St Davids Cathedral ( cy, Eglwys Gadeiriol Tyddewi) is situated in

St Davids St Davids or St David's ( cy, Tyddewi, , "David's house”) is a city and a community (named St Davids and the Cathedral Close) with a cathedral in Pembrokeshire, Wales, lying on the River Alun. It is the resting place of Saint David, W ...

Britain's smallest city
in the county of Pembrokeshire, near the most westerly point of

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

Early history

The

monastic community A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

was founded by

Saint David Saint David ( cy, Dewi Sant; la, Davidus; ) was a Welsh bishop of Mynyw (now St Davids) during the 6th century. He is the patron saint of Wales. David was a native of Wales, and tradition has preserved a relatively large amount of detail a ...

Abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. Th ...

of Menevia, who died in 589. Between 645 and 1097, the community was attacked many times by raiders, including the

Vikings Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

; however it was of such note as both a religious and an intellectual centre that

King Alfred Alfred the Great (alt. Ælfred 848/849 – 26 October 899) was King of the West Saxons from 871 to 886, and King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 until his death in 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife Osburh, who ...

summoned help from the monastic community at St Davids in rebuilding the intellectual life of the Kingdom of

Wessex la, Regnum Occidentalium Saxonum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the West Saxons , common_name = Wessex , image_map = Southern British Isles 9th century.svg , map_caption = S ...

. Many of the bishops were murdered by raiders and marauders, including Bishop Moregenau in 999 and Bishop Abraham in 1080. The stone that marked his grave, known as the "Abraham Stone", is intricately carved with early Celtic symbols and is now on permanent display within the Cathedral Exhibition at

Porth-y-Tŵr Porth-y-Tŵr ( Welsh for Tower Gate) is a gatehouse and bell tower overlooking St Davids Cathedral in the small city of St Davids, Pembrokeshire, Wales, UK. It is the sole survivor of four medieval gates to the walled Cathedral Close. The 13t ...

. In 1081,

William the Conqueror William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England The monarchy of the United Kingdom, ...

visited St Davids to pray, and thus recognised it as a holy and respected place. In 1089, the shrine of David was vandalised and stripped of its precious metals. In 1090, the Welsh scholar

Rhigyfarch Rhygyfarch or Rhigyfarch (in contemporary late Old Welsh orthography Ricemarch, 1057–1099), eldest son of Sulien, whom he may have succeeded in 1091 as Bishop of St David's, was the author of the standard ''Life of Saint David''. The original te ...

wrote his Latin ''Life of David'', highlighting David's sanctity, thus beginning the almost cult-like status he achieved. In 1115, with the area under Norman control, King

Henry I of England Henry I (c. 1068 – 1 December 1135), also known as Henry Beauclerc, was King of England from 1100 to his death in 1135. He was the fourth son of William the Conqueror and was educated in Latin and the liberal arts. On William's death in ...

appointed Bishop Bernard as Bishop of St Davids. He began to improve life within the community, and commenced construction of a new cathedral. In 1123,

Pope Calixtus II Pope Callixtus II or Callistus II ( – 13 December 1124), born Guy of Burgundy, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1 February 1119 to his death in 1124. His pontificate was shaped by the Investiture Controversy, ...

granted Bishop Bernard's request to bestow a

papal privilege Privilege in the canon law of the Roman Catholic Church is the legal concept whereby someone is exempt from the ordinary operation of the law over time for some specific purpose. Definition Papal privileges resembled dispensations, since both ...

upon St Davids, making it a centre of

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...

for the Western world; the Pope decreed that "Two pilgrimages to St Davids is equal to one to Rome, and three pilgrimages to one to Jerusalem". The new cathedral was quickly constructed and Bishop Bernard consecrated it in 1131.

Henry II of England Henry II (5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189), also known as Henry Curtmantle (french: link=no, Court-manteau), Henry FitzEmpress, or Henry Plantagenet, was King of England from 1154 until his death in 1189, and as such, was the first Angevin king ...

's visit in 1171 saw the following of David increase and the need for a larger cathedral. The present cathedral was begun in 1181 and completed not long after. Problems beset the new building and the community in its infancy: the collapse of the new tower in 1220 and earthquake damage in 1247/48. Bishops-palace

Under Bishop Gower (1328–1347) the cathedral was modified further, with the

rood screen The rood screen (also choir screen, chancel screen, or jubé) is a common feature in late medieval church architecture. It is typically an ornate partition between the chancel and nave, of more or less open tracery constructed of wood, stone, ...

and the Bishops Palace intended as permanent reminders of his episcopacy; the palace is now a picturesque ruin. In 1365, Bishop Adam Houghton and John of Gaunt began to build St Mary's College and a

chantry A chantry is an ecclesiastical term that may have either of two related meanings: # a chantry service, a Christian liturgy of prayers for the dead, which historically was an obiit, or # a chantry chapel, a building on private land, or an area in ...

