Griffith Jones' Grave (1761)
He is remembered as the ‘morning star’ of the awakening in Wales. There is little doubt that his Schools, that began just a few years before the Great Awakening began, enabled Holy Spirit to find richer soil to work on than would have been the case had they not existed. Revival would not have gone so deep and wide in Wales had not many tens of thousands gone through the Circulating Schools. He also impacted the Great Awakening in a significant way through his mentoring both Daniel Rowland and Howel Harris, the great revivalists, at the beginning of their ministries. He also mentored Howel Davies, another revivalist in the Awakening, who was his curate for some years. In 1741 Jones broke with the Methodists as he did not agree with the way they went about things and he was probably fearful of the effect his association with them would have on his Schools. This is why he is now remembered as an educationalist rather than a pioneer revivalist of the Great Awakening.