Sittings. Proportion to all
Sittings.
Church of England 133,514 61·8
All others 82,443 38·2
------- -----
Total 215,957 100·0
The population increased from 289,892 to 593,607, or 105·5 per cent. The
quota of sittings required of the Church was 140,854; it did provide
15,204. The other denominations ought to have provided 86,975; they did
provide 270,510. The Church of England fell short of its duty 89 per
cent.; the other denominations exceeded it 211 per cent. The ratio of
sittings to population in 1801 was 74·7 per cent., and in 1851, 84·5.
Can the force of antithesis go further.[165]
But we must descend a little more into detail, and furnish some
practical illustrations, still taken from the testimony of Churchmen
themselves, as to the condition of their Church in Wales in these modern
times. In 1849, Sir Benjamin Hall made a speech in the House of Commons,
in which he described the state of things at that time, especially in
the diocese of St. David's. He spoke of the total neglect of
archidiaconal visitations, of the small number of services performed in
the diocese, and of the ruinous and deserted state of the churches. Here
are a few extracts from his statement, taken, we believe, from the
Report of the Commissioners on Education:--
'No. 1. Kemys Hundred.--In the whole country between
Fishguard on the north, and the Precelly mountain on the
south, there is no day-school, and the state of the church
exemplifies the neglect in which the population of the
parishes are left. The churches of Llandeilo and
Maenchlogag are in ruins. In that of Morfyl the panes of
the chancel window were all out, the inside of the church
wet, as if just rinsed with water--indeed it had been, for
the afternoon was raining.
'No. 2. Hasguard.--School held in the church, where the
master and four little children were ensconced in the
chancel, amidst lumber, round a three-legged grate full of
burning sticks, without funnel or chimney for the smoke to
escape; how they bore it I cannot tell. There had been no
churchwarden in the parish for the last ten years, nor, it
is believed, for a much longer period.
'No. 3. Llanafan Fechan.--Mr. Rees, farmer, who lives close
to the church, informed me that divine service was very
seldom performed here, unless there are banns to publish, a
wedding, or a funeral.
'No. 4. Llandulais.--This church is a barn-like building
with large holes in the roof, evincing every symptom of
neglect and discomfort.
'No. 5. Llanfihangel Abergwessin.--No service performed in
this church five out of six Sundays for want of a
congregation.
'No. 6. Llanfihangel Bryn Pabuan.--Divine service not often
performed here, except a wedding or funeral takes place.
The vicar rides by on a Sunday afternoon, but seldom has
occasion to alight and do duty, from the want of a
congregation.
'No. 7. Llanfair tref Helygon,--The parish church was in
ruins many years ago; the oldest inhabitant does not
remember it standing.
'No. 8. Llandegley.--The clergyman is forbidden to have his
horses in the churchyard, but he puts in two calves. The
school is held in the church, into which the belfry opens,
which is open to the churchyard. Calves are still turned
into the churchyard, and, I was told, still sleep in the
belfry.
'No. 9. Llangybi, four miles from Llanbedr College, has
neither doors nor windows. The sacrament has not been
administered for _ten_ years. Service seldom performed at
all. Cows and horses walk into the church and out at
pleasure.
'No. 10. Llanfihangel Ar Arth, also near Llanbedr.--Here
there was once a chapel of ease; the stones of its ruins
have now disappeared, though a yew-tree marks the spot; and
the baptismal font was lately seen used as a pig-trough.
Yet the dissenters have five chapels, and congregations
amounting to 1,200.
'No. 11. Llandeilo Abercywyn.--The incumbent is
occasionally obliged to ring the church bell himself; but
sometimes the congregation amounts to two or three persons.
'No. 12.--In another parish the vicar has been in the
Insolvent Court; and was also suspended for three years for
immorality, but allowed to return. He has only a
congregation of about fifty, whilst the dissenters have
four chapels, with congregations of about 1,300.
'No. 13 Llandeilo Fach.--No service here for about _ten_
years. The roof has fallen down for several years; but,
fortunately, there is a dissenting chapel, with a
congregation of about 300.
'No. 15. Llanddowror.--This parish is a frightful
demonstration of the destruction of the Church in Wales by
the present system. About eighty years ago this parish was
under the pastoral care of a native Welshman, the excellent
and eminent Griffith Jones, renowned for his piety,
abilities, and qualifications. This church had then 500
communicants, and people came many miles to attend the
service. But this church has now no roof to its chancel,
of which it has been destitute several years. The
churchyard has neither wall nor fence; sheep were seen
standing on the church tower some months ago. In one parish
the curate has only of late been suspended, of whom the
parishioners said he was "so bad the devil would soon be
ashamed of him." The vicar had not preached in this parish
for ten years, and lives twenty miles off. He has had the
care of the parish since 1812, which is now reduced to the
above deplorable state, though formerly, when in other
hands, it was quoted as the model parish of Wales.'
