Economic, Religious, and Social Change in Industrial Wales

Article by Bert J. Rawlins in World Conference on Records, 1980

In nineteenth-century Wales, society was profoundly affected by a series of drastic changes which seriously disrupted the lifestyle of most of its inhabitants. In the short space of fifty or sixty years, the Welsh people were forced to make the transition from a subsistence-level agrarian society to an industrialized one. Welsh industrial society in 1850 was the product of the events which occurred in the first half of the nineteenth century.

Until the beginning of the nineteenth century, the basis of Welsh society was almost entirely agrarian, with only a few population centers of more than ten thousand people. Industry was in its infancy, with expansion just in its beginning stages. Most of the people were engaged in agriculture. Farming methods in Wales remained almost medieval in nature, and even as the nineteenth century progressed, agricultural development was slow. Spirited land owners encouraged their tenants to adopt6 new farming techniques, and agricultural societies offered incentives to farmers to improve productivity. These were pioneering efforts and did become the impetus for later cooperation efforts, but such efforts had little effect on the small farmer in the late eighteenth century.

The small farmer maintained himself and his family at basically a subsistence level. He met his obligation to the landlord and his family, and then sold what little he may have produced beyond his own requirements at firs or local markets. The farmer’s lack of capital prevented him from increasing his production much beyond a marginal existence. Even if he had been able to secure the needed capital to increase his output, the demand for his produce remained very small, and the deplorable road system precluded him from getting produce to the existing markets. This simple form of society functioned adequately as long as conditions remained stable and supply and demand remained small and relatively constant. Forces were already at work, however, by the end of the eighteenth century which would undermine this simple agrarian society.

Population growth was the most serious factor that threatened to alter the balance in eighteenth-century society. The population increased steadily throughout the century but toward the end of the century accelerated so rapidly that between 1800 and 1850 the population increased by nearly 50 percent. An expanding population was not a problem in Wales alone, since Europe as a whole suffered from overpopulation, and Great Britain doubled in population between 1801 and 1851.1 Most demographers believe that this was due to a lower death rate combined with a high birth rate.2 Although there was some immigration into Wales, most of the population increase can be attributed to this birth rate. The impact of such growth on a simple agrarian society was tremendous, and the exploding population combined with other factors to undermine the stability of late eighteenth-century life.

The Napoleonic wars could be considered a first-state catalyst that set in motion the changes that were to take place over the next fifty years. The ward created artificial demands for agricultural products, iron, and coal – which were Wales’ greatest resources. The iron industry during this period expanded rapidly. Census statistics reveal that the population in the industrial areas, especially Merthyr Tydfil, grew rapidly during the Napoleonic Wars: “It is obvious that the parish of Merthyr Tydfil had grown rapidly in population before 1801 and the increase continued until 1821, then slowed down between 1821 and 1831.”3

Merthyr Tydfil’s greatest increase in population occurred during the period of the Napoleonic wars, and the cause of this rapid growth was the rapid expansion of the iron industry.

The agricultural sector experienced real growth. The farmer began to realize that he could get a greater profit if he could increase his productivity. Marginal land, such as woodland and high upland pasture, was cultivated; new farming techniques were attempted; and the ancient road system where each parish was responsible for repairs on its portion of the road was replaced by turnpike trusts that provided better access to ports and expanding industrial areas. By the end of the Napoleonic wars there was a relatively good network of roads, but the turnpike trusts had become two numerous. Each one controlled only a small portion of the road so as they increased in number, the number of tolls the farmer was required to pay to use the road increased as well. Fares were arbitrary and varied with each company. Hence, the farmer was uncertain of the overall cost of transporting his goods to market. Conceivably, he could make a five-mile journey and travel on more than one company’s stretch of road with each company exacting a toll from him. These unfair toll charges would become one of the factors which contributed to the Rebecca Riots in the 1830s and 1840s. Although unfair taxes, arbitrary rent agreements, church tithes, and a long list of other grievances contributed to the rebellion, they were difficult to fight openly. The toll gates became tangible representations of these grievances for the farmer and provided perfect physical targets for the frustrated, rioting Hosts of Rebecca. There was no question that the road system improved with the extension of turnpike trusts throughout Wales, which made it possible for the farmer to enjoy greater convenience in conveying his produce outside local markets. What came into question was the arbitrary and frequent tolls, which became an even greater burden after the Napoleonic wars, when the full effects of falling prices were felt. The small farmer could not endure both low prices for his produce and uncertain toll road charges.

