History
The history of the congregation goes back to 1774 when Edward Jones, an "exhorter" at Whitefield's Tabernacle, Moorfields, and a lay preacher, began to hold Welsh-language services in Cock Lane, Smithfield. (His trade was that of publican and spirit-merchant, resulting in his later nickname of "Ginshop Jones".) The services continued at Cock Lane until 1785 when Jones established a Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Chapel in Wilderness Row, Clerkenwell (now Clerkenwell Road).
Shortly afterwards a Welsh service commenced in Gravel Lane, Southwark, as a branch of the Wilderness Row congregation. A split came between the two congregations when Gravel Lane became completely Congregational and Wilderness Row completely Methodist. It appears that this was the beginning of the Welsh Chapel.
In 1806 a chapel was built in Little Guildford Street, Southwark. The chapel held about 500 people and cost £1200 to build leasehold.
Read more about this topic: Borough Welsh Congregational Chapel
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