), St David in Abergynlowyn, St Michael in Llanfihangel-y-Pennant and St.s Mary and Egryn in Llanegryn.  The Mother Church for the Ministry is St Cadfan’s Church in Tywyn. The Reverend Ruth Hansford presides over the Ministry Area, supported by both clerics and lay personnel.

Reverend Ruth Hansford. Source: Cambrian News

On the departure of the previous Vicar and Ministry Area  Leader, Reverend Richard Vroom, he was temporarily replaced by Associate Vicar Janet Fletcher, who was also appointed acting Ministry Area Leader, and it was Reverend Fletcher who welcomed Reverend Hansford to St Peter’s and the Ministry Area in 2017.  There was considerable interest in the local media, including The Cambrian News, about the appointment of Reverend Hansford, who had been formerly based in Exeter, where she was ordained after a career as a clinical biochemist in the NHS.  Her move to Aberdovey with her family fulfilled her desire to work in rural communities.  She has made significant strides in learning Welsh since her arrival and has enjoyed becoming involved with the community, including braving sailing lessons!  One of her innovations has been the introduction of prayer walks in lovely local places, and she has continued to run the excellent “Messy Church” project that is designed to involve children in the church.  I was particularly amused by the Jason and His Coat of Many Colours poster where children had pinned their dreams.  One read “My dream is for people to be kind to one another,” another dreamed of “peace and justice for everyone in the world,” whilst Oliver, far more prosaically, quite simply dreamed “to have a motorbike” and another hoped for “thousands of dog biscuits.” Great fun, and such a good idea.

The church also holds weddings, has hosted a number of classical concerts by visiting chamber orchestras and is one of the organizers of and contributors to the monthly Community Lunches held in the Neuadd Dyfi (the Aberdovey village hall) during the winter months.  These and other events are announced in the Bro Ystumanner Newyddion newsletter.  More information about the Bro Ystumanner ministry, which also publishes their newsletters, can be found on their website.

Services are held in English every Sunday at 11.15:  the Holy Eucharist on the first and third Sundays, an All Age Worship service, started this year, on the second Sunday of the month, and a sung Matins on the fourth Sunday of each month, but do check their website in case of any changes since this post was published.

More details of St Peter’s Church, Aberdovey

St Peter’s overlooking the foreshore with the schooner Sarah Davies, 1902. Source: Gwyn Briwnant Jones, Picturesque Aberdovey: A Collection of 20th Century Postcard Views. Gomer 2000.

 

The Wesleyan Methodist chapel in Chapel Square, Aberdovey (built 1829, rebuilt 1868)

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Wesleyan Chapel

The Wesleyan Chapel, or Capel Bethel, is located in Chapel Square, which was then called Copperhill Square.  It was only a few doors away from the Calvinist Methodist Chapel or Tabernacle that had opened the year before (described on a previous post).  Wesleyan preachers arrived in Aberdovey in November 1804, fourteen years after the Calvinist Methodists first arrived, to hold an open-air meeting in the square, a common device used by early preachers to convey their message and acquire followers.  They were sufficiently successful for a small Wesleyan movement to become established in the village, a real achievement as Calvinistic Methodism had spread much more rapidly throughout Wales.

John Wesley (left), Charles Whitefield (top) and Charles Wesley. Source: Welsh Religious Buildings Trust

I have described the origins of the Wesleyan Methodists on an earlier post about Aberdovey’s first Calvinistic Methodist chapel, and if you read that post you may want to scroll down to the next paragraph as I am repeating some of it here.  Methodism, or Wesleyan Methodism  began at Oxford University, where Charles Wesley (1707-88) and George Whitefield (1714-1770) formed a group to discuss religious ideas and methods, particularly the power of evangelism.  It was joined by Charles’s brother John Wesley (1703-91) and became known as the Holy Group, and later, based on the importance of procedures and methods in their approach, Methodists.  The three went to America in 1735 to  become missionaries, but George Whitefield returned a year later to focus on doing religious work in England, preaching extensively in indoors and out, making himself very unpopular with the established church.

Wesleyan Methodist Chapel in the Nineteenth Century. Source: Photograph in the Literary Institute

John Wesley returned three years after his departure to bring his ideas into the Church of England in an attempt at Anglican reform.  Like Whitefield, he found himself unpopular with the Church of England authorities and was not permitted to preach in Anglican churches, so began preaching out of doors, and began to travel extensively to spread his message and organize those who followed him.  Wesley and Whitefield parted ways in 1741 over Whitefield’s  belief in Calvinist predestination, foreshadowing the later split between the Wesleyan Methodists and the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists.   The key difference was that John Wesley retained the Arminian (as opposed to the Calvinistic) belief that salvation is available to all.  In Wesleyan Methodism, the living of a good, altruistic, and selfless lives and absolute belief in and dedication to God is not a means of winning salvation but is actually a product of salvation.  Salvation is therefore by God’s grace alone, rather than something that can be achieved by human endeavour.  This is one of the core differences between Methodism and the Church of England.  The personal experience of God, and of revelation were also key to his beliefs.  He had, himself, underwent a conversion experience in 1738, when he felt his “heart strangely warmed.”  He also believed in the importance of Scripture, a strong emphasis on the delivering of God’s message far and wide, the pre-eminence of high moral standards, and the need to raise awareness of the dangers of alcohol and gambling.  Wesley organized groups of lay preachers in a “connexion” across Britain, whose members helped to spread the Methodist message, and from 1744 annual conferences of lay preachers helped to formalize their activities.   It was only after John Wesley’s death in 1791 that Methodism withdrew from the Church of England and became a movement in its own right.