Expansion in both the agricultural as well as the industrial sectors meant that the inevitable disruption to society was forestalled for a few years because the increasing work force (caused chiefly by a natural increase in population) was absorbed by industry, agriculture, and the army.

The picture changed drastically after the war:

The cessation of the war brought an abrupt halt to prosperity. Rural society was forced to bear the greater portion of the burden when the war ended, and economic conditions worsened. The unemployed in industry and those returning from the ward migrated back to their homes in the rural districts. The near-medieval farm system was totally unequipped to meet the crisis it now faced. Jobs soon became nonexistent. The number of paupers on parish relief became intolerable as well as unmanageable. Discontent grew over the next twenty years and culminated in the Rebecca Riots.

Despite an economic depression in industry after the Napoleonic wars, the demand for iron products began to expand again in the 1820s and 1830s. Unemployment was relieved to some extent in the 1830s as increasingly larger numbers of farm laborers migrated toward the industrial valleys seeking work. The situation was also aided by the development of ways to sink mine shafts deep into the earth so that coal that was otherwise inaccessible could be extracted. By the mid-1840s prosperity returned, but the difficulties of the previous thirty years had left their effects on both rural and industrial society alike.

The rapid growth of some industrial towns as Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare was phenomenal. Merthyr had a population of 7,705 in 1801. By 1851 the population had increased to 46,378 – an increase of a little over 500 percent – while the parish of Aberdare showed an increase of 900 percent.5 Between 1801 and 1841, Monmouthshire increased by 117 percent, the highest percentage of any shire in the British Isles. Glamorgan, with 77 percent, stood in third place on the list.6 These phenomenal increases in population for Monmouthshire and Glamorganshire occurred because of the expanding iron trade. Apart from natural increases, most of this population growth came from immigrants into the industrial districts. During the early development of the iron trade, through about 1840, migration from the outside was largely confined to the neighboring counties of South Wales and southwest English counties of Gloucester and Somerset.7 The largest majority of immigrants were Welsh speakers, who flocked into towns like Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare, lured by the prospect of higher wages.

Migration after the mid-nineteenth century became more complex in nature with more English and Irish immigrants moving into the industrial valleys of Glamorganshire. Improved transportation allowed the new inhabitants to move from more distant locations in England and Wales. These later migrations gravitated toward the expanding coal fields rather than the older ironworks districts like Merthyr Tydfil, Tredegar, and Rhymney. Pontypridd and the Rhondda valleys became the centers for these new workers.

With the rapid influx of people into the industrial valleys, the ironmasters were confronted with problem of a constantly shifting labor force as workers moved to avoid a slump at one works or to find better wages at another. “It is estimated that as many as 10,000 people might circulate through Merthyr in a year,”8 with many of that number remaining in the town for only a short period of time before moving on to somewhere else. There were seasonal workers who came to the industrial districts, the ironworks, for employment when the harvest was over and work was slack. Large numbers of single males resided in the industrial districts, and they were extremely mobile too. Since they had no ties, they could change jobs, and even locations, with little difficulty.

