Lewis Edwards Penllwyn

This statue is raised in remembrance and to honour the Reverend Lewis Edwards M.A. D.D.
Founder and head of the first Bala College 1837-1887 and 
who taught the Welsh people as a literary man and Minister of God, the gospel born Pwllcenawon Penllwyn 27 October 1809 Died Bala 19 July 1887

We have been on holiday in the Aberystwyth area and more than once we have been through Capel Bangor or Penllwyn where in the chapel grounds there is a bust of Lewis Edwards (1809–1887) who was born in the village and became an important educator and Nonconformist minister.

He was the eldest son of Lewis and Margaret Edward and was educated in Aberystwyth and Llangeitho. He ran schools in both these places then became private tutor to a family in Meidrim, Carmarthenshire. He had preached for the Calvinistic Methodists and, in 1829, was accepted as a regular preacher by the Calvinistic Methodist congregation at Llangeitho. In 1830 he was accepted for study at the Seceders' College, Belfast, but chose instead to study in London, at a college which later became University College. After a year in London he became a minister and schoolteacher in Laugharne, Carmarthenshire. In 1833 he went to Edinburgh University, where he studied under Thomas Chalmers and Christopher North. By a special dispensation he graduated after three years instead of the usual four, obtaining an MA with honours. He was awarded an honorary DD by the University of Edinburgh in 1865.

He was now better able to further his plans for providing a trained ministry for his church. Previously, Calvinistic Methodist preachers had relied on their natural gifts. Edwards made his home at Bala, and there, in 1837, with David Charles, his brother-in-law, he opened a school, which ultimately, as Bala College, became the denominational college for north Wales.

In 1836 he married Jane Charles, granddaughter of Thomas Charles (1755–1814). Their son Thomas Charles Edwards became the first principal of the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth.

He died on 19 July 1887, and was buried in Llanycil churchyard near the grave of his grandfather-in-law Thomas Charles.

Edwards may fairly be called one of the makers of modern Wales. Through his hands passed generation after generation of preachers, who carried his influence to every corner of Wales. By fostering competitive meetings and by his writings, especially in Y Traethodydd, a quarterly magazine which he founded in 1845 and edited for 10 years, he did much to inform and educate his countrymen on literary and theological subjects. A new college was built at Bala in 1867, for which he raised £10,000. His chief publication was a noteworthy book on the doctrine of the Atonement, cast in the form of a dialogue between master and pupil; the treatment is forensic, and emphasis is laid on merit. It was due to him that the North and South Wales Calvinistic Methodist Associations united to form an annual General Assembly; he was its moderator in 1866 and again in 1876. He was successful in bringing the various churches of the Presbyterian order into closer touch with each other, and unwearying in his efforts to promote education for his countrymen.