Ruabon Primitive Methodist chapel, North Wales

1892 Ruabon Primitive Methodist chapel in Henry Street, as it was in 2003
Keith Guyler 2003

This is now Ruabon Methodist Church. The words on the inscription above the two windows say “Primitive Methodist Sunday School 1892”, so presumably further research would discover that there was once also a now-vanished chapel, perhaps on the grassy area you can see.

One of my hardest pulpit tasks over the years was to conduct in this chapel the funeral of my father, Dinsdale Thomas Young, who had said he would like me to be the minister. That took place on 29th December 1997.

He was born in 1903 in Blaenavon, Monmouthshire, and the family worshipped at Park Street Wesleyan Church. The Wesleyan Guild Anniversary Sunday, 25th March 1923, was celebrated at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m., with the Rev. Norman G. Dunning of Cliff College as preacher. It was under his ministry that my father professed faith in our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. He later became a local preacher, and together with my mother moved to Ruabon in 1978.

Comments about this page

  • The 1892 Primitive Methodist magazine (page 701) records the opening of “a new school-chapel” at Ruabon in the Rhosymedre station. I’m not sure whether this helps in deciding whether there was a separate chapel on the ground next to the current building.

    By Christopher Hill (22/11/2020)
  • David,

    I have not been able to identify a Primitive Methodist minister named John Smith stationed in that area in 1915. It is possible that he was a Wesleyan or United Methodist Minister, so it is unlikely that he was minister at this church.

    By Geoff Dickinson (06/07/2019)
  • My wife’s g-g-g- uncle, John Smith, was a Methodist minister in Ruabon in 1915. Could this have been the chapel where he ministered? Any information would be greatly appreciated.

    By David Williams (05/07/2019)
  • The original PM chapel in Ruabon was built in about 1813 by the Calvinistic Methodists, and taken over by the Primitive Methodists after the CMs moved to their new 1834 chapel called Rhagluniaeth. Rhagluniaeth is still standing, though no longer a CM chapel, but the area where the earlier chapel stood has been wholly demolished and redeveloped. The area is called Tan-y-lan or simply Tan-lan, and there is a photo of it, sadly not including the chapel, in a book of old Ruabon in the Wrexham museum.

    By David Young (08/02/2014)

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