2 The rise of Methodism

Back in the sixteenth century Catholicism had been largely ousted from Wales and replaced by the Church of England (often referred to as the Anglican Church). However, the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries saw challenges to Anglican supremacy from many Nonconformist groups who, for various reasons, rejected the Church of England as ‘not properly Protestant’. It was against that backdrop that Calvinistic Methodism arose in the 1730s and 1740s, initially within the Anglican Church but later beyond its bounds. It was originated by men like Howell Harris and Daniel Rowland (Figure 1) and, during the eighteenth century, began to exert significant sway as Wales’s only home-grown brand of Protestantism.

Figure 1 Statue of Daniel Rowland, made by Edward Griffith of Chester and unveiled in 1883. Llangeitho, Ceredigion. Rowland was one of the leaders of the Welsh Methodist revival during the mid eighteenth century. Photo © Roger Kidd

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This is a colour photograph of the upper part of a marble statue in an exterior setting. In the lower background is a stone wall, with a receding slate roof filling the remainder of the image above it. The sculpted figure of Rowland is angled slightly to the left. His gaze appears to be directed upward, and he gestures to the left with an upraised hand. On the right, he clasps an open book to his waist. He wears what looks like an academic gown over a buttoned waistcoat, and a clerical collar. His long hair flows over the collar, and his lips are set in a serious expression.

Figure 1 Statue of Daniel Rowland, made by Edward Griffith of Chester and unveiled in 1883. Llangeitho, Ceredigion. Rowland was one of ...

Indeed, in 1811 Wales’s first Calvinistic Methodist ministers were ordained at Bala and Llandeilo, marking the movement’s formal separation from the Church of England. This new form of Christianity, which emerged during the 1740s, placed great emphasis on personal epiphanies, fervent preaching and doing good works. In addition, as the eighteenth century wore on the Welsh Methodists became increasingly uncomfortable with the idea of bishops, which they tended to view askance, as remnants of medieval Catholic oppression. During the 1820s, this new Welsh Methodist Church agreed its creed and constitution and in 1864 it held its first general assembly. For the first time ever, Wales had a Christian Church that was specifically Welsh in origin.