The Bishop of St Asaph has announced the appointment of a new Archdeacon of Montgomery.

The Revd Gerwyn Capon will take up the post following the retirement of the current Archdeacon, the Venerable Dr Barry Wilson, in August.

Gerwyn, who is from Anglesey originally, is currently a priest in the Diocese of Chelmsford in the Church of England. He plans to move back to Wales at the end of August and will be installed as Archdeacon of Montgomery in a service in St Asaph Cathedral on Sunday 1 September.

The Bishop of St Asaph, the Rt Revd Gregory Cameron said: “I am delighted that Gerwyn has accepted the offer to become the next Archdeacon of Montgomery. Gerwyn is a dedicated priest, and a born Welshman, who will relate incredibly well to the people of our diocese.”

Gerwyn Capon was ordained in Liverpool Cathedral in 2003, following a career as a chartered surveyor. After his curacy in the Diocese of Liverpool he moved to the Church in Wales to become chaplain to the then Archbishop of Wales, Barry Morgan. He then returned to the Church of England as a parish priest in the Diocese of Blackburn. From 2014 until 2022, he was Dean of Llandaff Cathedral.

Gerwyn and his sausage dog, Bertie, will be moving to the Diocese of St Asaph and living in Berriew in the centre of the Archdeaconry of Montgomery. He said: “I am looking forward enormously to coming home to Wales and being able to minister in the places where my own vocation as a priest was fostered originally. I have a huge affection for the Church in Wales, and I am delighted that I will be sharing the journey of faith among the communities of the Archdeaconry of Montgomery and the wider Teulu Asaph. I am particularly eager to begin working with and supporting my new ministerial colleagues who I am sure will have so much to teach me.”

The Archdeaconry of Montgomery includes communities stretching from Newtown and Welshpool in Powys to Bala and Cerrigydrudion in Gwynedd and Ruabon and Bangor-on-Dee in Wrexham. Much of the Archdeaconry is rural, with ancient churches dedicated to the Welsh saints of the fifth and sixth centuries.

When Gerwyn was ordained, the then Bishop of Liverpool, James Jones, joked with him on his ordination retreat, that his background as a chartered surveyor would be immensely useful one day, possibly as an archdeacon. “Since then,” Gerwyn said: “I have had very little to do with building projects or building committees, but I have no doubt that the experience gained from my background will be very useful.

“Church buildings are very important to me as places of encounter with God. Architecture and the stillness of holy places, often with such rich history dating from the Age of Saints, can help us connect with God in our own day and to begin to see what he might have to say to us.”

“There are no easy answers to the challenges facing rural ministry,” added Gerwyn. “I want to help build on the amazing work that is being done, and the imaginative conversations being held in the Archdeaconry, to help the church of God to meet the needs of our rural communities”.

“I am both humbled and excited to be working alongside Bishop Gregory and the team at St Asaph who have discerned this call for me to return to Wales.”

Gerwyn grew up near Holyhead on Anglesey; his father is a retired minister in the Welsh Presbyterian Church. His parents, brother and sister-in-law still live on the Island. Gerwyn is a Welsh speaker and enjoys sailing and hill walking. He has a great interest in music and the arts.

A service of installation for Gerwyn as Archdeacon of Montgomery will take place on 1 September in St Asaph Cathedral and will be followed by a local service of welcome in the Archdeaconry later in September. More details about these services will follow.

The Diocese of St Asaph is one of the six dioceses of the Church in Wales, an autonomous province of the worldwide Anglican Communion.