Philip Pugh was trained at  the nonconformist college at Brynllarch (the earliest of its kind, near Bridgend a town 20 miles west of the capital) and his power as a preacher gave him widespread influence.
His social position as a landed proprietor in the county was improved by his marriage with an heiress of the neighbourhood, while his power as a preacher and his piety gave him widespread influence. He was trained for the independent ministry at the nonconformist college at Brynllwarch, near Bridgend, Glamorganshire. This college, the earliest institution of the kind in Wales, and the parent of the existing presbyterian college at Carmarthen, was founded by Samuel Jones after he was ejected from the living of Llangynwyd in 1662, and on Jones's death in 1697 was transferred to Abergavenny, whither Pugh accompanied it. Bridgend (English: /brdnd/; Welsh: Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr or just Pen-y-bont, meaning "the end of the (or the main) bridge on the Ogmore") is a town in Bridgend County Borough in Wales, 20 miles (32 km) west of the capital Cardiff and 20 miles (32 km) east of Swansea. 