Wesleyan Methodist Welsh Distribution Map, on the left pre-1800 and on the right pre-1851,showing how much they progressed in just 50 years. Source: Welsh Religious Buildings Trust

The Wesleyans made slow progress in Wales during the 18th Century, where Welsh Calvinist Methodists had a foothold.  In spite of 35 visits into Wales, John Wesley was unable to make much of an impact, partly because he and most of his followers spoke no Welsh and Wesleyan Methodism was slow to recruit Welsh speakers.  By the end of the 18th Century they only had  around 600 followers in Wales, none of whom were in Meirionnydd.  In 1800 the British Wesleyan Conference decided to send Welsh-speaking preachers into Wales, resulting in a notable upturn of Welsh-speaking converts, and wherever English Wesleyans settled in the wake of the Industrial Revolution, wherever quarries and mines were to be found, congregations rose.  In the 1851 religious census there were 499 places of worship in Wales and congregations numbering 53,730 individuals.

6 and 7 Copperhill Street

The Wesleyans had no dedicated premises when they first arrived in Aberdovey and gathered at houses in the village, first at numbers 6 and 7 Copper Hill street (formerly called Dan y Graig) opposite today’s Wesleyan chapel, and then a few years later they moved to a house named Tan y Castell (“Below the Castle”) in Prospect Place.  Their final meeting house before the chapel was built was Cegin Arthur (“Arthur’s Inn”), the front room of which served as a drinking establishment and was on the site later replaced by Xanthus House, the building immediately to the left/west of the big 1864 Calvinist Tabernacle on Sea View Terrace.  Hugh M. Lewis describes the disadvantages of this venue:  “This was a most inconvenient and embarrassing for the worshippers, who had to pass through the front room  on their way to the kitchen at the rear of the house.”  In 1828 they rented a piece of land from the Athelstan Maurice Corbet of Ynysymaengwyn Estate on New Street at the top of Chapel Square (then called Copperhill Square) and built their first chapel, the Bethel, in 1829.  The Bethel was located at the top of the upward sloping New Street and now dominated the square, rising above the level local buildings, including the Calvinist Methodist chapel, and was visible from most higher parts of Aberdovey, as shown in the 19th Century/early 20th Century photograph at the end of the post.

Addoldy y Wesleyaid (Wesleyan sanctuary), 1829, 1868

The Bethel, unlike the Congregational Chapel on Glandyfi Terrace or the English Presbyterian chapel on Sea View Terrace, is instantly recognizable as a 19th Century chapel, with the gabled façade, stuccoed features, lancet windows with plain glass and a plaque stating BETHEL ADDOLDY Y WESLEYAID (“Bethel, Wesleayan Place of Worship”) and the two dates of its construction and rebuild, 1829 and 1868.  It is an imposing building, set slightly above the square, in a commanding position.  The Wesleyans rented a piece of land in Chapel Square (at that time Copper Hill Square) in 1828 from Mr Athelstan Corbet of Ynysymaengwyn (the big land-holding estate based just outside Tywyn), and their first chapel was built in 1829, with a congregation of around 30.  It was extended to twice its original size in 1841 to accommodate a growing congregation of around 60 worshippers.   The expanding population again led to the chapel being over-crowded and it was rebuilt in 1868, “a mixed sub-Classical and simple Gothic style of the gable-entry type”  (Coflein website), to accommodate 300 worshippers, at a cost of £704.00, the equivalent to 102 horses/150 cows or, in today’s money, £61,427.73 (National Archives Currency Converter).  An inscription facing the pulpit used to read “COFIWCH-Y-MORWYR” which translates as “remember the seamen,” a reminder to the minister that a large number of families in Aberdovey were attached to the sea in some capacity and should be referred to in the sermon.  Renovations and improvements in 1924 included the installation of a pipe organ, and in 1926 a huge vestry was added on the site of an old bakehouse.

The interior of the chapel is absolutely splendid.  Today entry is via the large 1926 vestry, which is laid out with rows of comfortable chairs facing a podium, and this is used today for many of the chapel’s meetings.  It is a very warm and inviting space.  The 19th Century chapel, reached via a side door, is beautiful.  There are no monuments on the wall, nothing to distract from the structure of the chapel.  Straight wooden pews are organized in three rows facing the pulpit, divided by two aisles.  The pulpit area is an imposing structure with a small stage behind it.   At the front of the pulpit is a large, curved pew, which is very fine indeed, and this was retained for visiting dignitaries.  Flanking this across the aisles are two sets of boxed pews that face across the chapel.  It is a magnificent space, given a lot of light from the tall lancet windows, and the lack of any form of decoration, embellishment or other distraction gives a very real sense that this is about the message from the pulpit, the relationship between the congregation and the preacher.  I was completely taken with it.

Wesleyan Methodist Chapel Interior

The chapel is still very active today, with weekly meetings, weddings and funerals all held on the premises.  There is a Facebook page with details, in both English and Welsh, of services and other activities, which may be in Welsh, English or both.  For security reasons, the chapel is not open outside these times.  I visited by appointment, with my sincere thanks to Ceri Jones for making the arrangements and, together with Gerald Grudgings, for guiding me around the building.  I have been invited to a service to see what the chapel is like when it is doing what it was designed for, and very much look forward to attending.

The Wesleyan Methodist chapel’s Facebook page

Main sources:
Wesleyan Methodism is usefully described on the Welsh Religious Buildings website, the BBC Religion web pages and the Oxford Concise Dictionary of the Christian Church.  Hugh M. Lewis, local resident and collector of Aberdovey information and images, is an invaluable source of information about the pre-chapel history of the Wesleyan Methodists in his book Aberdyfi, Portrait of a Village.  Lewis Lloyd’s A Real Little Seaport was also useful, and Hugh M. Lewis’s Aberdyfi, Pages of Time added some additional information.  My sincere thanks to Ceri Jones and Gerald Grudgings for providing me with many more details about the chapel.

