Ebbw Vale - Glynebwy is an industrial town on the Ebbw Fawr stream which runs into the Ebbw river. The Industrial Revolution brought large numbers of people to work in the mines and also in the iron and steel works, so that from 1778 until the last quarter of the twentieth century Ebbw Vale was an important iron and steel-making town. Ebbw Vale was represented in parliament for more than sixty years by two prominent Labour politicans with Methodist connections: Aneurin (Nye) Bevan (1897-1960), MP from 1929 until his death, and Michael Foot (1913-2010), MP from 1960 until 1992. Bevan's mother was a Methodist; Foot's father was the Liberal MP and Vice-President of the Conference, Isaac Foot.

Methodism in Ebbw Vale Calvinistic Methodists: The Cardiganshire preacher Owen Enos formed a society in Ebbw Vale in 1794. The society met first in a shed, rebuilt in 1806 and replaced in 1825 by the large Penuel Chapel, rebuilt and enlarged again in 1838 and replaced in 1865. In 1844 an offshoot society of Penuel chapel in Church Street was formed. With the influx of Welsh speaking families who had come to work in the iron works they needed a large chapel and on 23 and 24 September 1850 Ebenezer Chapel was opened. The chapel closed in 1891 and around 1893 the chapel became an English-speaking Calvinistic Methodist chapel. A third chapel, Bethesda, opened in 1877 and a Sunday school building was added in 1908.

Wesleyan Methodism: During the lifetime of John Wesley, Ebbw Vale was a scattered rural community of around 120 inhabitants. In 1790 the Ebbw Vale Steel, Iron and Coal company was established and a blast furnace was built which made the town a major industrial area attracting large numbers of workers. Ebbw Vale was missioned by Edward Jones, junior, Welsh Wesleyan minister stationed in the Merthyr Circuit from 1805-07, with an English Wesleyan colleague. The first chapel, built in 1808, was for both English and Welsh Wesleyans, but by around 1825 it was too small and the English Wesleyans built their own chapel. The societies were in the Merthyr Tydfil English and Welsh Circuits, formed in 1803 and 1810 respectively.

Primitive Methodism: The PMs formed a society in Ebbw Vale in the 1840s and opened Zion Chapel in 1847. A new chapel, with accommodation for 500 worshippers and 350 scholars, was built in 1894-95.

Entry written by: DHR
Category: Place
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