Trefeca (also Trefecca, Trevecca, and Trevecka), located between

Talgarth Talgarth is a market town, community and electoral ward in southern Powys, Mid Wales, about north of Crickhowell, north-east of Brecon and south-east of Builth Wells. Notable buildings in the town include the 14th-century parish church and ...

and

Llangorse Lake Llangorse Lake ( cy, Llyn Syfaddon, variant: ) is the largest natural lake in Mid and South Wales, and is situated in the Brecon Beacons National Park, near the town of Brecon and the village of Llangors. The lake is famous for its coarse fishin ...

in what is now south

Powys Powys (; ) is a county and preserved county in Wales. It is named after the Kingdom of Powys which was a Welsh successor state, petty kingdom and principality that emerged during the Middle Ages following the end of Roman rule in Britain. Geog ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

, was the birthplace and home of the 18th-century

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

leader

Howell Harris Howell Harris ( cy, Howel Harris, italic=no; 23 January 1714 – 21 July 1773) was a Calvinistic Methodist evangelist. He was one of the main leaders of the Welsh Methodist revival in the 18th century, along with Daniel Rowland and William Will ...

( cy, Hywel Harris, italic=no). It was also the site of two Calvinistic Methodist colleges at different times; the first sponsored by

Selina, Countess of Huntingdon Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon (24 August 1707 – 17 June 1791) was an English religious leader who played a prominent part in the religious revival of the 18th century and the Methodist movement in England and Wales. She founded an ...

(an English methodist leader) in the late eighteenth century; the second supported by the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Connexion in the later nineteenth century.

Teulu Trefeca

In 1752, Harris, who was born in Trefeca and was one of the foremost leaders of the

Welsh Methodist revival The Welsh Methodist revival was an evangelical revival that revitalised Christianity in Wales during the 18th century. Methodist preachers such as Daniel Rowland, William Williams and Howell Harris were heavily influential in the movement. Th ...

, established a Christian community there known as ''Teulu Trefeca'' ('the Trefeca Family'), modelled on the Moravian Herrnhutt community of Count von Zinzendorf. John Wesley preached for Harris's 'family' when visiting Trevecca in August 1769 for the first anniversary of Trevecca College. The additions to Harris's family house were in an unusual

neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

architectural style, one of the first examples in Wales, completed by 1772.

Trevecca College (1768–1792)

Trevecca College, Brecknockshire, South Wales

In 1768,

, established a

theological seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...

in Trevecca. The remote site was chosen partly in order that Harris, the Countess's friend, could keep watch on the new institution for her. The opening of the college coincided with the expulsion from

St Edmund Hall, Oxford St Edmund Hall (sometimes known as The Hall or informally as Teddy Hall) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. The college claims to be "the oldest surviving academic society to house and educate undergraduates in any universit ...

of six students because of their alleged Methodist leanings. Most of the six were sponsored by Lady Huntingdon to form part of the inaugural student body at her college. The use of the term 'college' set Trevecca apart from the

Dissenting Academies The dissenting academies were schools, colleges and seminaries (often institutions with aspects of all three) run by English Dissenters, that is, those who did not conform to the Church of England. They formed a significant part of England's edu ...

, but was controversial in the mid-eighteenth century, implying some measure of equivalence with the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Many students at Trevecca, however, were not of sufficient means to attend the ancient universities and, unlike an exclusively scholarly setting, and despite their isolated situation, studies at Trevecca were frequently interrupted by long preaching assignments around Britain. The college transferred to

Cheshunt Cheshunt ( ) is a town in Hertfordshire, England, north of London on the River Lea and Lee Navigation. It contains a section of the Lee Valley Park, including much of the River Lee Country Park. To the north lies Broxbourne and Wormley, ...

, Hertfordshire, in 1792. The building used is now a farmhouse (College Farm). Cheshunt College was later affiliated with the

Congregational Union of England and Wales The Congregational Union of England and Wales brought together churches in England and Wales in the Congregational tradition between 1831 and 1966. The Congregational churches emerged from the Puritan movement, each church operating independently ...

. It moved again in 1906 to Cambridge and merged with

Westminster College, Cambridge Westminster College in Cambridge, England is a theological college of the United Reformed Church. Its principal purpose is training for the ordination of ministers, but is also used more widely for training within the denomination. History ...

in 1967.

Notable students

Samuel Eyles Pierce The Rev. Samuel Eyles Pierce (23 June 1746 in Upottery, Devonshire, England – 10 May 1829 in Clapham, Surrey, England) was an English preacher, theologian, and Calvinist divine. A Dissenter from the Honiton area, Pierce was an evangel ...