The Calvinist Methodist Tabernacle, Sea View Terrace, Aberdovey (built 1864)

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Sea View Terrace Tabernacl

When the Calvinist Methodists left their 1828 premises in Chapel Square, now occupied by Dovey Marine (described on an earlier post together with a brief background to Calvinistic Methodism), they moved into new purpose-built premises in 1864 on Sea View Terrace, which were much more ambitious than their 1828 chapel in Chapel Square, which was somewhat overshadowed by the Wesleyan chapel that had been built in 1829.  In its new position it was sufficiently further up the hill to give it a dominant position.

Set back from the sea front, the new chapel was imposing, cut into the side of the hill with a high revetment wall and was reached via a long flight of steps.  The new building was much bigger than their former chapel, accommodating a congregation of 650 worshippers.  It was on a level with St Peter’s Church, which can be seen in some of the photos below, and one does have to wonder if the desire to put the Tabernacle on a level with the church wasn’t a significant factor in the decision to locate the chapel where it was, up a long flight of stairs that would have made it very difficult for some members of the community to reach.

Instantly recognizable as a Nonconformist chapel, the 1864 Calvinist Methodist building is a gable-entry type chapel with four bays, round-headed windows featuring radiating tracery, and doorways topped with fanlights that echo the design of the windows.  It was built from stone and rendered, has a slate roof, and the steps that lead up to the entrance from the seafront are also made of slate.  The iron gates at the base of the steps with spearhead finials were manufactured by the Coalbrookdale Company in Shropshire.  There are two inscribed tablets on the façade.  The one beneath the gable reads Tabernacl Adeiladwyd 1864 (Tabernacle built 1864) and the lower one reads Tabernacl ir Methodistiadd Calfinaidd yn y Flwyddyn 1828 (Calvinist Methodist Chapel established in the year 1828).  Before its conversion into flats the interior had a gallery with raked seating supported on  cast-iron columns.  The organ chamber was preceded by a segmental arch flanked by fluted Corinthian pilasters.    The scale of investment involved was quite clearly considerable.  The chapel was renovated in 1910 following a religious revival in Wales, which included the addition of heating, ventilators in the roof and the addition of a pipe organ.  The photograph below, loaned to me with great kindness by Dai and Helen Williams, shows something of the interior, including the decorative features at the top of the wall above the organ, the organ itself, the pews and the underside of the gallery at the left.

Calvinistic Methodist Tabernacl, 1864

It closed as a chapel in 1988 but the exterior of the building was preserved when it was converted to flats, some of which are rented out for holiday accommodation.  The building is Grade 2 listed.

The Calvinist Tabernacle in 1873, nine years after it was built. Source: Hugh M. Lewis 1989, Pages of Time, plate 3.

View of the Aberdovey seafront from Ynys Las, showing the prominent position of the Tabernacle, with St Peter’s at the far left and the English Presbyterian church at far right.

Side view of the Tabernacle from St Peter’s churchyard, showing the rooflights that were added when the church was converted into apartments in the 1980s.

 

The Calvinistic Methodist Tabernacle is set back from the seafront houses, reached via a steep flight of slate steps

If you have any more information, including information about and photographs of the interior, it would be great to hear from you.

The Calvinistic Methodist Chapel, Chapel Square, Aberdovey (established 1828)

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Methodist chapel (now Dovey Marine), Copper Hill Street front entrance

The Calvinistic Methodist Chapel (or Tabernacle) in Chapel Square, now occupied by Dovey Marine, has had a rich history, as did the Calvinistic Methodists who built it.   The chapel was their first dedicated premises, before which they used a number of temporary meeting places around the village, their lives made somewhat difficult by anti-Methodist persecution from the important Corbet landowners of Ynysymaengwyn (just outside Tywyn) who owned most of Aberdovey in the 18th Century.

Having arrived in the Aberdovey area in around 1790, it took the Calvinists nearly 30 years to a built a chapel, a significant accomplishment.  They were the first denomination to build a chapel in Aberdovey, although the Wesleyan Methodists were only a year behind them. It isn’t the prettiest or most impressive of the chapels in the village, but the Aberdovey Calvinistic Methodists have a very interesting history.

Portrait of John Calvin (1509-64)

The Calvinistic Methodists were a mainly Welsh movement that built on the 18th Century revivals of 17th Century Protestantism.  Calvinistic Methodism sounds like a bit of an oxymoron.  Methodism, or Wesleyan Methodism, began at Oxford University, where Charles Wesley (1707-88) and George Whitefield (1714-1770) formed a group to discuss religious ideas and methods, particularly the power of evangelism.  It was joined by Charles’s brother John Wesley (1703-91) and became known as the Holy Group, and later, based on the importance of procedures and methods in their approach, Methodists.  The three, all of whom were ordained, went to America in 1738 to  become missionaries, but George Whitefield returned a year later to focus on doing religious work in England, preaching extensively indoors and out, making himself very unpopular with the established church.  John Wesley returned three years after his departure to America to bring his ideas into the Church of England in an attempt at Anglican reform.  Like Whitefield, he found himself unpopular with the Anglican authorities and was denied preaching  access to some churches, so followed Whitefield’s example and began preaching out of doors, and began to travel extensively.  Wesley and Whitefield parted ways in 1741 over Whitefield’s  belief in Calvinist predestination, foreshadowing the later split between the Welsh Calvinistic and Wesleyan Methodists.  It was only after John Wesley’s death in 1791 that Methodism withdrew from the Church of England and became a doctrine in its own right.  The key difference was that John Wesley retained the Arminian (as opposed to the Calvinistic) belief that salvation is available to all.  In Wesleyan Methodism, the living of a good, altruistic, and selfless lives and absolute belief in and dedication to God is not a means of winning salvation but is actually a product of salvation.  Salvation is therefore by God’s grace alone, rather than something that can be achieved by human endeavour.  This is one of the core differences between Methodism and the Church of England.  In Wales a group of Welsh reformers had very similar ideas

The founders of Calvinistic Methodism. Clockwise from top left: Griffith Jones, Howell Harris, WIlliam Williams Pentycelyn and Daniel Rowland

The reform movement in Wales is thought to have begun in Carmarthenshire with Griffith Jones, the rector of Llanddowror, who was responsible for establishing circulating schools in 1731.  These schools taught the Welsh to read by studying the Bible and other Christian scripture.  Griffith Jones became something of a legend and an inspiration to other influential early preachers, like Howell Harris (1714-1773), Daniel Rowland (1730-1790) and William Williams Pantycelyn (1717-1791), all of whom had experienced spiritual awakening and became evangelists for a reformed church that had a high level of evangelism and an emphasis on hard work, moral behaviour and education of the poor.  William Williams became famous for his hymns, song and prayer being important in the religious practices of Calvinistic Methodism.

