Pembroke (Penfro), Pembrokeshire (Sir Benfro)

Pembroke is a town in South West Wales at the end of the Pembrokeshire peninsula.

Methodism in Pembroke: John Wesley preached in Pembroke for the first time on Sunday 21 August 1763, making seventeen visits between 1763 and 1790.

Calvinistic Methodists: The Calvinistic Methodists found it difficult to establish a society in Pembroke or the county because of the anglicised nature of the area. However they erected their Westgate Chapel, Westgate Hill, Pembroke in 1826.

Wesleyan Methodists: In 1761 John Wesley accepted Thomas Taylor (1738-1816) as an itinerant and sent him to Wales. In 1762 he preached in Pembroke several times and formed a society. A Pembrokeshire circuit was formed in 1763 and a Pembroke circuit in 1771. The society built a chapel in 1822 on East Back, Main Street.This was replaced in 1871-72, on the same site.

Welsh Wesleyans: This section of the Wesleyan Connexion was unable to successfully put down deep roots in Pembroke or in the county because English was the dominant language in this part of Wales. Before the Welsh Wesleyan Mission was created the Welsh Baptists and the Welsh Congregationalists had become the only nonconformists to be successful in planting Wesh language chapels in the area.

Primitive Methodists': There is no record of a Primitive Methodist chapel in Pembroke. There was Zion Primitive Methodist chapel in Prospect Place, Pembroke Dock, which was built in 1849.

Sources
  • A.H. Williams, John Wesley in Wales (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1971).
  • A. H. Williams, Welsh Wesleyan Methodism, 1800-1858 (Bangor: Cyhoeddwyd Gan Lyfrfa’s Methodistiaid,1935).
  • David Young, The Origin And History of Methodism in Wales and The Borders (London: C.H. Kelly,1893).
  • L. J. Meyler, John Wesley in Pembrokeshire (Haverfordwest: The Western Telegraph, 1956).

Entry written by: DHR
Category: Place
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