United Theological College | |
---|---|
General information | |
Town or city | Aberystwyth |
Country | United Kingdom |
Completed | 1896 |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | George Croydon Marks |
Designations | |
Listed Building – Grade II | |
Official name | The United Theological College |
Designated | 24 November 1987 |
Reference no. | 10308 |
The United Theological College located in Aberystwyth, in the county of Ceredigion in mid Wales, is a Grade II listed building which was the ministerial training college of the Presbyterian Church of Wales from 1906 to 2003 and an associate college of the University of Wales.
According to the Cardiganshire County History, 'Theol Coll' (as it was affectionately known in the town) opened in Aberystwyth in 1906 on the seafront site of the former Customs House. [1] This in turn was demolished and the stone-built Cambrian Hotel was built on the site in 1896 to the design of George Croydon Marks, engineer to the Aberystwyth Improvement Company. [2]
The hotel failed to prosper and the building was purchased by David Davies MP in 1906 and was presented to the Calvinistic Methodist Connexion as a residential theological college, at a total cost of about £30,000. The professors and students of Trevecka College in Breconshire were transferred to the new college in 1906. In 1910 there were about 30 students. Later, because of the falling number of students training for the ministry, the college opened its doors to students wanting to take a theology degree as an academic subject alone. Degrees offered included Bachelor of Divinity (BD) and Master of Theology (MTh).
Former principals of the college include the Reverend Owen Prys (1906–1927), the Revd Samuel Ifor Enoch (1963–1979), the Revd Rheinallt Nantlais Williams (1979–1980) and the Revd John Tudno Williams (1998–2003). Other lecturers at the college included Emrys G. Bowen and Sir Glanmor Williams, the latter an occasional visiting lecturer. Bruce M. Metzger, the American biblical scholar and textual critic of Princeton Theological Seminary gave a lecture at the college in 1981. [3]
The United Theological College in Aberystwyth closed in 2003, when the Presbyterian Church of Wales relocated its ministerial training to Bangor. The college's extensive library, which contained many rare and old theological books, is now mainly held at the University Library in Lampeter and the National Library of Wales.
Howell Harris was a Calvinistic Methodist evangelist. He was one of the main leaders of the Welsh Methodist revival in the 18th century, along with Daniel Rowland and William Williams Pantycelyn.
John Ellis Caerwyn Williams FBA, was a Welsh scholar. His fields of study included the literatures of the Celtic languages, especially Welsh and Irish literature. He has published books in both English and Welsh.
The Presbyterian Church of Wales, also known as the Calvinistic Methodist Church, is a denomination of Protestant Christianity in Wales.
Trefeca, located between Talgarth and Llangorse Lake in what is now south Powys in Wales, was the birthplace and home of the 18th-century Methodist leader Howell Harris (1714–1773),. It was also the site of two Calvinistic Methodist colleges at different times; the first sponsored by Selina, Countess of Huntingdon in the late eighteenth century; the second supported by the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Connexion in the later nineteenth century.
Sir Glanmor Williams was one of Wales's most eminent historians.
William Nantlais Williams, better known simply as Nantlais, was a Welsh poet and a Presbyterian Christian minister who played a prominent role in the 1904-1905 Welsh Revival.
Lewis Edwards was a Welsh educator and Nonconformist minister.
Thomas Charles Edwards was a Welsh minister, writer and academic who was the first Principal of the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth.
Samuel Ifor Enoch was Professor of New Testament Studies and Principal of the Presbyterian United Theological College, Aberystwyth in Wales.
John Tudno Williams was the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Wales from 2006 to 2007 and the Principal of the United Theological College, Aberystwyth, from 1998 to 2003.
This article is about the particular significance of the year 1770 to Wales and its people.
John Ellis Meredith (1904–1981) was a Welsh Presbyterian minister and writer. He was the first Welshman to become president of the National Union of Students.
Gwilym Arthur Edwards was a Welsh Presbyterian minister and writer on theological topics. He was Principal of the United Theological College Aberystwyth from 1939 to 1949.
William Richard Williams was the Principal of the United Theological College, Aberystwyth from 1949 to 1962, the first Secretary of the Council of Churches of Wales, and later its president.
David Williams was a Welsh Calvinistic Methodist minister and theological tutor.
Rheinallt Nantlais Williams (1911–1993) was a Welsh professor of the philosophy of religion and principal of the Presbyterian United Theological College, Aberystwyth in Wales from 1979 to 1980.
John T. Williams may refer to:
Stephen Nantlais Williams is a Welsh Presbyterian theologian, author and lecturer who, after retiring from a teaching career was appointed Honorary Professor of Theology at Queen's University Belfast in 2017.
Owen Prys was a Calvinistic Methodist minister and first Principal of the United Theological College in Aberystwyth in Wales (1906–27) and Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Wales in 1910. The Welsh scholar Sir Ifor Williams described him as one of the most powerful preachers of the 20th-century.
Howel Harris Hughes was a Welsh theologian and Presbyterian minister. He was Principal of the United Theological College in Aberystwyth in from 1927 to 1939.