When the two groups met up they had so much in common that they initially joined forces under the heading of Methodism.  They shared belief in the burden of sin, the need for personal knowledge of God and the ability to feel him, assurance of salvation, recognition when or if sins have been forgiven and the knowledge that this had been felt.  They also believed that rebirth on Earth in the form of a better way of living life was fundamental.  There was, however, a fundamental point of doctrine on which the two branches differed.  Whereas Wesleyan Methodists believed that all people could be redeemed by faith, spreading the word of God and good deeds, the Welsh preachers followed Calvin, the radical French Protestant, who believed that the original sin of Adam made it impossible for people to redeem themselves, and only those who had been selected by God before Christ was sent to redeem them, the elect, would be raised to Heaven.  Because they still retained many of the other Methodist ideas about doctrine and felt just as strongly as the Methodists about the way in which religions should be practised, disseminated and organized, the Calvin followers separated from the Wesleyans and became Calvinistic Methodists.

Distribution of Calvinist Methodists pre-1851, showing the low levels of representation in Meirionnydd. Source: Welsh Religious Buildings Trust

Calvinistic Methodists put enormous emphasis on itinerant preaching, either indoors or in the open, considered song and active prayer to be important to developing a personal relationship with God, and believed that God would arise and display his glory. Hard work was a core component of their religion because only by hard work and business success could the elect be known and recognize themselves.   By 1750 there were over 400 gatherings of converts who became groups or fellowships known as “seiadau.”

Hugh M. Lewis describes Aberdovey as suffering “a certain amount of religious deprivation” prior to the last decade of the 18th Century.  The main centre of social and economic activity in the area was Tywyn, where St Cadfan’s Anglican Church, dating back to the 14th Century, was the main centre of religious life.  Even itinerant nonconformist preachers who were very active in other parts of Meirionnydd did not reach Aberdovey.   In about 1790, however, a group of Calvinistic Methodists established themselves about a mile outside Aberdovey at a building called Hen Felin, which has since become a ruin.  They next moved to lodgings in a building that belonged to the Raven Arms called The Store House on Sea View Terrace, which was used as a warehouse facility and had an upper room that could be used for Calvinistic meetings.  Unfortunately, Edward Corbet who “feared them as radicals if not revolutionaries” (Lloyd, A Real Little Seaport) was informed of their activities and evicted them, throwing all their property including benches and bibles out onto the road.  The Calvinists were lucky to find a sympathizer in Mr Scott, the owner of the row of three cottages now known as Penhelig lodge, who from 1796 gave them the use of an outbuilding called Ty Coch on the edge of the ravine where there is now a road called Nantiesyn, in Penhelig.  In 1811 the Calvinist Methodist movement established its (Yr Hen Gorff – The Old Body) formally, detached itself from the Anglican Church, and became the leading nonconformist Meiryonnydd religion, giving the Aberdovey preachers a solid foundation.

Calvinistic Methodist Chapel, New Street rear entrance

Aberdovey’s population increased in the late years of the 18th Century and the early years of the 19th Century.The discovery of copper and lead in the mid-18th Century and the importance of the port for handling imports of wheat, barley and corn significant contributors to the growth the the village. As Aberdovey prospered, the Calvinist congregation also grew, making it necessary to look for premises that was not owned by the Ynysmaengwyn estate.  In 1827, recognizing the growth of Aberdovey, the Turnpike Trust finished a road that linked Aberdovey with Machynlleth, raising its importance, and increasing the number of visitors.

In 1828 a plot of land in what is now Chapel Square was acquired on a 99 year lease, and volunteers built their chapel to seat 124 worshippers in 1828, at a cost of £400.00 (c. £27,120.52 in today’s money, or 26 horses/74 cows, according to the National Archive’s Currency Convertor website).  It did so well that in 1855 a gallery was added at a cost of £120.00 (c.£8,136.16). The Coflein website says that the new chapel, which they named Tabernacle, was designed by Reverend Richard Humphreys of Dyffryn.   The façades are characterized by large rectangular windows beneath dripstones (mouldings to shelter windows from dripping water), a line of three on the first floor on the Copper Hill Street (front) side and two on the ground floor and two on the first floor at the New Street (rear) side.  The arched Copper Hill Street doorway is lined with stone blocks and a keystone.  The New Street entrance door has a stucco frame.  Stuccoed quoins (masonry corner blocks) are on all four corners of the building and there are wide recessed strips in the gables of both frontages.  A plaque reads: “Tabernacl/adeiladwyd ir Methodistiaid Calfinaidd yn y flwyddin 1828” (Tabernacle / built by Calvinistic Methodists in the year 1828).  Once they had established their chapel the Calvinist Methodists set up a Sunday school.