, English preacher, theologian, and Calvinist divine *

John Eyre (evangelical minister) John Eyre (January 1754 – 28/29 March 1803) was an English evangelical clergyman. He helped in establishing some of the major national evangelical institutions. Early life The son of John Eyre of Bodmin, he was born there in January 1754, and ...

, co-founder of the

London Missionary Society The London Missionary Society was an interdenominational evangelical missionary society formed in England in 1795 at the instigation of Welsh Congregationalist minister Edward Williams. It was largely Reformed in outlook, with Congregational m ...

Trevecca College (1842–1906)

Thomas Charles Thomas Charles (14 October 17555 October 1814) was a Welsh Calvinistic Methodist clergyman of considerable importance in the history of modern Wales. Early life Charles was born of humble parentage at Longmoor, in the parish of Llanfihangel Abe ...

, a Welsh Calvinistic Methodist had tried to arrange for taking over the Trevecca College buildings when the trustees of the

Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion The Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion is a small society of evangelical churches, founded in 1783 by Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon, as a result of the Evangelical Revival. For many years it was strongly associated with the Calvinist ...

removed their seminary to Cheshunt in 1792; but the Bala revival broke out just at the time, and, when things grew quieter, other matters pressed for attention. A college had been mooted in 1816, but the intended tutor died suddenly, and the matter was for the time dropped. Candidates for the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Connexional ministry were compelled to shift for themselves until 1837, when

Lewis Edwards Lewis Edwards (27 October 1809 – 19 July 1887) was a Welsh educator and Nonconformist minister. Life He was born in Pen-llwyn, Ceredigion, Wales, the eldest son of Lewis and Margaret Edward. He was educated at Aberystwyth and at Llangeit ...

(1809–1887) and David Charles (1812–1878) opened a school for young men at Bala. North and South alike adopted it as their college, the associations contributing a hundred guineas each towards the education of their students. In 1842, the South Wales Association opened a college at Trevecca in the old home of Howell Harris. The Rev. David Charles became principal of Trevecca (from 1842 to 1863), and the Rev. Lewis Edwards of Bala. After the death of Dr Lewis Edwards, Dr.

Thomas Charles Edwards Thomas Charles Edwards (22 September 183722 March 1900) was a Welsh minister, writer and academic who was the first Principal of the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth. Life Thomas Charles Edwards was born at Llanycil, Bala, Merioneths ...

resigned the principalship of the

University College In a number of countries, a university college is a college institution that provides tertiary education but does not have full or independent university status. A university college is often part of a larger university. The precise usage varies ...

at Aberystwyth to become head of Bala (1891), now a purely theological college, the students of which were sent to the university colleges for their classical training. In 1872, a Harris Memorial Chapel was added to Trefeca, designed by R. G. Thomas of

Menai Bridge Menai Bridge ( cy, Porthaethwy; usually referred to colloquially as Y Borth) is a town and community on the Isle of Anglesey in north-west Wales. It overlooks the Menai Strait and lies by the Menai Suspension Bridge, built in 1826 by Thom ...

. The building is now Coleg Trefeca, a lay training centre for the Presbyterian Church of Wales. In 1905 David Davies, 1st Baron Davies, David Davies of Llandinam, one of the leading laymen in the Connexion, offered a large building at Aberystwyth as a gift to the denomination for the purpose of uniting North and South in one theological college; but in the event of either association declining the proposal, the other was permitted to take possession, giving the association that should decline the option of joining at a later time. The Association of the South accepted, and that of the North declined, the offer; Trevecca College was turned into a preparatory school on the lines of a similar institution set up at Bala in 1891. In 1906 this became the United Theological College, Aberystwyth, United Theological College in Aberystwyth under its Principal Owen Prys.D. Ben Rees (ed), ''Vehicles of Grace and Hope: Welsh Missionaries in India, 1800-1970'', William Carey Library (2002)
- Google Books pg 175John Venn (ed), ''Alumni Cantabrigienses: A Biographical List of All Known Students, Graduates and Holders of Office at the University of Cambridge from the Earliest Times to 1900: Volume 2 From 1752 to 1900''
Cambridge University Press (2011) - Google Books pg 213

Howell Harris Museum

The Howell Harris Museum is located at Coleg Trefeca. Open by appointment, the exhibits focus on the life of Howell Harris and the community of Teulu Trefeca that he founded.Methodist Heritage: Howell Harris Museum
accessed 3 July 2016

References

External links

*
Video of Coleg Treveca training centre
{{Coord, 51.9811, N, 3.2478, W, region:GB, display=title Houses in Powys Methodism in Wales Museums in Powys Biographical museums in Wales Religious museums in Wales History of Christianity in Wales Talgarth