It was little wonder that the ironmasters resorted to all kinds of schemes to hold the labor force.9 The “truck shop” or company shop was the most widespread method used. In simple terms the ironworks provided for nearly all of their workers’ needs. In one sense, the responsibility to provide these needs fell upon employers because of the geographical isolation of the valley heads,10 but the truck system in places like Dowlais developed into a whole paternalistic network of houses, churches, schools, shops, savings banks, friendly societies, and a host of other services as well.11 The “long pay” system where workers were paid monthly was used by most companies and the pay was often given in the form of vouchers which workers could use only at the company shops. Invariably, the system plunged most working-class families into debt and servitude to their employers.

It was true that in good times many industrial workers earned a wage several times that of farm workers in West Wales.12 Many of them undoubtedly fared better than some farmers in rural areas. The problem, however, lay in the fact that wages seldom remained stable. On the condition of full employment, miners and colliers in 1839 could earn from twenty-two to twenty-four shillings per week on a normal twelve-hour shift. Furnace men could earn twenty-five to thirty shillings a week and puddlers over thirty-five shillings.13 During bad times these wages could conceivably be reduced by almost half. “General unemployment was usually less common than in England or in the sale coal districts of Monmouthshire but full employment was equally rare. What was common was frequent short-time serious unbalance in employment between trades and a permanent uncertainty.”14

The words permanent uncertainty should be underscored, since they describe in essence the nature of the ironworks communities. In a real sense, the lives of the workers were almost totally dependent on their employers in both good and bad times. In good times they enjoyed a reasonable living standard. In bad times they suffered privation on an unprecedented scale.

The slump in the iron trade during the years 1828-32 created near panic on the part of the workers in Merthyr Tydfil. Wages had been reduced in September 1829 and the effect was increased debt. Undoubtedly there were cutbacks in the labor force, as well as an increase in short-time work. Credit was extended to many workers but as the slump dragged on, shop keepers became increasingly desperate. Court actions increased as the personal property of the poor was seized or detained for the payment of debt.15 Nonessential items, such as furniture and watches, were taken first. But often seen the essential, such as beds, were taken. Reliance on company shops put many in such a position of debt that they never did fully recover from the effects of the slump.

The Court of Requests was created in Merthyr Tydfil in 1809 for the purpose of handling debts amounting to less than 5 pounds. Concern among shopkeepers over small debts gave rise to this court. The court also held the labor force together since it had the power to extend credit when necessary. In the slump of the late 1820s and early 1830s, this court served the purpose of a “public truck”16 by providing credit to working – class families.

The stipendiary magistrate’s court was created in 1829. Some of its primary functions were “to press claims for maintenance on the home parishes of distressed immigrants, [and] to lubricate removals and appeals against removals.”17 One of the underlying motivations for this was to keep the labor force together by raising support funds from the home parishes of the distressed.18 In 1831 and 1832, when economic conditions were at their worst level, large numbers of families in Merthyr Tydfil were sent back to their home parishes in West Wales. Nearly five thousand people left the town in the latter part of 1831.19

Rapid shifts in population always created problems in settling new arrivals and providing for their basic needs. Invariably, local leaders were not experienced or prepared to do this. This was particularly true in the period before 1860. Living conditions at Merthyr Tydfil had grown into a “black legend.”20 Ironmasters and middle-class speculators constructed drab rows of houses, thrown up along the hillsides to help meet the demands of a burgeoning population. It was visibly noticeable that little planning had gone into the building of these homes. Overcrowding was common because houses could not be built rapidly enough. Several families lived together and often provided lodging for the overabundance of single male workers. The lack of housing increased congestion and created very unhealthy living conditions.