Calvinistic-Methodist Chapel of 1864

In 1864 the Calvinists left the building in favour of new, much larger premises on Sea View Terrace, also called Tabernacl, which will be covered on future post shortly.  The original 1828 building was immediately adopted as a temporary school whilst a new school was being built.  When it was again vacated the former chapel was renamed the Assembly Rooms and became a resource for villagers and a central location for village activities.  Shops were later established on the ground floor, the first floor was used for meeting space, and the building became know as the Market Hall.  In 1920 it was renamed the Imperial Hall.  In 1931 Roman Catholics, who had no premises of their own in the village, used one of the meeting rooms.  During the Second World War the building became the headquarters for the Home Guard.  Today, the has been occupied for over two decades by the excellent Dovey Marine.

 

Main sources:
Welsh Calvinist Methodism is usefully described on the Welsh Religious Buildings website.  Wesleyan Methodism and some of the features that distinguish it from Calvinistic Methodism are described in straight forward terms on the Welsh Religious Buildings website and on the BBC Religion web pages.  Hugh M. Lewis, local resident and collector of Aberdovey information and images, is the source of most of the information in this post about the early activities of the Aberdovey Calvinistic Methodists, telling the fascinating story of the establishment of the chapel in his book Aberdyfi, Portrait of a Village (his best book, in my opinion).  Lewis Lloyd’s A Real Little Seaport was also useful, and Hugh M. Lewis’s Aberdyfi, Pages of Time added some additional information.

The Congregational Chapel, Aberdovey (established 1880)

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The Congregational Chapel, Aberdovey

The little Congregational chapel opposite the Snowdonia Tourist Information Centre on Glandyfi Terrace is a bijou little place, quite one of my favourite buildings in Aberdovey.

The Congregationalists (or Independents) arrived in Aberdovey in 1839, and found premises at 6 Evans Terrace where the minister preached their first sermon on 9th March 1840.  From there they moved to 50 Copperhill Street, and where there until 1845 until they established a small chapel called Capel Bach (Low Chapel) on the slopes of Pen y Bryn, the small hill with the folly on top, near today’s Prospect Place.

By the 1870s Aberdovey was becoming prosperous, and in 1882, two years after the chapel opened, the new wharf and jetty were built, improving transport links between sea and the decade-old Cambrian railway for the import of timber, livestock and unprocessed grain and the export of slate and milled grain.  As Aberdovey became more affluent, new people took up residence, both Welsh and English, and their spiritual needs were catered for by a remarkable number of chapels for such a small community.  The chapel was built in the late 1870s, and opened in 1880 to seat a congregation of 250 worshippers.

The chapel has a steeple with its own entrance, an octagonal spire, Gothic Revival clerestory windows, and a large pointed arch window that dominates the stone-dressed façade, featuring attractive traceries with four quatrefoils and stained glass.  The Gwyneth Archaeological Trust states that the unrendered stone is from Penrhyndeudraeth, probably from the Garth quarry in Minffordd, which opened in 1870 and is still in use. the stone dressings and quoins are of Anglesey limestone.  The slender painted iron columns in the interior are absolutely in proportion to the rest of the building, and a very distinctive feature.  The first service was held in the new chapel in 1880, when the village’s first harmonium was introduced.  A few years later the village’s first pipe organ was installed.   The welshchapels.org website indicates that a major renovation took place in 1905, at the cost of £1950.00.  It closed in 1998, when it was purchased and converted for residential use in 1999 by the present owner (with my sincere thanks to him for showing me around the absolutely super interior).

English Presbyterian Church of Wales, Aberdovey c1900. Source: Hugh M. Lewis 1989, plate no.8, Pages of Time

The choice of architectural design is interesting because far more than the other Aberdovey chapels, it borrows directly from the Catholic and Anglican paradigms of church architecture.  A photograph of it in the late 19th Century in Pages of Time by Hugh M. Lewis shows it with the surviving boundary walls and rails and two gateways opening directly onto the road with a gas light opposite, with no pavements (see above).  St Peter’s Anglican Church is clearly visible further down the road.

Congregationalism dates back to the 16th and 17th Centuries. The Congregationalists, together with the Baptists, are two of the oldest Nonconformist religions, and Geraint Evans credits the Congregationalists with being the “seedbed of Welsh Protestant Dissent” in Llanfaches, established in November 1639.  It was given a major boost during the Evangelical Revival of the 19th Century, and in 1832 the Congregational Church of England and Wales was established, a national organization of independent Congregational churches.  Many Congregationalists agree on a number of doctrines, which may include the principle of sola scriptura (the idea that all knowledge required for a spiritual life and to achieve salvation is contained in scripture) and that adult conversion to the faith is a requirement for spiritual salvation.  They all reject the episcopal concept of Holy Orders that are conferred by a religious leader (usually a bishop), adopting professional clergy and an active laity instead.  Finally, Congregationalist churches and chapels are independent of other doctrines, and are self-governing.

Aberdovey c.1900. Source: Hugh M. Lewis. Aberdyfi: A Glimpse of the Past.

The above photograph, this time from another booklet by Hugh M. Lewis, Aberdyfi: A Glimpse of the Past, shows the village in about 1900, with the chapel at the far end, giving a good impression of the stretch of road from the corner of Copper Hill Street down as far as the chapel.   Fishing nets are out to dry in the foreground, and there is a two-masted ship moored against the jetty, and the architecture along that stretch of road preserves many of the terraces from the 17th Century village.

Capel Tegid, Bala. Source: https://tinyurl.com/y6wydxtg

Looking around for anything similar in the area with a view to trying to identify who the architect of Aberdovey’s Congregational Chapel might have been, I stumbled across the larger Capel Tegid at Bala, a Calvinist Methodist church (reconsecrated as a Presbyterian church in the 1930s) that has a lot in common with the Aberdovey chapel, including painted iron columns.  I have no idea if it was built by the same architect, but it is not entirely implausible that William Henry Spaull of Oswestry, who built Capel Tegid and a number of Wesleyan Methodist chapels in  Wales, was also responsible for the Aberdovey Congregationalist chapel.

