History
The history of the congregation goes back to 1774 when Edward Jones, an "exhorter" at Whitefield's Tabernacle, Moorfields, and a lay preacher, began to hold Welsh-language services in Cock Lane, Smithfield. (His trade was that of publican and spirit-merchant, resulting in his later nickname of "Ginshop Jones". [1] ) The services continued at Cock Lane until 1785 when Jones established a Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Chapel in Wilderness Row, Clerkenwell (now Clerkenwell Road). [2] [3]
Shortly afterwards a Welsh service commenced in Gravel Lane, Southwark, as a branch of the Wilderness Row congregation. A split came between the two congregations when Gravel Lane became completely Congregational and Wilderness Row completely Methodist. It appears that this was the beginning of the Welsh Chapel.
In 1806 a chapel was built in Little Guildford Street, Southwark. The chapel held about 500 people and cost £1200 to build leasehold.
Current building
About 1870 the freehold for the ground on which the chapel stood was purchased and a new chapel was built on the site. The foundation stone was laid on 31 July 1872 by Samuel Morley (MP) a famous Congregationalist, who donated £500 to the new chapel which was opened on Sunday, 23 February 1872. The Chapel today stands in the same place as the old chapel but instead of the entrance facing Little Guildford Street, it now faces Southwark Bridge Road. On 8 August 1881, David Simon Davies from Carmarthen College was ordained as the first Minister.
In the Burns' Day storm on 25 January 1990, part of the roof and two chimneys fell into the Chapel causing a great deal of damage. It took six months to rebuild the gallery, and during this time services were held in the vestry. The Chapel was re-opened on 22 November 1990.
Carmarthen is the county town of Carmarthenshire and a community in Wales, lying on the River Towy 8 miles (13 km) north of its estuary in Carmarthen Bay. The population was 14,185 in 2011, down from 15,854 in 2001, but gauged at 16,285 in 2019. It has a claim to be the oldest town in Wales – Old Carmarthen and New Carmarthen became one borough in 1546. It was the most populous borough in Wales in the 16th–18th centuries, described by William Camden as "chief citie of the country". Growth stagnated by the mid-19th century as new settlements developed in the South Wales Coalfield.
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Edward Jones, nicknamed "Ginshop" Jones, was a Welsh Calvinistic Methodist "exhorter" and lay preacher in London, who ended his life in disgrace.
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William Bridges (1802–1874) was a Methodist local preacher, hat block maker and founder of the Plumstead Peculiar People.