Such was the aspect of the Church in the diocese of St. David's only
twenty years ago; and we have no doubt there were scores of other
parishes in the same diocese in little better condition than those
specified in the above extracts.
Let us now turn to look at another diocese. In the year 1850 a vigorous
effort was made to promote church extension in the diocese of Llandaff.
An appeal was issued in the form of a letter from the Archdeacon of
Llandaff to the Bishop, stating the facts of the case, which were these.
The population of the two Archdeaconries of Llandaff and Monmouth was
173,139. There was church-accommodation for only 17,440. Let our readers
specially remark this fact. After having been in possession of the
country for three hundred years, the Established Church in that part of
Wales did not pretend to have made provision, in the year of grace 1850,
for the religious instruction of more than one-tenth of the vast
population committed to her care. But, did the people avail themselves
of her ministrations even to that extent? The answer is at hand. Among
others to whom the appeal for help in building new churches, founded on
the above showing, was sent, was Sir Benjamin Hall. Before responding to
that appeal, Sir Benjamin, who was intimately conversant with that part
of the country, and who had his doubts whether more church-accommodation,
scanty as it was, was really needed for the district, instructed
competent persons to count the actual numbers who attended the churches
and the dissenting chapels in forty of the parishes of the diocese on a
given Sunday. He published the result in a pamphlet, in the form of a
letter to the Bishop, from which it appeared that, while the sittings
provided in the churches were 17,440, the total number of actual
attendants at the most numerously-attended service on Sunday, October
13th, 'the weather being particularly fine,' was 7,229; while the number
which attended the 227 chapels provided by the Nonconformists, in the
same district, amounted, on the same day, to 80,270. 'From the above it
appears,' says the writer of the pamphlet, 'that so far from the
churches being too small to hold the remnant of Churchmen which the zeal
and activity of Dissenters have not wrested from us, there is, at
present, room for 9,591 persons in addition to those who now attend the
divine service of the Established Church.'
If we turn to one of the North Wales dioceses, that of Bangor, it would
seem that even now, notwithstanding the energetic efforts which the
present bishop is known to have made to infuse some life into the
church, its condition, according to the acknowledgment of its own
friends, is sufficiently discouraging. At a meeting held in Bangor last
year, the bishop in the chair, a lay churchman said that Anglesey has
seventy-nine parishes, fifty-two of which have no parsonages. The
seventy-nine parishes are held by forty rectors; two of them possess
four livings each, eight of them possess three livings each, and
seventeen two each. He said that the desirable thing for Anglesey was
the residence of the clergyman among his parishioners. He declared that
the church there was now 'empty.' Another of the speakers, Lord Penrhyn,
acknowledged that Dissent had prevented Wales from becoming a heathen
country. At a clerical conference held in the same city in August, 1868,
also under the presidency of the bishop, the Rev. P. C. Ellis,
Llanfairfechan, in the course, we are told, of 'a very earnest address,'
made these remarks:--'He believed if the Church of Ireland were
disestablished it would be a just judgment upon the clergy of that
church for their shortcomings, and he was convinced that investigation
would show that the clergy of the church in this country had fallen as
far short of their duty as their brethren in Ireland. He trembled to
think what the report of the state of the Church in Wales would
disclose, as he believed its position was worse than that of the Church
in Ireland. If the Church in Ireland were to go down, the Church in
Wales must surely follow.'
With regard to the number of persons still attached to the Church in
Wales, there is great discrepancy of opinion. Without pronouncing
dogmatically on the subject, we propose to furnish our readers with
certain data, which may assist them in drawing their own conclusions. So
far as we know, the first, and we believe the most careful attempt that
was ever made to procure a return of the ecclesiastical statistics of
Wales, was in 1846, by Mr. Hugh Owen, Honorary Secretary of the Cambrian
Educational Society, a gentleman to whom the Principality is indebted
for many valuable services. What provoked that inquiry was this. About
that time the National Society was making a strenuous effort to cover
Wales with day-schools, wherein, according to the fundamental
regulations of that Society, 'the children were to be instructed in the
Holy Scriptures, and the liturgy and catechism of the Church of England,
such instruction to be subject to the superintendence of the parochial
clergyman;' 'the children to be assembled for the purpose of attending
service in the parish church;' 'the masters and mistresses to be members
of the Church of England,' &c. A special appeal was issued on behalf of
Wales by Archdeacon Sinclair, with a view 'to raise a large fund' to
establish schools on the above principles. In this appeal, the
suggestion 'to adopt a broad basis in which all sects could unite,' was
sternly rejected. No system 'from which the characteristic doctrines of
the Church of England were expunged' could be tolerated for an instant.
