History

St Thomas’s Church Denbigh

Rev. Gareth Roberts

ST. THOMAS'S CHURCH. DENBIGH. A BRIEF HISTORY.

During the period when the great theologian and hymn writer, Thomas Jones, resided in Denbigh and assumed the leadership at Capel Mawr, 1809-1820, occasional English services were already being held in the town for the benefit of English friends well-disposed towards the Methodist Cause. Of this we are reminded by E. P. Jones in his 'Methodistiaeth Calfinaidd Dinbych1. When an English Cause Fund was established in 1870 to promote the building of English churches in North Wales, a need for more frequent English services was already felt in Denbigh.

At the Denbighshire Monthly Meeting at Capel Mawr in October 1874, a resolution 'desired the brethren in Denbigh to proceed in the matter of founding an English Cause in the town1. Messrs J. Symonds Jones and Robert Drury were entrusted by the church in Capel Mawr to organise the new Cause. The inaugural services were held in the Council Chamber of the Town Hall on the 9th May 1875. W. Price Jones, relating the story of the church in the 1902-03 volumes of the church magazine, writes that after seventeen weeks in the Town Hall, the two Sunday Services and a school of eight classes in the afternoon were transferred to the Assembly Rooms.

On the 1st July 1876, the Rev. David Egryn Jones, Llanegryn, became the first pastor. In the same year, negotiations were begun for the purchase of ground to build a church in Post Office Lane. A commercial traveller, however, happened to call on Mr. T. G. Lunt, a zealous church worker, and commented: "How strange in a town like this, that there is not a church nor a chapel to be seen all the way from the bottom of the town to the top". The original plan was therefore abandoned and on November 8th 1876, the present site, at that time occupied by the extensive yard of a public house, the New Inn, was acquired.

The Committee had offered £600 for the yard but the vendor refused the offer, as he wished to sell the yard and the public house together. After reconsidering the matter the Committee resolved to buy the house and the yard for £1,500. In about a fortnight after the purchase they sold the public house for £1,150 and, as the Rev. J. H. Couch has reminded us in his short history, virtually made a profit of £250 by the transaction.

A schoolroom was built in 1878 but the services were so crowded that it was soon found necessary to proceed to build a church. The memorial stones which we see in the church building were laid on the 1st October, 1878, by Watkin Williams, M.P., and the famous Thomas Gee, Mayor of Denbigh. A large platform was erected in front of the building site and torrential rain during the morning did not prevent a good crowd from gathering in the afternoon. Within the wall behind the memorial stones were placed copies of 'Y Faner', the "Golauad1, the 'Carnarvon and Denbigh Herald1, the 'Wrexham Guardian' and the 'Wrexham Advertizer', together with silver coins of the realm and a document bearing the names of the minister, Rev. David Jones, the deacons, Messrs John Symonds Jones and Edward Thomas Jones, and the Building Committee, Messrs Thomas George Lunt, Lachlan Frazer, Thomas Roberts, William Price Jones, Thomas Moyes, Thomas John Roberts, Arthur S. Jones, Abel Anwyl, John Parry, Alfred Ashford, Henry Lloyd and Timothy Miller.

Delay was caused by a very severe frost, making building impossible for some six weeks, and by litigation between the architect and the builder. However, the Inaugural Services took place on the 27th and 28th June 1880, when the Rev. Principal Thomas Charles Edwards, Aberystwyth and the Rev. Principal William Howells, Trefeca, preached. The total cost of the church and schoolroom was £4,689.10s

Members and friends made splendid efforts to reduce the debt on the buildings. Many novel schemes for raising money were devised. In 1887 for instance came the 'A.B.C. Scheme1. 'A person was chosen to the position of A, and he selected six persons, which were known as Bs; and each B chose six Cs, and so on, until they came to the letter F: each F was expected to collect certain sums of money, and pay it to his E1. Ultimately all the money came into the hands of A. A sum of £128 was raised in this way. On the 5th October, 1893, a cheque for £1,600, a very large sum in those days, was received from Mr. Robert Davies, Menai Bridge, to clear the debt.

In 1884 the Rev. T. Mortimer Green, Newport, was inducted as pastor, but he left in 1888 because of the church's inability to support him. In May 1892 the Rev. Joseph Evans, Swansea, assumed charge of the pastorate, remaining until 1901 when he was succeeded until 1911 by the Rev. D. E. Jenkins, Portmadoc, described by E. P. Jones as a 'vitalising force in the religious and social life of the town of Denbigh.' He was the author of the “Life of the Rev. Thomas Charles of Bala”.

January, 1902, saw the advent of the Denbigh English Presbyterian Church (of Wales) Magazine. It gave news of the church, interesting articles by the minister, many advertisements which brought in a substantial sum and several pages of general interest to English nonconformists. It cost 1d., had a readership of 600-700 and was still appearing shortly before the first World War. Later, for several years until 1962, there appeared the 'Messenger', a small publication described as "the bi-monthly magazine of the English Presbyterian Churches at St. Thomas's, Denbigh, and Ruthin.”

“Remember the old days - Think of the years already passed” -
Deuteronomy 32: 7a.
“Remove not the ancient landmark which your fathers have set”.
Proverbs 22:28.
“This is what the Lord says: ‘Stand where the roads cross and look. Ask where the old way is, where the good way is, and walk on it. If you do, you will find rest for yourselves: “.
Jeremiah 6:16.