The 1999 conversion of the Aberdovey Congregationalist Chapel to residential use by a Welsh citizen was absolutely in tune with the existing architecture, retaining all the key features including the wonderful slender painted cast iron columns and the stained glass windows, and all the furnishings complement the original features beautifully.  It is beautifully maintained, inside and out, and is a credit to its owner.  The perfectly manicured hedge in front of the chapel is evergreen myrtle, the leaves of which have a wonderful aromatic scent when rubbed, and it produces a plethora of tiny white flowers in the summer.

I won’t mention the owner’s name, to preserve his privacy, but when I first moved into the area I had not realized that it had been converted and thought that it was still either in use as a chapel or was empty.  When I saw someone emerging from the building I therefore had no hesitation in asking if it would be possible to see around it at some stage.  He was so kind that he invited me in there and then.  I was expecting dusty recesses and cobwebs, and instead stepped through the door to find that I had invited myself into what was clearly someone’s very beautiful home!  To say that I was mortified barely touches the surface.  But I am so glad that I made that particular mistake, because it was super to see how stunning it is.

Some restoration work was carried out to the steeple in 2018.

It should be noted that although the Coflein website has a photograph of the Congregational Chapel under its entry for the English Presbyterian Church of Wales, this is a case of mistaken identity.  The Presbyterian chapel is the yellow building at the opposite end of the village (and shown in this blog’s header).   Elsewhere on the site, the Coflein website has the chapel listed as an Independent chapel (nebo), the Welsh-speaking term for Congregationalism.  The Coflein website lists many photographic records of the interior prior to its conversion in its catalogue, but these are not currently available online.

A visit to St Peter Ad Vincula Church, Pennal

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There are six churches in the Bro Ystumanner Ministry Area, which covers the Dyfi Estuary and Dysynni Valley.  I intend to write about all six of the churches, which include St Peter’s in Aberdovey and St Cadfan’s in Tywyn, but am starting with St Peter ad Vincula in Pennal.  The story of St Peter ad Vincula comes in three parts:  1) as a piece of architectural and ecclesiastical heritage in its own right, 2) as the site at which Owain Glyndŵr’s Llythyr Pennal (Pennal Letter) was signed, and 3) as a modern, fully functioning community church.  I was lucky enough to be given a full tour of the church by church warden Hugh Ramsbotham, to whom my sincere thanks.

The unusual name of the church refers to a story in the Acts of the Apostles XII.  St Peter ad Vincula translates as St Peter in Chains and refers to an event when St Peter was jailed in Jerusalem by Herod.  The night before his trial he was asleep, flanked by two soldiers and chained in irons, awaiting trial for preaching about Jesus.  An angel is said to have woken him on the night before his trial, releasing him from his chains with a touch, guiding him out of the prison past unseeing guards.  Today, the chain is kept in a reliquary under the main altar of the Basilica di San Pietro in Vincoli (Rome), which was built in the 5th Century to house the chains.

Aerial view of Pennal, with the church of St Peter ad Vincula surrounded by an oval wall. Source: Coflein website

The village of Pennal lies on the River Pennel, which runs into the River Dyfi, and it is probable that this was the main Dyfi river crossing throughout the Roman and Mediaeval periods.  The village was occupied from at least the Roman period, if not earlier, with a small fort, Cefn Gaer, established near to the river.  The site of the church itself had probably been occupied by a pre-Christian structure, suggested by the oval perimeter wall of the churchyard.  Oval and circular churchyard walls are often associated with a number of early structures including Roman era churches that survived the departure of the Romans, early burial grounds, pre-Christian shrines and Anglo-Saxon defended sites.  Such circular and oval churchyards are common in Wales.

The first church was established in around the 6th Century by Saint Tanwg and Saint Eithrias, missionaries from Armorica (modern Brittany).  There are no signs of either that wooden structure or any that followed it.  Pennal was the site of one of 21 llysoedd, or royal court compounds, and the motte that stands some 300m to the south-west of the church may have been part of the contemporary complex.  The church was re-dedicated at the end of the 11th Century by the Normans and it is possible that it was first rebuilt in stone during the 1130s when Gruffydd ap Cynan initiated a programme to rebuild ancient churches of Gwynedd.  Throughout the Mediaeval period it was located within the cantref (similar to a county) of Meirionnydd and the smaller administrative unit of the cwmwd (commote) of Ystumanner.  Throughout the Middle Ages the church  was one of three Chapels of Ease (subsidiary churches) under St Cadfan at Twywyn, along with Llanfinhangel-y-Pennant and Llanfair (Tal-y-Llyn).   The church is recorded as having served several of the Welsh tywysogion (princes) and is mentioned in the Norwich Taxatio (records of assessments of English and Welsh ecclesiastical wealth) of 1253.  It is probable that it was designated a Chapel Royal of the Princes of Gwynedd under Owain Glyndŵr. In the 1284 in the Statute of Rhuddlan the cantref of Merionnydd was combined with other cantrefs to form Merionethshire.

The Pennal Letter. Source: British Library. Archives nationales de France, J//516/A/29 J//516/B/40. Copyright © Archives nationales de France

