Ann Griffiths

Ann Griffiths, poet and hymn writer was buried on this day in 1805 aged 29 years.

Ann Griffiths was a Calvinist Methodist hymn writer who lived the majority of her life in Dolanog. She was born in 1776, on a farm called Dolwar Fach and christened in the parish church of Llanfihangel-yng-Ngwynfa.

In 1794, Griffith’s mother died, and she helped to run the farm with her father and brother John until her father’s death in 1804. In October of the same year she married Thomas Griffiths, who came to live at Dolwar Fach, but ten months later, she died following the death of her baby daughter, Elizabeth.

Ann is buried at Llanfihangel-yng-Ngwynfa church, where, in 1864 a memorial to her was erected by her great nephew. Ann was brought up as a member of the Anglican church of St Michael’s at Llanfihangel-yng-Ngwynfa, but like many of her family, she was increasingly involved in nonconformist worship. Dolwar Fach, their home, was registered as a religious meeting house and received many visiting preachers and teachers such as John Hughes (who later went on to start the chapel at Pontrobert). Pendref Chapel in Llanfyllin was a link in the chain of events that led to her conversion in 1795, where she heard an open air when attending the local fair. During the 1790s, all her family became Calvinistic Methodists and Ann’s spiritual experiences were considered remarkable even at a time of powerful religious awakening. She began to write them down in the form of poems, which were later sung as hymns.