In an article in the Bapotist Quarterly in 1966 we read these words:
In Wales some attempts had been made to provide an educated ministry in the first half of the eighteenth century. Towards the end of the fourth decade John Griffiths of Hengoed gathered a few students for training, at Trosnant near Pontypool, a work which lasted about until 1770. These were the years of Awakening in the Principality. In 1741 the Association at Blaenau Gwent had discussed the possibility of a denominational college but the resources of Baptists at that time were considered inadequate. It was in 1806, under the inspiration of Micah Thomas, that a work was begun at Abergavenny which has continued ever since and is now comprehended in the South Wales Baptist College. It is noteworthy that Thomas was largely under the influence of Andrew Fuller and the academy he led was modelled on his old college at Bristol. It was the evangelical spirit of the second half of the eighteenth century which convinced Baptists to the need of ministerial education and they sought to produce a preaching ministry able to capture the imagination of the age.
