It was about the end of 1804 that a larger and more extensive revival commenced at Aberystwyth. It began in connection with the Sunday school that had been started earlier in the year by William Williams, the curate of Cil-y-cwm, during a visit to Aberystwyth. He left it in the care of two youths, Owen Jones and Robert Davies. Towards the end of the year Owen Jones himself had to leave, and it was at his farewell meeting that the revival began. Eighty were added to the society at Aberystwyth, but the revival spread through Cardiganshire and some of the neighbouring counties.[1]
Thomas Charles referred to this revival in a letter that appeared in the May 1805 issue of theEvangelical Magazine:
At Aberystwyth, and in the adjacent parts, there are general and powerful awakenings among the young people and children. Some hundreds have joined the religious societies in those parts. ... This work first began at Aberystwyth, in the Sunday?School there; in which two young men, under twenty years of age, were the teachers. Soon after the commencement of the school, both teachers and scholars came under serious impressions. This work prevails at present over a large district, fifty miles by twenty. In travelling the roads, it was pleasing to hear the ploughman and the driver of the team singing hymns whilst at their work. Nothing else was heard in all those parts. This I can testify, with satisfaction and joy.[2]
[1]John Hughes, Cofiant am y Diweddar Barch. Owen Jones, o’r Gelli(Caerlleon, 1830), pp. 7-13.
[2]Evangelical Magazine, xiii (1805), p. 235.
Started in a Sunday School