Bro Ffestiniog: A Town of Slate and Revival

Jos Edwards

This photo taken by Jon Putney tells us the story of Bro Ffestiniog and indeed Wales. Someone commented saying this photo is “everything that brings the Welsh the blues - the rain, chapels, waste heaps, rugby, clouds and despair - but every day when I wake up… I thank the Lord I’m Welsh!!”

Bro Ffestiniog is the town that puts a roof over the world. The slate capital of the world - the piles of slate remain today - for every tonne of useable slate produced about ten tonnes of waste were left in heaps on the mountainside!! They stand as a reminder of the town’s history - of the prosperity that once was here. Once nearly 15,000 people lived here - the majority Welsh speakers - and the culture and language remain strong here but now only around 5,000 people live in the Bro. As a result of the devastation of post-industrial capitalism, many feel like the slate “that adorns the surrounding mountains: left over, left behind.”

Extraction and injustice are a part of Bro’s story - there is such natural resource here - the first ever UK hydropower station was built here and boasts a billion-dollar profit turnover yet Blaenau has the highest fuel poverty rate in Wales. For so many here in the Bro life is hard and for some extremely hard as unemployment and addiction take hold.

The chapel is also a central part of the story of the Bro - at its peak, there were 36 chapels active in the Fro. Tabernacle, which no longer stands, was the Fro’s largest chapel that boasted a Sunday School of 500 children with 50 accompanying teachers!! There is an extraordinary spiritual history here rich in local revivals. One evening alone in 1876 in the village of Tanygrisiau 36 people gave their lives to Christ, in Llan Ffestiniog miners were recorded to have gone through the night praying before heading to work in the mines at 5 am before having to return to the chapel to pray more!! When 1904 swept the flame was deep and intense. There wasn’t a chapel large enough to hold their meetings and so the Market Hall had to host them but the 2,500 capacity was still bursting at the seams!

The chapels that stand today are either empty or re-purposed as holiday homes or a soft play and when I go running I am reminded of the fire that once was here and how far we have fallen from those days. Like the fog seen in the photo, it is like a spiritual fog has fallen on the Bro leaving people without purpose and hope.

But the fire hasn’t gone out. A beautiful renewal work has been happening here as the local people (who are the true “gold” of the Bro) have taken responsibility to work together for a better future. By today Bro Ffestiniog boasts the most social enterprises per capita in Wales - a sign of the incomparable resilience and generosity of its people.

The sense here is that the fog is lifting and there are signs of spiritual renewal too. The faithful saints gone before us who lived here or had a heart for the Bro have poured their prayers over the decades. And as a newly planted church - Craig Blaenau - we are feeling the effects of the tears and prayers sown.

Pray that God would bless the churches that have existed long before us, and for him to continue to raise workers from within and outside to join us in the great harvest. Pray that God would be merciful and pour out his spirit as many find their safe place in Jesus. Pray God would sustain us as a small team and for him to use us in transforming the narrative of hopelessness. Pray that the Bro that is “of the rock” would resound in worship once again as it turns “to the rock” - Jesus our rock of ages. Pray for grace and justice to flow like rivers here - and for us to see in Bro Ffestiniog as it is heaven!