John Jones, Talysarn

John Jones, Talysarn (1 March 1796 – 16 August 1857), was a Welsh Calvinistic Methodist minister, regarded as one of the greatest preachers in the history of Wales.

Because the name "John Jones" was one of the most common in Wales at the time, he is usually differentiated by others of the same name by the use of the suffix "Talysarn", denoting the village where he lived.

John Jones was born in a house called Tan-y-castell, in Dolwyddelan, and brought up in a farming family but which also had many connections with Nonconformist religion.

[2] As a young man around 1820 he was engaged as a labourer building Thomas Telford's road[3] from London to Holyhead (now known as the A5), and was heard by his fellow workers preaching on religious matters as he walked to work.

In an age when Nonconformist preaching had been riven by doctrinal differences, John Jones spoke plainly on matters that concerned the common people.