The presence of a llys here partially accounts for the presence of Owain Glyndŵr in the early 15th Century.  The connection with Owain Glyndŵr concerns an important moment in Welsh history, which could have turned the tide in favour of Welsh independence from England. In 1404 Glyndŵr held a Parliament at Machynlleth where he was, according to tradition, crowned Prince of Wales, having organized the previously very fragmented opposition to Henry IV.  At the time he had backing from Scotland and Northumbria, but by the end of 1405 this support had been eroded by Henry’s armies.  In 1406 Glyndŵr assembled a formal meeting of his nobles and clergy at Pennal, including the Archdeacon of Meirionnydd Gruffydd Young, to discuss the options for making a strategic alliance with Charles VI of France.  During this period there were two papacies, the traditional papacy base in Rome and a new breakaway papacy in Avignon, France.  Charles VI was loyal to the Avignon papacy, whilst the English king Henry VI was loyal to Rome.  Glyndŵr hoped to take advantage of the breach within the Roman Catholic Church as a bargaining chip to gain the support of Charles VI.  As a result, a letter was written by Glyndŵr in Latin to Charles VI offering allegiance to Pope Benedict XIII in return for military support.  It was signed by Glyndŵr and provided with his great seal, which was probably done at the church.  Although the hoped-for support never arrived, the letter remains a vital historical document recording Glyndŵr’s intentions, a strategy for the future of Wales, which included the development of a Welsh church with its own Archbishopric at st David’s, an independent Welsh government and the establishment of two universities.  The letter is preserved today in France at the Archives Nationales de France in Paris, and a copy is on display in the church at Pennal.  A translation of the letter is available in English on the Canolfan Owain Glyndŵr website.  The letter was carried to France by Hywel Eddoyer and Maurice Kelly.  A 1996 painting by Ceredigion artist Aneurin Jones (1930 – 25 September 2017) that reconstructs the assembly hangs in the church, showing members of the parish at the time it was painted.

The Aneurin Jones reconstruction of Glyndŵr’s assembly at Pennal

The earliest of the clearly dated parts of the building belong to the 16th Century, with Roman red sandstone brickwork from the fort incorporated into the walls of the church and churchyard walls, which were otherwise built of locally sourced stone.  The church was a chapel of ease in the Tywyn parish in the Middle Ages, but became a parish church in 1683 under its first rector, Maurice Jones.  The 19th Century renovations were radical, but incorporated aspects of the 16th and later century features into the structure.  16th Century survivors include roof timbers that were incorporated into the new roof, oak pews, the oak altar and possibly the carved pulpit.

The church was rebuilt in 1700 and 1761.  In the 18th Century Pennal acquired particular importance when an east-west turnpike was built following the Merioneth turnpike act of 1775, which ran from near Pennal through Cwm Maethlon (Happy Valley) to Tywyn, completely bypassing Aberdovey.  By the mid 19th Century the wharf at Pennal became important for transporting slate downriver to Aberdovey for loading onto coastal vessels and in 1865 the Cwm Ebol slate slab quarry, about a mile to the northwest of Pennal, built a tramway to the village after several years of using horses to transport the slates.

During the 19th Century the church was again rebuilt in 1810 and 1872-3.  It is to the 19th Century that most of the current form and character of the church belongs.  St Peter ad Vicula is Grade II listed (listing number 23314, listed on 25th May 2000).  The interior layout of the church is a single unit incorporating both chancel and nave with a slate roof. There is also a south porch added in 1880 and made of stone from Llugwy Quarry, a north vestry added in 1890 and short square bell tower with two bells at the east end, with a fully functioning clock is set into the exterior just below the tower.  The original gallery was removed in 1873 (and was replaced with a modern version in 2010).  The internal floor area was lowered by two feet and six inches c.1901.  Wonderful 19th Century quarry tiles cover the floor of the chancel and the step leading up to it, as well as the floor of the vestry.  The modern slate floor at the west end replaced more quarry tiles, of which only one tiny patch survives.  The roof is a very nice open tie-beam arrangement, with re-used older timbers as well as contemporary Victorian ones.

The church has five lovely stained glass windows, all dating to the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.  The earliest belongs to 1872 (by Holland and Holt of Warwick) and the latest, which replaced 1872 windows in the nave, date to the early 1920s and commemorate members of the community.  The themes are The Ascension (1872 by Holland and Holt); the IHS monogram, the abbreviation of the Greek spelling of Jesus, “ΙΗΣΟΥΣ” (1872, by Holland and Holt); Christ Blessing Children Brought by the Mothers (1893, Ward and Hughes); The New Jerusalem (c.1923, by Powell and Sons, designed by Ernest Penwarden), and Charity (1928).  The Ascension, which dominates the church at its eastern end, is a particularly colourful and lively piece, with a depiction of the the Green Man presiding over fruit and vegetable at its base, the only known representation of the Green Man on stained glass known in Wales.  The Green Man is usually a sculpture, either surrounded by or made of leaves, probably pagan in origins but frequently depicted in church sculptures, perhaps connected with ideas of earth-bound seasonal renewal and the harvest.  Most of the windows are commemorative, some with inscriptions below the them, or within the glass itself.  The Ascension window, for example, was dedicated to the memory of William Hodson Lloyd, who died in 1871.

The provenance of the three striking Flemish oak plaques showing the martyrs St Jude, St Andrew and St Paul on the north wall is unknown.  There used to be four of them, all dating to around 1700, but one was stolen.  A brass plaque, a rare example dating to the mid 19th Century, commemorates three Thruston sisters, one of whom held the first school in Pennal in the church’s gallery.  The date of the fretwork pulpit is uncertain.  The lovely little organ was built by John Smith of Bristol, c.1840 and still plays perfectly.  Underneath the altar, church documents record that Lleucy Llwyd (Lucy Lloyd) was interred following her tragic death.

The story of Lleucy Llywd belongs to the mid-14th Century, but is more legend than history.   Lleucy lived on Dolgelynnen Farm near the Dyfi river and fell in love with a young court poet called Llywelyn Goch.  Lleucu’s father refused to let them marry, and kept the two apart.  When Llywelyn Goch had to go away for a period of time, promising to return, Lleucy’s father told her that Llywelyn had married another woman. Lleucu died of a broken heart and Llywelyn returned to her on the day of her funeral. The story has been immortalized in Llywelyn Goch’s famous Welsh elegy Marwnad Lleucu LLwyd.  Copies are available online in Welsh (e.g. on Wikisource), but I have been unable to find an English translation – please get in touch if you know of one!

