Tag: Welsh Nonconformity

• The Uncrowned Kings: How the Preacher Ruled Victorian Wales

  Imagine a Sunday evening in November 1880. Outside, the valley is pitch black, hammered by rain sweeping down from the mountains. But inside the gas-lit chapel, the air is thick with damp wool, peppermint, and anticipation. Five hundred people sit shoulder to shoulder in a silence so taut it hums. They are not waiting for…

  antonydaviesfrsa

  05/12/2025

  Articles

  19th-century-wales, Blue Books, Chapel Revival, Christmas Evans, Coalfield History Wales, Cymraeg, Hwyl, Liberal Wales, Methodist History, Nonconformist Wales, Rural Wales, Slate Quarrying Wales, victorian-wales, Wales Social Change, Welsh Chapels, Welsh Communities, Welsh culture, Welsh heritage, Welsh history, Welsh identity, Welsh Language History, Welsh Literacy, Welsh Nonconformity, Welsh politics, Welsh Preachers, Welsh Pulpit Tradition, Welsh Radicalism, Welsh Religion, Welsh Revivalism, Welsh Social History, Welsh Theology

• “My Relations Are Part of a Rich Tapestry of Welsh Heritage” — My Feature in Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine

  I’m delighted to share that my family history research has been featured in the latest issue of Who Do You Think You Are? magazine. The article, written by Claire Vaughan, explores my decades-long journey tracing my Welsh roots — from hill farmers and Calvinist ministers to a musical icon and a self-taught solicitor — all…

  antonydaviesfrsa

  04/11/2025

  Articles

  ancestry research, Antony David Davies, Arthur Owen Jones, British history, Caeadda, Calvinistic Methodists, Charles Shorto, Christ Church Oxford, Davies family, Edwardian Wales, Elinor Bennett, family, family history, family tree, Genealogy, genealogy research, heritage writing, historical biography, history, Llanwrin, magazine feature, Mid Wales history, Montgomeryshire, Oxford archives, Rural Wales, Shorto family, Shropshire history, travel, Trevor Owen Davies, Victorian Wales, Voices from the Uplands, WDYTYA, Welsh ancestry, Welsh culture, Welsh farming families, Welsh heritage, Welsh identity, Welsh language, Welsh music, Welsh Nonconformity, Who Do You Think You Are magazine

• John Davies of Erglodd (1821–1887): “Apostol y Plant” and the Quiet Power of Faithful Service

  By Antony David Davies FRSA In the upland heart of north Cardiganshire, where the hills of Taliesin and Talybont cradle the Dyfi valley, the life of John Davies of Erglodd stands as a shining example of rural Welsh piety, service, and enduring influence. Known in his lifetime as “Apostol y Plant” – the Children’s Apostle…

  antonydaviesfrsa

  07/08/2025

  Articles

  19th century Wales, Aberystwyth Board of Guardians, Antony David Davies, Apostol y Plant, Calvinistic Methodism, Cardiganshire history, christianity, Dyfi Valley, Erglodd, faith, family history, Genealogy, Good Templars Wales, history, John Davies, Llanwrin, rural Welsh history, Sunday School Movement, Taliesin, Talybont, Welsh chapel history, Welsh farming history, Welsh genealogy, Welsh Nonconformity, Welsh religious leaders

• Saving the soul of Wales: why we must act now to preserve our family and chapel records

  By Antony David Davies FRSA It is hard to overstate just how close we are to losing the living memory of rural Wales. Across our hills and valleys — from the sheep farms of Montgomeryshire to the slate towns of Gwynedd and the quiet chapels of Ceredigion — traces of family and community life are…

  antonydaviesfrsa

  25/07/2025

  Articles

  Archive crisis, Call to action, Ceredigion, Chapel registers, Community history, Community memory, Cultural policy, Digitisation, Family archives, Family photographs, Farming families, Genealogy, Gwynedd, Heritage preservation, Historical advocacy, Historical memory, Historical records, Industrial heritage, Local history, Montgomeryshire, National memory, Nonconformist chapels, Oral history, Oral traditions, People’s Collection Wales, Public history, Rural Wales, Senedd, Slate industry history, Social history, Upland voices, Welsh archives, Welsh culture, Welsh Government, Welsh heritage, Welsh history, Welsh identity, Welsh Nonconformity, Welsh storytelling