Early in the 19th century the wave of abstention from alcoholic liquor swept over the parish. From the 1830s onwards Pentyrch Temperance Society flourished for several decades but these wse as may dissenters as supporters. Among the leading figures in this (and other debates) the local schoolmaster and polymath, Charles Prichard, was prominent ... so was his arch rival, Horatio Thomas vicar of Pentyrch from 1839 to 1882. Whilst Prichard, a staunch Baptist, was consistent in his condemnatiaon of the demon drink, the parish priest was known to change sides more than once!
