About Us

The Ceredigion Circuit was created in the 1994, merging existing English and Welsh language circuits. The Ceredigion circuit is the only bilingual circuit within the UK Methodist Church. There are eight churches in the circuit, meeting in seven buildings; the St Paul Methodist Centre in Aberystwyth is home to both the English and Welsh speaking congregations in the town.

The circuit has two ministers, Revd David Easton and Revd Bryan Yardy, that head up the preaching and pastoral teams in the circuit. The circuit has a number of supernumerary ministers and local preachers. The local preachers include preachers that are fully accredited and several that are in training. We are proud that a good number of local preachers who trained in the Circuit have since gone on to serve the Church through presbyteral ministry. Worship leaders are also used from time to time, particularly in OpenSpace in St Paul's.

Ceredigion Circuit: a brief history

The Circuit was created in 1994. It includes some churches whose first language is English and some Welsh. As such, it is the product of a long history of Methodist witness throughout the county in the two languages.

John Wesley himself had a single brief but eventful and rather unpleasant journey through parts of the county in July 1764 when he passed through Cwmystwyth, Pontrhydygroes and Ffair Rhos and thence on to Tregaron and Lampeter. However, no English Methodist society (or congregation) seems to have been established in the county and the establishment of Wesleyan Methodism in what was then Cardiganshire had to wait for the coming of Welsh-speaking preachers who could communicate with the majority of the inhabitants in their own tongue. In 1800 the Wesleyan Methodist Conference agreed to appoint Welsh-speaking 'missionaries' to Wales and in a short time they reached the county, which was then known as Cardiganshire.

Welsh-speaking Methodism

Very early in the nineteenth century Welsh-speaking Circuits were founded covering the areas around Aberystwyth, Cardigan and Lampeter. The Aberystwyth Circuit existed from 1807 until it became part of the Ceredigion Circuit in 1994. The Cardigan Circuit had a checkered history in the first half of the nineteenth century, sometimes existing independently and sometimes merging with the Lampeter Circuit, which was founded in 1808. From 1864 the Cardigan Circuit disappeared and the county was served by the Aberystwyth and Lampeter Circuits and the newer Ystumtuen Circuit, founded in 1861. Lampeter and Ystumtuen merged into the Aberystwyth Circuit in 1971.

As the names of the Circuits suggest, the centres of Welsh-speaking Methodism in the county were Aberystwyth, Lampeter and Ystumtuen. All these had strong Wesleyan Methodist causes. A Methodist society existed in Aberystwyth as early as 1802 and the first chapel was built in 1807. Between 1869 and 1954 Aberystwyth had two Welsh congregations, each with its own chapel. Lampeter had a Wesleyan Methodist society by 1807 and Ystumtuen by 1808. The rapid spread of Welsh-language Methodism in the area can be seen in the list of the other societies that were formed in the early nineteenth century. These included Aberaeron, Bontgoch, Borth, Capel Dewi, Capel Ficer, Cardigan, Cilcennin, Cilgwyn, Cnwch Coch, Cwmbrwyno, Cwmrheidol, Eglwysfach, Llandysul, Mynydd Bach, Newcastle Emlyn, Newquay, Pontrhydygroes, Tregaron and Tre’r-ddôl.

In numerical terms Welsh-speaking Methodism throughout Wales peaked in the 1920s and the story thereafter has been one of decline. Of the churches listed above only Aberystwyth, Capel Ficer, Cnwch Coch and Ystumtuen remain as Welsh-speaking churches.

English-speaking Methodism

The growth of English Methodism in the county dates from the second half of the nineteenth century. Increased mobility and new industrial developments brought in workers and holidaymakers from outside Wales. The prohibition by the British government of the use of the Welsh language in schools following the 1870 Education Act helped to further strengthen the position of English. The development of lead mining in the north of the county brought in miners from Cornwall. Their presence led to the formation of the Lisburne Mines Circuit in 1859. This was quickly renamed the Goginan and Lisburne Mines Circuit and also included societies in Cwmsymlog and Cwmystwyth The Circuit lasted until 1878 when it was absorbed into the Aberystwyth English Circuit which had been formed in 1865.

The first English Methodist society in Aberystwyth dates from 1844 and a chapel was built in 1869. An English society was also formed at Borth around the middle of the century but seems to have come to an end by 1890. In 1934 a society was formed at Penparcau and a chapel built in 1954. In 1987 the Lampeter church transferred from the Welsh to the English Circuit. In the early 1990s both the Aberystwyth and Lampeter chapels were demolished and new chapels built on the same sites and the Penparcau chapel was sold when the congregation purchased another building. In 1996 a new society was formed in Tregaron and fully recognised in 2002.