Proper drainage and sanitation facilities were conspicuously absent. The Health of Towns Commission wrote the following about drainage and sanitation in the town of Merthyr Tydfil:

Lack of proper drainage created problems with the water supply. Charles Wilkins, in his history of Merthyr Tydfil, makes reference to these deficiencies:

The springs mostly used by the poorer classes were at a distance; much time was occupied in going to, and returning from them. In summer, especially, this was the case; the water dripping from the spouts, or slowly accumulating in the hollows around the springs, had to be carefully collected in the pitchers or kettles; and, in dry summers, quarrels frequently arose amongst the people while waiting at the spouts the great party of the night.23

Because cholera is a waterborne disease, it is little wonder that the epidemic of 1849 claimed over fourteen hundred victims in Merthyr Tydfil alone.24 Cholera attacks all ages, but those who lack a proper diet and who live in unhealthy surroundings are most susceptible. G. Penrhyn Jones observes that “the social conditions that followed in the wake of the industrial expansion of nineteenth-century Britain were fertile for the spread of epidemic disease, and cholera wrought a tremendous havoc in this country in its several visitations after its first appearance in 1831.”25 The industrial valleys of South Wales felt the full effects of these epidemics, particularly the epidemic of 1849.

Because of low health standards in most industrial areas, the high mortality rate, especially among children under five years of age, is understandable. “Towering over Merthyr people, higher than Pen-y-Fan in the Brecons was a child mortality rate which halved the life chances of every generation.”26 The burial registers of Merthyr Tydfil indicate that child mortality was high for most of the years between 1813 and 1835, but it was particularly high during years of dearth or crisis. The annual mean for the number of burials of children under five was 398 for every 1000 christenings. In years of crises (1816, 1819, 1823, and 1831), burials per 1000 christenings reached as high as 713 (18 1823).27 Taking the child mortality rate into account, the life expectancy of someone residing in Merthyr Tydfil was less than thirty-five years of age. If a person survived to the age of five, his chances of living to an old age were greatly increased.

Working conditions varied according to the kind of work performed. Conditions in the ironworks were not good. The hours were long and the work was hard and dangerous, but conditions were even worse in the collieries and mines, where little or no provision was made for the safety of the workers.28 Coal miners working a twelve-hour shift would not see the light of day for more than six months out of the year, except on Sunday. And until ways were discovered to pump water seepage out of the mines and collieries, the miners were forced to work in wet, unhealthy conditions. Even in the 1930s, miners still put in long, grueling hours for the pay they received. Eira Jones, who was reared in the Rhonda Valleys, could recall how her brothers would come home too exhausted to eat. They would simply lie down on the floor in their dirty clothes and fall asleep.29

The long hours of back-breaking work and the uncertainty of enough work, the unsanitary conditions in which they were called to live and work, and continual debt left many in a state of despair. Life was hard, and many sought relief through worship in the churches and chapels abundantly found in the industrial valleys. More than half of the population in the industrial valleys did associate with one form or another of one of the denominations. As one historian suggests, perhaps the majority of the population attended the chapels because there were few other choices.

The society created by the industrial revolution in the old ironworks district was one in which Welsh Nonconformity predominated and it could fairly be described as a religious society in the sense that an appreciably higher percentage of its inhabitants than the national average had some connnexion or other with places of worship and religious observances. But it was also a society in which, because of its great lack of social variety and amenities, the contrast between the church and “the world” was very marked. There was no middle way for those who did not want the church or chapel on the one hand or the public house on the other, for these were the only social centres available to the majority of the inhabitants of these industrial districts.30

There can be no question that the choices were few in the industrial valleys, but the chapels must have offered something more than just an alternative to the pub. Statistics certainly indicate that nonconformity had wide appeal.

Changes took place in religion during the first half of the nineteenth century which created an atmosphere conducive to the growth of the gospel. Nonconformity in Wales was just beginning to emerge as a dominant force. It was estimated that non more than 10 percent of the population in 1800 was nonconformist, but by 1851 when the religious census was taken, the trend was almost completely reversed. This was especially true in the industrial valleys. The religious census of 1851 revealed that in Merthyr Tydfil religious worshippers accounted for 60 percent of the population, and over 90 percent of these were nonconformists.

