Rhosygwalia, Bala, LL23 7ES

Rhosygwalia, Bala is a locality in the LL23 postal district of North Wales. It is best known for its association with the Welsh Christian tale of Mary Jones and her Bible. The story of Mary Jones and her Bible inspired the founding of the British and Foreign Bible Society. Mary Jones was a Welsh girl who, at the age of fifteen, walked twenty‑six miles barefoot across the countryside to buy a copy of the Welsh Bible from Thomas Charles because she did not have one. Thomas Charles then used her story in proposing to the Religious Tract Society that it set up a new organisation to supply Wales with Bibles. The tale highlights the rural setting of the area and its historical significance in Welsh religious history.