Pennant is a small village which lies about two miles east of the coastal town of Aberarth, off the B4577 to Cross Inn, and some twelve miles south of Aberystwyth. The village lies in the Parish of Llanbadarn Trefeglwys, and contains four places of worship: The church at Llanbadarn Trefyglwys is dedicated to St. Padarn, while there are three other places of worship for Calvinistic Methodists: Bethania Chapel, Pontsaeson Chapel and Pennant Chapel. I have been kindly supplied by Ceredigion Archives with details from the war memorials which are located in these four places of worship in the Parish, but have yet to get hold of photographs of them. This page commemorates the two members of Pontsaeson Calvinistic Methodist Chapel who fell during the Great War.
Capel Pontsaeson – Pontsaeson Calvinistic Methodist Chapel
The Great War, 1914-1918
Evan Evans, Lance Corporal, 27776, Welsh Regiment. Evan was the husband of Hannah Evans, of Bryn Isaf, Cross Inn. He enlisted at Pentre into the 18th Battalion, Welsh Regiment (2nd Glamorgan), which was a bantam battalion, attached to 119 Brigade, 40th (Bantam) Division. The Division moved to France during the first week of June 1916, and moved to the front near Loos. Late in 1916 it moved south to the Somme, fighting at the Battle of the Ancre, and remained in the area over the winter. In March 1917 the Germans withdrew to their shortened line, called the Hindenburg Line, and the 40th Division was one of the Divisions that followed the withdrawal. Later in the year it took part in the Battle of Cambrai, playing an important role in the attack on Bourlon Wood. Evan was killed in Bourlon Wood on 23 November 1917, aged 36. He has no known grave, and is commemorated on the Cambrai Memorial, Louverval, France.
Jenkins Jones, Able Seaman, Mercantile Marine. Jenkins was the son of David and Margaret Jones, of Felinfawr, Llanrhystud. He lived at Cefn Gaer prior to the war and served with the Mercantile Marine aboard the SS Etton, a Hull registered cargo ship. On 20 September 1916, Etton was on voyage from Barry to Archangel with a cargo of coal, when she was sunk by a mine which had been laid by the German submarine U-75. Jenkins was the only man lost in the sinking that day. He was 22 years old, and is commemorated on the Tower Hill Memorial, London.
There is a second memorial plaque in the Chapel to commemorate its members who served during the Great War and returned home:
GOSODWYD
Y MAEN HWN I FENY GEMYN
FEL ARWYDD O’N
GWERTHFAWROGIAD O ABERTH A
GWROLDEB Y RHAI FU YN YMLADD
DROSOM YN RHYFEL 1914-1918
G.E. ELLIS LLWYNYWEN MILL
E. EVANS TY’R CAPEL
J. EVANS CWMMARCH-ISAF
M. DAVIES BRYNMAEN
J.G. WILLIAMS GLYNARTHEN
I.D. WILLIAMS GLYNARTHEN
L.M. LEWIS PENLAN
J. LEWIS PENLAN
J.L. EVANS BRYNCERNI
J. JONES NEW BETHLEM
E.M. JONES BRYN
D. JONES BRYN
J.R. LEWIS GARNFAWR
H.V. BOULTER