This was true not only for Merthyr Tydfil, but for all of the other industrial areas in Monmouthshire and Glamorganshire as well. There were 59,229 people in the Abergavenny registration district. Of that number 38,561 attended a church meeting on the day of the religious census, and 32,339 (or 86 percent of the worshippers) were nonconformists. In Pontypool district 76 percent of the worshippers were nonconformist and in the Newport registration district 74 percent were nonconformist. These figures seem remarkable when compared with the national averages which showed that nonconformity only accounted for 35 percent of the religious worshippers in England and Wales on the day the census was taken.31

Further statistics from 1861 for the major sects in Wales also revealed the success of nonconformity. In 1851, the number of meeting places in Glamorganshire for just the Independents was 114. This number increased to 142 in 1860, and by 1871 there were 202 chapels for this denomination. In just twenty years, the number of independent chapels nearly doubled.32 Similar circumstances prevailed for both the Baptists and Calvinistic Methodists. As one eminent nonconformist minister put it, “The Welsh are now emphatically a nation of nonconformists.”33 And this, without question, was true. Statistics clearly showed that the growth of nonconformity in Wales was nothing short of phenomenal.

The reasons why nonconformity developed so rapidly, particularly in the industrial districts, are apparent. As the ironworks began to expand and more people began to move into the valleys, the established church and nonconformity were basically on equal footing. Both stood in a position to win the new arrivals as adherents, but the outcome was decidedly one-sided in favor of nonconformity.

The established church, when confronted with the new industrial society, found itself unable to adapt to society’s needs. The primary problem, as E.T. Davies puts it, arose from its own nature. For centuries, the established church had essentially been the church of the landed gentry and their dependents.34 And these characteristics, developed over many years were not easily adaptable to the democratic nature of industrial society. “The ministry of the established church had developed in a rural setting and was, consequently, more pastoral than evangelistic, and it had accepted the social gradations of an agricultural society which did not apply in an industrial society. When this latter society produced its own social hierarchy it was nonconformity which benefited from it.”35

In contrast to this, Welsh nonconformity was structured to give the lay member an opportunity to participate in a meaningful way in positions of responsibility and leadership. The members no longer had to rely on the priest alone for their religious indoctrinations or for the major part of the decision making necessary to fulfill the needs of the congregation. “The popular democracy which Welsh nonconformity assumed in this new society made its chapels virtually self-governing ecclesiastical republics, with a large variety and range of opportunity open to its laity with which the established church could not compete.”36

E.T. Davies further emphasized that “when the emotional nature of popular religion in the industrial districts is contrasted with the sober piety of the book of Common Prayer, and the sociological background of the church compared with that of dissent, it will be seen that the problem which confronted the former was. . . adapting itself as to get under the skin of a society which was new to it.”37

In the end, the church was the loser. Had the church recognized the needs of this new society earlier and then adapted itself to them, the outcome might have been different. But mainly due to a lack of positive initiative on the part of the diocesan leadership during the crucial growth period of the industrial valleys, the position of prominence held by the church in earlier periods were irretrievably lost.

Without exception, the largest ironworks were situated in high upland parishes, and the parish church was usually located on a hill overlooking the valley or in some remote, inaccessible spot. As the town grew, people moved into the valleys, and finding the church to be inconveniently located, began forming prayer meetings in homes. Here, then, was one of the major appeals of nonconformity. It reached down to the grass roots of industrial society. Its origins were home-centered. “A temporary social group, like a crowd, needs no idealogical basis, but if a group is to endure, it must have certain common values and goals which bind the members together. This is what happened. The home became the center of the nonconformist group.”38

The hearth was a place where one could find fellowship; through worshipping with others in such circumstances, something of an enduring nature could be found. Nonconformity could not have endured on itinerant preachers and open air meetings. It had to have a more or less permanent social group, and the home became the basis for that group.

There was a pattern to the way most chapels began in the industrial areas. They started in the home with only a few members, similar to the Ebenezer Independent chapel in Aberdare.