To show how utterly unsuited to the country schools of this description
must prove to be, the inquiry of which we speak was instituted. Having
obtained, through means of the relieving officers, the names and
addresses of trustworthy persons in about three-fourths of the parishes
in Wales, Mr. Owen addressed a circular to each of those persons,
requesting a return of--1. The name of every place of worship in his
district. 2. The name of the denomination to which it belonged. 3. The
exact number of the congregation at each place of worship on the first
Sunday after the receipt of the circular, in the morning, afternoon, and
evening. 4. The exact number attending the Sunday-school at each place,
morning and afternoon.[166] Returns were received from 392 parishes,
thirty of which were in Anglesey, fifty-nine in Carnarvonshire,
fifty-three in Denbighshire, seventeen in Flintshire, twenty-three in
Merionethshire, twenty-eight in Montgomeryshire, twenty-seven in
Breconshire, fifty-four in Cardiganshire, forty in Carmarthenshire,
eighteen in Glamorganshire, forty-three in Pembrokeshire, and ten in
Radnorshire. The population of these 392 parishes amounted to 431,000.
As the total population of Wales, not including Monmouthshire, was then
only 911,603, that of the returned parishes contained nearly one-half of
the whole population of the country. The result is thus summarized in a
pamphlet published soon after:--
'From the returns it appeared that the number attending the
morning services of dissenters were 79,694, the morning
service of the church, only 18,128, being more than four
dissenters to one churchman; the afternoon services of
dissenters were attended by 63,379, those of the church by
5,710, or about seven dissenters to one churchman. The
evening services of the church were attended by 9,889, and
those of dissenters by 128,216, or twenty-two dissenters to
one churchman. The average attendance on the Sunday was--
Churchmen 11,242
Dissenters 90,415
-------
Total average attendance 101,657
Hence the average attendance of dissenters as compared with
churchmen was as eight to one.
'The actual morning attendance at dissenting Sunday-Schools
was 40,641, at the church schools 3,396, or in the
proportion of twelve to one. In the afternoon, the
dissenters' schools were attended by 57,243, the church
schools by 6,002, or more than nine to one, giving an
average proportion of eleven to one in favour of dissenting
schools.'
It may be objected that as there were probably many churches in which
only one service was held, the deduction, from the average of three
services, may be unfair. Well, let it be noticed that the maximum number
attending the churches is in the morning, when it amounts to 18,128; and
that the maximum number attending the dissenting chapels is in the
evening, when it amounts to 128,216; hence the ratio of the maximum
attendance at dissenting chapels (evening service) to the maximum
attendance at the churches (morning service) is seven to one. But
leaving out of account for the moment the relative proportions of Church
and Dissent, as indicated by these returns, what do they tell us of the
absolute number of persons attached to the Church, as compared with the
population? Instead of taking the average attendance at three services,
we will, as before, take the number present at the most numerously
attended, namely, the morning service; and if we add to that number
one-fourth to represent absentees, we shall have a total of 22,660
souls. This, in a population of 431,000, would amount to rather more
than one in nineteen of church-goers.
But let us now turn to the official census of 1851. We have not the
slightest wish to impeach the general accuracy of the facts and figures
given in Mr. Horace Mann's masterly report. But the condition of Wales
is very peculiar, and the general rules laid down by that eminent
statistician for classifying and formulating the immense mass of figures
with which he had to deal, while fair enough, no doubt, to the normal
state of society in England, may not have been equally applicable to a
country in so exceptional a state as Wales.
That a serious error has crept in somewhere into the returns, as
respects the Principality, is obvious from this one fact. The number of
sittings provided by the Church of England is stated to be 301,807, and
the number of the worshipping population of the same church on the 31st
of March, 1851, is stated to be 138,719. Now Mr. Mann shows that the
proportion per cent. of attendants to sittings in the Established
Church, throughout all England and Wales, is only thirty-three; whereas
by the above showing, the proportion of attendants to sittings in Wales
alone is 40 per cent. We venture to say, that no man competently
acquainted with Wales, knowing, as every such man must know, the
miserably meagre attendance at hundreds of churches in that country,
would for an instant believe that the churches are occupied in the
proportion of 40 per cent. of attendants to sittings. Let us, however,
take the figures given to us in the census. The population of Wales,
including Monmouthshire, in 1851, was 1,188,914. The total number of
places of worship was 4,006, which was distributed thus: