Welsh Journals

THE PENTRE MEMORIAL CHAPEL D. L. Baker-Jones, JP, MA, FSA. The mansion house of Pentre in the parish of Maenordeifi in north Pembrokeshire was for generations the home of the Saunders Davies family. Along with Ffynone, Bronwydd, Blaenpant, Cilwendeg and Noyadd Trefawr, amongst others, it was an important Tivy-side gentry house, and the principal residence of a landowning family whose estate at one time amounted to almost 10,000 acres in the counties of Cardigan, Carmarthen, Glamorgan and Pembroke. In recent years, parts of Pentre mansion have been demolished, and one very interesting feature which has completely disappeared is the memorial chapel. This was originally opened for public worship on Tuesday 14 January 1879, as a chapel of ease in the parish of Maenordeifi and a private chapel for the Pentre menage and inhabitants of the immediate neighbourhood. The chapel was built at considerable cost by Mrs. Fanny Saunders Davies in memory of her husband Arthur Henry Saunders Davies, son of David Arthur Saunders Davies of Pentre, JP., DL., and MP for Carmarthenshire. Arthur Henry Saunders Davies was born on 22 April 1832 and, like his father, he ultimately held office within the county as JP and DL and was also High Sheriff for Carmarthenshire in 1861. On 31 March 1860 he married Fanny, the fourth daughter of Grismond Phillips of Cwmgwili, Carmarthen, but, sad to relate, their married life was comparatively short-lived as Arthur Henry Saunders Davies died on 8 June 1873 in his forty second year. The story goes that Mrs. Fanny Saunders Davies had had disagreements from time to time with the rector of Manordeifi on account of his lengthy and boring sermons. It is even said that it was her custom to poke the fire in the Pentre family pew in Maenordeifi church as a signal for the worthy cleric to bring his homily to an end. Regarded, along with Mrs. Colby of Ffynone and Mrs. Brigstocke of Blaenpant, as one of the redoubtable ladies who ruled Tivy-side, her wishes were not to be disregarded. Be that as it may, the parish church of Maenordeifi was not centrally placed for the majority of the parishioners, and sometimes, owing to severe flooding of the river Teifi, the church was unapproachable. The building of a new church was regarded as of some urgency, but the new parish church of Maenordeifi Eglwys y Garreg Wen did not become a reality until the end of the century, in 1898. Thus with many considerations to prompt her Mrs. Saunders Davies set about building a private chapel at Pentre for the family principally, and those of the parishioners who wished to come to it. A licence from the bishop of St. David's was obtained, and the opening day was regarded as a special event in the social and religious life of Tivy-side. The proceedings have been recorded in some detail, and we learn that the choral service on the morning of 14 January 1879 was in English with the choir comprising some of the ladies and gentlemen in the house party at Pentre at the time, the household ser- vants and choristers from Maenordeifi Church. Local clergy present included the Rev. Rhys Jones Lloyd rector of Troedyraur and one of the Lloyds of Bronwydd a colourful and endearing character according to H. M. Vaughan and those who remembered him. In spite of any differences he may have had with Mrs. Fanny Saunders Davies, the Rev. Henry Jones, rector of Maenordeifi, took a prominent part. Others included the scholarly antiquary, the Rev. H. Davies, vicar of Cenarth; the eloquent and stirring preacher the