. He later added the

cloister A cloister (from Latin ''claustrum'', "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against ...

, which connects it to the cathedral. The episcopacy of Edward Vaughan (1509–1522) saw the building of the Holy Trinity chapel, with its

fan vault A fan vault is a form of vault used in the Gothic style, in which the ribs are all of the same curve and spaced equidistantly, in a manner resembling a fan. The initiation and propagation of this design element is strongly associated with E ...

ing which some say inspired the roof of

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the cit ...

. This period also saw great developments for the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-typ ...

, whose roof and Irish oak ceiling were constructed between 1530 and 1540. Bishop Barlow, unlike his predecessor as bishop, wished to suppress the following of David, and stripped St David's shrine of its jewels and confiscated the relics of St David and St Justinian in order to counteract "superstition" in 1538. In 1540, the body of Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond and father of Henry VII, was brought to be entombed in front of the high altar from the dissolved Greyfriars' Priory in

Carmarthen Carmarthen (, RP: ; cy, Caerfyrddin , "Merlin's fort" or "Sea-town fort") is the county town of Carmarthenshire and a community in Wales, lying on the River Towy. north of its estuary in Carmarthen Bay. The population was 14,185 in 2011, ...

. The establishment of the

Commonwealth of England The Commonwealth was the political structure during the period from 1649 to 1660 when England and Wales, later along with Ireland and Scotland, were governed as a republic after the end of the Second English Civil War and the trial and e ...

under

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three K ...

greatly affected many cathedrals and churches, and was particularly felt in St Davids. The cathedral was all but destroyed by Cromwell's forces and the lead was stripped from the Bishops Palace roof.

Present cathedral

There is a pronounced slope to the floor of the cathedral, amounting to a height difference of nearly four metres between the east and west ends, and the building is still shifting minutely. The Welsh architect John Nash was commissioned to restore the west front in 1793 to repair the damage done two hundred years previously. Eclectic in style (with Gothic and Perpendicular characteristics – the latter attributed partly to his destruction of the windows of the chapel of St Mary's College in order to reuse that tracery for his west front), his work soon proved to be substandard (as had his previous work on the chapter house). Within a century the Nash west front had become unstable and the whole building was restored by

George Gilbert Scott Sir George Gilbert Scott (13 July 1811 – 27 March 1878), known as Sir Gilbert Scott, was a prolific English Gothic Revival architect, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals, although he starte ...

between 1862 and 1870. The

lady chapel A Lady chapel or lady chapel is a traditional British term for a chapel dedicated to "Our Lady", Mary, mother of Jesus, particularly those inside a cathedral or other large church. The chapels are also known as a Mary chapel or a Marian chapel ...

was restored by public subscription in 1901 and the eastern chapels were restored through a legacy of the Countess of Maidstone, granddaughter of Bishop John Jenkinson, between 1901 and 1910. The cathedral suffered the pains of disestablishment in 1923, as did the whole Church in Wales. The

diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associat ...

was made smaller by the removal of the Archdeaconry of Brecon to form the new Diocese of Swansea and Brecon. However, this left a large area as a diocese to govern and St Davids began to deteriorate as the centre of the diocese, being nowhere near the centre – the bishop's residence had been at Carmarthen since the 16th century, but administration and the focus moved from the cathedral to the diocese's now largest town. The 1950s saw the appointment of the Reverend Carl Witton-Davies as dean; appointed in his thirties, his driving vision and energy was short-lived as he was offered what some was believed as a preferment as Archdeacon of Oxford, but did not leave that position for the rest of his service in the church. The cathedral began to have life again and the famous Welsh Youth Pilgrimages to St Davids (Cymry'r Groes) led many to a life of service in the church and provided the Church in Wales with inspired clergy for a decade following. It was Grade I-listed by Cadw in 1951. The 1960s saw the restoration of St Mary's College as the cathedral hall, for the use of the cathedral parish and for use as an area for art exhibitions and poetry readings. It was dedicated by Archbishop Edwin Morris in 1966 and the inaugural event was a poetry reading by the poet R. S. Thomas, who served as a vicar in the Bangor diocese. During the 1980s a number of official events in cathedral life took place: in 1981,

Charles, Prince of Wales Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...

, visited to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the consecration of the cathedral; and on

Maundy Thursday Maundy Thursday or Holy Thursday (also known as Great and Holy Thursday, Holy and Great Thursday, Covenant Thursday, Sheer Thursday, and Thursday of Mysteries, among other names) is the day during Holy Week that commemorates the Washing of the ...

