Welsh Journals

planned for the laying of the foundation stone of a new chapel. Cresselly chapel underwent alterations in 1871-72 while, later, in 1893, a new chapel was erected in the Roth Park on a freehold site granted by Henry Seymour Allen, Esqr. The September Quarterly Meeting of 1873 gave the go-ahead to the Pembroke society to take steps towards building a new chapel. The society at Summerhill in its early days met for worship in the farmhouse of Mr and Mrs Thomas Hancock, both prominent members of the society. Worship in cottages or barns was indeed a common feature of the Primitive Methodist sect throughout Great Britain at this time, for many societies, in- cluding SummerhilFs, could not afford chapels8. Despite the prevalent economic hardship, the building of a chapel was commenced at Summerhill in 1879. The Primitive Methodist Magazine for that year noted the venture: 'The enterprise of our churches in various parts of the country is not to be repressed by hard times. At Bleasby, in the Newark Station (Not- tinghamshire), and at Summerhill on the Pembroke Dock Mission, memorial stones of neat little village chapels have been laid'9. The circumstances surrounding the building of Summerhill chapel tell us a great deal about the joyous and sacrificial efforts of the labouring poor for their little society. The land for the chapel, part of Summerhill Farm occupied by Thomas Hancock, was granted to the first trustees on 28 July 1879 by John Frederick Lort Phillips, Esqr., of Lawrenny Park, with the significant proviso that the intended chapel should not be used for political purposes. Primitive Methodists were radical in their politics and to a man would have voted Liberal. The conveyance of the land and the building of the chapel amounted to £ 261. Ninety pounds of this was borrowed, while the rest was raised, firstly, from donations of members of the society and outsiders rang- ing from small sums of under £ 1 up to £ 5, and, secondly, from various ac- tivities as, for example, the two services and the tea on the day of the laying of the memorial stones (29 July), a bazaar, tea and service of song on 2 and 9 February 1880, and sales of goods at Pembroke Dock, Kingsmoor and Summerhill. As Obelkevich indicates, over the country as a whole Primitive Methodist ministers specialised as 'chapel-builders' or as 'debt-reducers' and the Rev. Slyfield won the commendation of the Quarterly Meeting in March 1880 for his splendid efforts on behalf of Summerhill. The chapel was ready for worship by February 1881, but the debt incurred from borrowing still had to be cleared. Thus the 1880s and 1890s saw Special Efforts at Christmas and in August towards this end. On Christmas day there would a tea, enter- tainment, a stall and bran tub. The August Effort throughout the 1890s down to 1902 took the form of raising money at Amroth Big Day, as on 14 August 1891 when £ 5.11s.9d. was raised10. Throughout the entire history of the Primitive Methodist Mission in south Pembrokeshire, which ended in 1933, the overriding problem faced by all the societies was poverty. Many in the Kingsmoor end of the Station were colliers and slumps in trade had a profound impact upon the Primitive Methodist societies. The December Quarterly Meeting in 1868 resolved that the General Missionary Committee be regretfully informed that there was a decrease in the income of the Station and it noted that this was partly owing to the fact that the colliers at Kingsmoor had struck for wages and many had left the district. In the April Quarterly Meeting in 1870 apologies were again sent to the General Missionary Committee on account of the Station having to draw so much from them and explained: 'The members here are generally poor and they cannot pay ls.ld. per quarter'. Colliers in the area at this time would have been earning from 12s. to 15s. a week." The summer of 1871