Around the end of the last century many people from various parts of South Wales came to Aberdare to work. And among them were people related to the Independents and Calvinistic Methodists. There were but six or seven members at first. They met for some years together in houses to hold prayer meetings and succeeded occasionally in getting a preacher from one or the other of the sects to visit them.39

The adherents of this congregation met in homes for several years until a chapel was built in 1811. Success followed this congregation, and it became the mother chapel to several other Independent causes in the parish. Its origins were, like most other chapels, home-centered. “The cegin, or living room. . . became the meeting house and the firside settle, a pew. The practice of religious devotions was brought within the orbit of family life on the hearth; children learned to read the Bible and later to pray in the daily devotions of the household.”40

As the congregation grew in number, the living room became too small, so they usually removed to the bragdy (“Malthouse”), the llaethdy (“milkhouse”), or a room in the local hall. The next step was usually the construction of a small chapel. Depending on how active the congregation was, the original chapel was usually rebuilt one or more times before a new, larger chapel was built in this place. The oldest chapel in the community usually became the mother chapel to several other branches in the area. In Merthyr Tydfil, all of the Independent chapels could trace their origins to the old Ynysgau chapel, the first dissenting congregation in the parish. The Baptist and Calvinistic Methodist denominations particularly, and then Wesleyan and Welsh Wesleyan sects to a lesser degree, expanded in a similar manner. By 1851 when the first and last religious census was taken in Great Britain, dissent in Merthyr parish claimed no less than forty-seven congregations, while the established church had two churches, a chapel of ease, and two licensed schoolrooms.41 Clearly, nonconformity became a dominant force in industrial South Wales. Taken as a whole, dissent in the valleys claimed over 75 percent of the worshippers on the day of the religious census.

The religious census revealed that the religious institutions of the country had failed to attract the working class as a whole.42 This generalization obviously was not true, however, when Wales was considered separately. And to a large extent this was because of the democratic nature of the chapel organization. From the beginning, nonconformity in the industrial areas had been a working-class movement, and perhaps this fact alone accounted for its wide appeal. The chapel was a place where the members held positions of responsibility and leadership. Decision making was vested in the elders or deacons of each chapel, who were drawn from the working class. The leaders in most cases were not skilled workers since the early period in the development of the iron trade required importing such men from England. It was only after a period of years that a pool of skilled Welsh ironworkers developed and became leaders in the chapels. The ministers themselves, in many cases, came from among the artisan or working class; and because of this, minister and congregation could relate to each other in doctrinal, as well as emotional, matters.

“Emotionalism” played a vital role in the development of nonconformity in rural and industrial society. Revivals became a frequent occurrence in Wales with the purpose of winning converts by emotional involvement. “Welsh nonconformity was to achieve, it can be argued, its position of supremacy in Wales through a series of revivals in which intense individual experience played an important part.”43 The primary function of the revival was to create within the individual an awareness of sin and the need for penitence. The large number of converts won over to the nonconformist sects during these revivals were looked upon as the ultimate in success and achievement. In fact, “the success of the meeting was judged by the emotional powers of the preacher, and the gusto and crescendo of the hymn singing.”44

When the final count was taken, nonconformity had indeed won the day. But there was little reason to believe that it would be otherwise. Because of the nature of industrial society, nonconformity had all of the elements inherent within it to succeed. Its origins were home-centered, reaching down to the grass roots of the industrial working-class society. Chapels were self-governing units, which allowed their leadership (usually drawn from the working classes) to meet local needs without a hierarchy above them to impede the decision-making process. This emotional appeal of dissent, an element entirely lacking in the established church, attracted and won adherents in large number.

Welsh nonconformity in the mid-nineteenth century was principally a working-class institution, and it maintained this posture for a long period before it developed an image similar to nonconformity in England.45 It was ideally suited to the society from which it was formed and its appeal was widespread among the inhabitants of industrial society.

Social, economic, and religious change which occurred within the industrial valleys, as well as events which occurred elsewhere in Wales, combined to develop this new industrial society. The new society developed its own social hierarchy and its own institutions to help meet its needs, but it was with considerable difficulty and social upheaval that its inhabitants adapted themselves to their new environment.