1982,

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

distributed the Royal Maundy at the cathedral. This was the first occasion that the ceremony had taken place outside England. In 1989–90, the 1,400th anniversary of the death of St David was presided over by the Archbishop of Wales,

George Noakes George Noakes (13 September 1924 – 14 July 2008) was the Bishop of St Davids and the Archbishop of Wales.''Crockford's Clerical Directory 2008/2009 (100th edition)'', Church House Publishing () Born in Ceredigion on 13 September 1924 ...

, who was also diocesan Bishop of St Davids. The decades leading to and immediately following the year 2000 have been the most notable in the cathedral's history since its construction. First, the British Government decided to reinstate the title of "city" to St Davids and this was formally conferred by Queen Elizabeth II on 1 June 1995. The task that lay before the dean, the Very Reverend Wyn Evans, on his appointment in 1994 was huge: a new organ was badly needed and the west front needed extensive restoration. It was also thought to be time for the cathedral to invest in its future by creating a visitor centre within the bell tower, enlarging the peal of bells from eight to ten and by the "reconstruction", or completion, of the cathedral

cloisters A cloister (from Latin ''claustrum'', "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against ...

to house the cathedral choir, vestries, an education suite, rooms for parish use and a

refectory A refectory (also frater, frater house, fratery) is a dining room, especially in monasteries, boarding schools and academic institutions. One of the places the term is most often used today is in graduate seminaries. The name derives from the La ...

as a reminder of the monastic beginnings. The first project was the restoration of the west front, with the original quarry that was used for stone at Caerbwdi Bay being reopened. This phase was completed in 1998, in time for the organ to be dismantled and rebuilt by the organ builders Harrison and Harrison of Durham. The organ was completed in the middle months of 2000 and dedicated on 15 October that year. The ring of bells was cast by

Whitechapel Bell Foundry The Whitechapel Bell Foundry was a business in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. At the time of the closure of its Whitechapel premises, it was the oldest manufacturing company in Great Britain. The bell foundry primarily made church bell ...

of London and presented as a gift by the American Friends of St Davids Cathedral. The substantial task of rebuilding the cloisters as an education centre and refectory began in 2003 and was completed in May 2007. The translation of Wyn Evans from dean to bishop led to the appointment of Jonathan Lean as dean in 2009. The bells are not hung in the central tower of the cathedral but in the old gatehouse, Porth y Twr. There are 10 bells, with the heaviest weighing in D. The back eight bells were cast in 1928 by Mears & Stainbank, London and two trebles added in 2000 cast by Whitechapel Bell Foundry, London. Details of the bells: The restored Shrine of St David was unveiled and re-dedicated by the Right Reverend

Wyn Evans John Wyn Evans (born 4 October 1946) is a retired Anglican bishop. He had served as Bishop of St Davids in the Church in Wales from 2008 to 2016. Biography Born into a clerical family (his father was Eifion Evans (archdeacon of Cardigan)) ...

, Bishop of St Davids, at a Choral Eucharist on

St Davids Day Saint David's Day ( cy, Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Sant or ; ), or the Feast of Saint David, is the feast day of Saint David, the patron saint of Wales, and falls on 1 March, the date of Saint David's death in 589 AD. The feast has been regularly celebrat ...

2012.

Cathedral life

There are at least three services said or sung per day, each week, with sung services on five out of seven days. The cathedral choir at St Davids was the first cathedral choir in the United Kingdom to use girls and men as the main choir, rather than boys and men. (

Salisbury Cathedral Salisbury Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is an Anglican cathedral in Salisbury, England. The cathedral is the mother church of the Diocese of Salisbury and is the seat of the Bishop of Salisbury. The buil ...

introduced boys and girls earlier on an equal basis, whereas St Davids uses girls as their "main" cathedral choristers.) There is also a boys' choir whose weekly

Evensong Evensong is a church service traditionally held near sunset focused on singing psalms and other biblical canticles. In origin, it is identical to the canonical hour of vespers. Old English speakers translated the Latin word as , which becam ...

is a major event within the cathedral week. They sing with the vicars choral regularly. The St Davids Cathedral Festival runs through the Whitsun school holiday each year and showcases some of the world's best performers. The week sees performers, both professional and young, play in front of thousands. The cathedral choir serve as a highlight each year, being a very popular concert, as well as the Festival Chorus and Orchestra who perform a major work on the final night of the festival.

