Gelli Onn

Location: Gelli Onn.
Sponsor: Helen Mary Jones A.M.

Gelli Onn

According to the Victorian historian David Bowen, the Calvinistic Methodist Church in Llanelli was founded when Walter Bowen and Henry Rees left the Baptists in Felinfoel and joined the Methodists at Goppa Fach.

They then met in a dwelling house in Llanelli owned by an old lady who was known only as 'Martha'. This religious assembly became known as 'Society Martha'. Preaching then began in 1786 in a house near West End known as 'Gelli Onn'. Here they also held the first Sunday School in Llanelli which was visited by Thomas Charles of Bala. By 1809 Gelli Onn had become too small for the Calvinistic Methodists, and so they moved to their present location in Felinfoel Road at Capel Newydd. The road system 'Gelli Onn' took on the name of the old building after it was demolished to make way for the present traffic system.

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Gelli Onn

Safle: Gelli Onn.
Noddwr: Helen Mary Jones A.S.

Yn ôl yr hanesydd lleol David bowen, sefydlwyd yr Eglwys Fethodistaidd Galfinaidd yn Llanelli pan adawodd Walter Bowen a Henry Rees achos y Bedyddwyr yn Felin-foel ac ymuno a'r Methodistiaid yn Goppa Fach. Cwrddon nhw wedyn mewn tŷ preswyl yn Llanelli ble bu hen fenyw a adnabuwyd wrth yr enw Martha yn byw. Dechreuwyd y pregethu yn 1786 mewn tŷ ger West End o'r enw Gelli Onn. Yn y fan honno cynhaliwyd yr Ysgol Sul gyntaf yn Llanelli a ymwelwyd gan Thomas Charles y Bala. Erbyn 1809, daeth Gelli Onn yn rhy fach i'r Methodistiaid Calfinaidd ac felly symudon nhw i'w lleoliad presennol yn Heol Felin-foel sef Capel Newydd. Mabwysiadwyd yr enw Gelli Onn ar y drefn ffyrdd newydd ar ôl dymchwel yr adeilad er mwyn gwneud lle iddi.

'History of Llanelly' by David Bowen 1856. (Eng Trans by Ivor Griffiths, p13)
Hanes Llanelli gan David Bowen 1856
'Old Llanelly' by / gan John Innes, p166. Items / Eitemau 1785 and / ac 1809.
'Story of a Town' by / gan John Edwards, p / t 36

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