Water under the bridge

This is the Afon (River) Gwaun just before it reaches the bridge and enters  the harbour at Lower Fishguard. 109 years ago, in January 1905,  a remarkable event took place at this spot when 94 individuals, both young and old, female and male, voluntarily entered the river to be dunked in its icy water. It was a mass baptism for members of the previously-blipped Hermon Baptist Chapel in the town, at the height of the Welsh Methodist revival.

The weather was much as it has been recently: hail and rain, driven furiously by a terrific east wind, mercilessly pelted the shivering multitude, to quote from a contemporary report. Nevertheless, 4000 spectators perched on the valley slope above and joined in the singing of hymns while the baptismal candidates lined up for the renowned minister, the Reverend Dan Davies, to conduct the ceremony.

Sunday was the coldest and wildest day experienced this winter at Fishguard. In the bay near the old fort were upwards of a dozen steamers sheltering unable to venture on their voyage to Liverpool, while within the new breakwater at Goodwick was quite a fleet of sailing ships more numerous than has been seen for some time. In spite of this the 94 candidates for immersion braved the tempestuous elements in the cwm at Lower Fishguard. Through the surrounding woodland and steep furze-clothed hillside the hurricane came in force. On the heights every available shelter of crag and bush was taken advantage of by groups of sightseers who joined in the tuneful Welsh hymns which filled the valley with their doleful accents. About 50 yards from the bridge spanning the river and connecting Lower and Higher Fishguard was a temporary wooden structure, and as the baptised left the minister in the stream each was assisted by strong, willing hands on to the improvised bridge, and after receiving the tender attention of anxious relatives who had wraps and shawls ready to throw around the immersed they were assisted across to the neighbouring cottages, where dry garments awaited them. The test to which some of the candidates were subjected would have tried many a hardy sailor, for the fresh water was chilling to the bone. The fair members were extremely courageous, no less so were many of the middle-aged and the old. As one left the officiating pastor's hands, another stepped forward so that in the space of 25 minutes the 94 were baptised. The scene was picturesque despite the attendant disadvantages of the weather. To the earnest invitation of the Rev. Dan Davies to any of the multitude to step in and declare on the side of Christ none responded; yet the supplication which followed deepened the solemnity of the occasion as he stood with uplifted hands waist-deep in the stream. Not until the final hymn had closed the ceremony did the pastor of Hermon leave the river. The occasion was a most memorable one in many respects.


(Such scenes were repeated all over Wales at the time, part of the religious fervour whipped up by the revivalist preachers who commanded as much adulation as any media celebrity today.)

A contemporary photograph shows the ceremony, or one very like it, and if you walk along the river today, although the place is no longer the busy boatyard it once was, you can see just below the bank, a concrete step with the words BEBYDD (baptism) 1905 stamped upon it. I photographed it here after I was told of its existence by a local historian but no one else seems to know about it and it's hard to spot with the water lapping over it. It's a forgotten marker of an extraordinary event whose memory has been washed away as the river runs.

This is a One River blip.