In 1991 a road widening scheme removed part of the churchyard, to the south. It was done sympathetically, so that the sense of the space being a clearly defined oval is retained.  The graves were moved to a new site outside the village, and ninety one tomb stones were recorded and moved to lean against the walls within the churchyard.  Unsurprisingly, some Roman tiles were found at the same time.  The churchyard was converted into a Heritage Garden in 2004 to commemorate the 600th anniversary of Owain Glyndŵr’s Parliament and this incorporated many of the headstones into its design.  It was designed by Peter Styles and was constructed by a Pennal, William Rees, with funding from Cyngor Gwynedd,with funds from the EU and the Welsh National Assembly, the Snowdonia National Park fund for sustainable development (CAE) and numerous local supporters.  Its aim was to provide a place of peace and tranquillity, incorporating native species of tree, shrub and flower, including some lovely pieces of topiary, emulating monastic gardens.  The dominant theme is of repeated curvilinear motifs, reminiscent of Welsh stone circles and Celtic themes.  Key features are memorial plaques, a statue of Owain Glyndŵr by sculptor David Haynes and circular oak benches that act as a textural bridge between the grey stone that makes up most of the garden and the delightful shrubbery that sits within it.  The sculpture, about 4ft tall, shows a man ready for action, a cloak held in place with a dragon clasp, and a suit of armour showing the faces of men who lost their lives, their bereft mothers and widows, and themes that bring Wales to mind, like buzzard, hare, oak tree, raven and harp.

Memorial to Charles Thomas Thurston of Pennal Tower

It is easy to think of churches merely in terms of their physical architecture and history, but of course churches were built by people for their communities.  Perhaps more than any other church I can remember visiting in the last couple of years, St Peter ad Vincula gives the sense of how it has been tied up with village life and the key families who helped to support and maintain it.  The monumental inscriptions on the walls, the earliest of which dates to 1717, all commemorated key contributors to the church, and captured some of the sense of pride and involvement that these people had invested in the community and in their country.  The number of memorials to those who died in wars alone is remarkable.  All these families, the Anwyls, Thrustons, Edwards, Talgarths and Rucks have died out now in the Pennal area, but there is a sense of continuity between them and the church’s current guardians.  Each of these family histories deserve research in their own right.

Today the church is one of six in the Bro Ystumanner Ministry Area in the Archdeaconry of Meirionnydd and the Diocese of Bangor.  The other churches in the Ministry Area are St Cadfan in Tywyn, St Peter in Aberdovey, St David in Abergynlowyn, St Michael in Llanfihangel-y-Pennant and St.s Mary and Egryn in Llanegryn.  The Reverend Ruth Hansford presides over the Ministry Area, supported by both clerics and lay personnel.  The village is tiny and being sandwiched between Tywyn and Aberdovey in the west and Machynlleth in the east does not have a vast catchment area, and of course congregations fluctuate throughout the year as locally-based holiday visitors come and go, but the church still manages to hold a congregation at 9.30 every Sunday and holds commemorative services, concerts and festivals, with song a running theme through all their activities.  The gallery upstairs is a space for meetings, social gatherings, small events and quiet contemplation, whatever your denomination.  Involvement with the local school, with its 18 pupils, is important, and evinced in the Remembrance Day exhibit at the west end of the church, and in an earlier project to interpret the Green Man, upstairs in the gallery.  The church is full of charm and interest, and above all warmth, with dozens of community stories embedded in every feature.

Location of St Peter ad Vincula in Pennal. Courtesy Google Maps.

The church is literally on the A493 that links Aberdovey in the west to Machynlleth in the east.  It is a small village, and parking may be difficult during the summer but is easy out of season.  Through the main door and to the left you will see a small metal box on the wall above a table with leaflets about the church’s history.  Feed a pound coin into it and it turns on all the lights for 20 minutes, transforming the interior.  Such a great idea.

Address:
Church of St Peter ad Vincula
Pennal
Machynlleth
SY20 9DW
Contact details are on the Church of St Peter ad Vincula website at: http://pennalchurch.org.uk

My many thanks again to Hugh Ramsbotham for the excellent guided tour, as well as to David Inman for introducing us.

References

British Listed buildings. Church of St Peter ad Vincula.
https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/300023314-church-of-st-peter-ad-vincula-pennal#.VwbTR3arSM8
Canolfan Owain Glyndŵr.  Pennal Letter.
http://www.canolfanglyndwr.org/pennal-letter.php
Gwynedd Archaeological Trust 2007. Ports and Harbours of Gwynedd: Aberdyfi. A Threat Related Assessment. GAT Project No.1824, Report No.671.1, April 2007
http://www.walesher1974.org/her/groups/GAT/media/GAT_Reports/GATreport_671.1_compressed.pdf
Gwynedd Archaeological Trust 2011.  Conservation Area Appraisal: Aberdyfi, Gwynedd. GAT Project  No.2155, Report No.956, June 2007.
http://www.walesher1974.org/her/groups/GAT/media/GAT_Reports/GATreport_956_compressed.pdf 
Leighton, D. 2015. Cym Ebol slate/slab works. RCAHMW, 26 January 2015
http://www.coflein.gov.uk/en/site/286681/details/cwm-ebol-slate-quarrycwm-ebol-slab-works
St Peter ad Vincula Church Leaflet: A Guide to the Church.
St Peter ad Vincula Church Leaflet: The Heritage Garden at Pennal.
Stained Glass in Wales. Church of St Peter ad Vincula, Pennal, Gwynedd. http://stainedglass.llgc.org.uk/site/284 
Visit Mid Wales.  Local Legend – Lleucu Llwyd at Dyfi Valley and Coast.
http://www.visitmidwales.co.uk/Machynlleth-Local-Legend-Lleucu-Llwyd/details/?dms=3&feature=1002&venue=1124365 
Vousden, N. 2012. St Peter ad Vincula.  RCAHMW, April 2012
http://www.coflein.gov.uk/en/site/415/details/st-petersst-peter-ad-vinculas-church