Mary Jones World

52°54′01″N 3°36′54″W

The exhibition in 2019

Mary Jones World (Welsh: Byd Mary Jones) is a small heritage centre located in Llanycil near Bala, Gwynedd, Wales.[1] Situated on the north shore of Bala Lake, it provides information on Mary Jones, a fifteen-year-old girl from Llanfihangel-y-Pennant. After she had saved her money for six years, in 1800 Jones walked 26 miles to buy a copy of a Welsh-language Bible, which she thought would be available in Bala, only to find that they were sold out. The Reverend Thomas Charles was reputed to have given her his own spare copy.[2] (Other versions of the story have Mary waiting for two days for Bibles to arrive, and Charles giving her three copies to take back to her village.)

The heritage centre is an initiative of the British and Foreign Bible Society[3] and was opened on 5 October 2014 at a cost of £1.3 million in the former village church which was dedicated to Saint Beuno.[4] It is open daily from April to October from 10am to 5pm with free visitor parking and a café. As well as information about Mary the centre tells about the growth of the Bible Society, and Thomas Charles who sold Mary her bible is buried in the church yard of St Beuno. School group visits are encouraged and there is a children's play area next to the centre.[5]

References
  1. The centre on visitbala.org
  2. R. S. Sugirtharajah; Sugirtharajah, Rasiah S Sugirtharajah (11 June 2001). The Bible and the Third World: Precolonial, Colonial and Postcolonial Encounters. Cambridge University Press. p. 52. ISBN 978-0-521-00524-1.
  3. Article on the Bible Society website
  4. "Bala centre celebrates Mary Jones' Bible walk". BBC News Online. 5 October 2014. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
  5. The centre on visitmidwales.co.uk
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