The history of industrial society was one of adapting to the great social and economic distortions created by its own development. It would be impossible to explain the solutions which came about to improve the quality of life, but as the century progressed, both working and living conditions improved. The worker became more conscious of his position and sought to improve it. Dissent registered large numerical gains in the last half of the nineteenth century, but it gradually lost influence to labor and political movements. Eventually, solutions were found to most of the major problems which had been created by industrial expansion, and conditions normalized as the century continued to move ahead. NOTES 1 Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, “Report of the Population Panel” (London, March 1973), p. 29.

2 Ibid.

3 E.T. Davies, Religion in the Industrial Revolution of South Wales (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1965), p. 8.

4 David Williams, A Modern History of Wales (London: John Murray, 1950), p. 197.

5 E.T. Davies, Religion in the Industrial Revolution of South Wales, p. 8.

6 D. Williams, A Modern History of Wales, p. 229.

7Walter E. Minchinton, ed., “The Peopling of the Hinterland and the Port of Cardiff,” Industrial South Wales, 1750-1914 (London: Cass, Frank and Co. Ltd.), p. 5.

8 Gwyn A. Williams, The Merthyr Rising (Guildford, Surrey: Biddles Lts., 1978), p 49.

9 Ibid., pp. 49-50.

10 D. Williams, A Modern History of Wales, p. 231.

11 G. Williams, The Merthyr Rising, p. 28.

12 Ibid., pp. 28, 48.

13 Ibid., p. 48.

14 Ibid., p. 49.

15 Ibid., p. 89.

16 Ibid.

17 Ibid., p. 50.

18 Ibid., p. 105.

19 Ibid., p. 220.

20 Ibid., p. 49.

21 G. Penrhyn Jones, “Cholera in Wales,” National Library of Wales Journal, Vol. 10., p. 288.

22 Ibid.

23 Charles Wilkins, History of Merthyr Tydfil, 1868 (Harvey Wood Southey at the Express Office, M.T.), pp. 261-62.

24 G.P. Jones, “Cholera in Wales,” p. 295.

25 Ibid., p. 282.

26 G. Williams, The Merthyr Rising, p. 50.

27 Ibid.

28 D. Williams, A Modern History of Wales, p. 197.

29 Personal interview with Eira Jones, Goginan, Aberystwyth, Wales, summer 1975.

30 E.T. Davies, Religion in the Industrial Revolution of South Wales, p. 141.

31 Ibid., pp. 33-38.

32 T. Rees and J. Thomas, Hanes Eglwysi Annibynol Cymru(Swyddfa y “Tystcymreig”), Cyfrol. II, p. 1.

33 Thomas Rees, History of Protestant Nonconformity in Wales (London: John Snow and Co., 1883), p. 452.

34 E.T. Davies, Religion in the Industrial Revolution of South Wales, p. 99.

35 Ibid., p. 100.

36 Ibid.

37 Ibid.

38 D. Ben Rees, Chapels in the Valley: Study in the Sociology of Welsh Nonconformity (Wirral, Merseyside: Fynnon Press, 1975), p. 67.

39 Rees and Thomas, Hanes Eglwysi Annibynol Cymru, p. 1.

40 D. Ben Rees, Chapels in the Valley, p. 68.

41 Ieuan Gwynedd Jones and David Williams, eds., Religious Census of 1851: A Calendar of Returns Relating to Wales (Cardiff: University of Wales Press), Vol. 1, pp. 170-180.

42 E.T. Davies, Religion in the Industrial Revolution of South Wales, p. 99.

43 D. Ben Rees, Chapels in the Valley, p. 152.

44 Ibid.

45 E.T. Davies, Religion in the Industrial Revolution of South Wales, pp. 141-177. (See also Chapels in the Valley, Chap. 4 and for details about the change in nonconformity.)