List of deans

Before 1840 the senior residentiary cleric was the

precentor A precentor is a person who helps facilitate worship. The details vary depending on the religion, denomination, and era in question. The Latin derivation is ''præcentor'', from cantor, meaning "the one who sings before" (or alternatively, "first ...

and not a dean due to a complication during the dissolution of the monasteries. Since 1840 the title "Dean" has been appended to that of Precentor, hence the deans of St Davids are formally the "Dean and Precentor" and their seat being on what is normally regarded in most places the ''cantoris'' side, with a stall "in quire" reserved for the bishop. *1839–1878 Llewelyn Lewellin ( title of Dean granted in 1840) *1878–1895 James Allen *1895–1897 Owen Phillips *1897–1903 David Howell *1904–1918

James Allan Smith James Allan Smith (also spelled Alan; 2 August 1841 – November 1918) was the fifth Dean of St Davids. Smith was born into an ecclesiastical family in Pyecombe — his father was James Allan Smith, Rector of that parish — on 2 August 1841 ...

*1919–1930 William Williams *1931–1940 David Watcyn Morgan *1940–1949

Albert Parry Albert William Parry (15 October 1874''1939 England and Wales Register'' – 18 September 1950) was a Welsh clergyman who served as the eighth Dean of St David's between 1940 and 1949 and Editor of ''Y Llan and Church News'', the newspaper of ...

*1950–1957 Carlyle Witton-Davies (afterwards Archdeacon of Oxford, 1957) *1957–1972 Edward Jenkins *1972–1984 Lawrence Bowen *1984–1990 Gordon MacWilliam *1990–1994

Bertie Lewis Hubert "Bertie" Lewis (22 July 1920 – 21 December 2010) was a World War II RAF airman who went on to become a peace campaigner in the UK. Bertie Lewis became well known for his opposition to nuclear weapons and the wars in which his adopted a ...

*1994–2008

(afterwards Bishop of St Davids) *2009–2017

Jonathan Lean David Jonathan Rees Lean (born 29 May 1952) retired as Dean of St David's in the autumn of 2017. Lean was born in Fishguard on 29 May 1952, educated at St David's University College, Lampeter, and the College of the Resurrection, Mirfield, ...

*2018–present (installed 5 May 2018)

Local legends

Gerald of Wales Gerald of Wales ( la, Giraldus Cambrensis; cy, Gerallt Gymro; french: Gerald de Barri; ) was a Cambro-Norman priest and historian. As a royal clerk to the king and two archbishops, he travelled widely and wrote extensively. He studied and taugh ...

(Giraldus Cambrensis) in the 13th century relates the strange story of a marble footbridge leading from the church over the Alun rivulet in St Davids. The marble stone was called ''"Llechllafar"'' ("the talking stone") because it once spoke when a corpse was carried over it to the cemetery for interment. The effort of speech had caused it to break, despite its size of ten feet in length, six in breadth and one in thickness. This bridge was worn smooth due to its age and the thousands of people who had walked over it, however the superstition was so great that corpses were no longer carried over it. This ancient bridge was replaced in the 16th century and its present whereabouts is not known. Another legend is that

Merlin Merlin ( cy, Myrddin, kw, Marzhin, br, Merzhin) is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a mage, with several other main roles. His usual depiction, based on an amalgamation of historic and le ...

had prophesied the death on Llechllafar of an English king, conqueror of Ireland, who had been injured by a man with a red hand. King Henry II, whilst on a pilgrimage to Saint Davids, having come over from Ireland, heard of the prophecy and crossed Llechllafar without ill effect. He boasted that Merlin was a liar, to which a bystander replied that the King would not conquer Ireland and was therefore not the king of the prophecy. This turned out to be true, for Henry never did conquer the whole of Ireland.Phillips, Rev James (1909). ''The History of Pembrokeshire.'' Pub. Elliot Stock, London, pp. 205–206.

Burials

* Rhys ap Gruffydd *

* Thomas Fastolf * Adam Houghton *

Edward Vaughan (bishop) Edward Vaughan (or Wagham) (died 1522) was a Welsh bishop of St David's, remembered for construction work in his diocese. Life He is assumed to have been of Welsh origin, according to some a native of South Wales. He was born about the middle of ...

Benedict Nichols Benedict Nichols, also spelt Nicholls (died 25 June 1433), was a priest and bishop of the Roman Catholic Church, successively a parish priest in England, a canon of Salisbury Cathedral, and Bishop of Bangor and Bishop of St David's in Wales. H ...

Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond ( – 3 November 1456, also known as Edmund of Hadham), was the father of King Henry VII of England and a member of the Tudor family of Penmynydd, North Wales. Born to Owen Tudor and the dowager queen Cath ...

(father of Henry VII)

Organ

A specification of the organ can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register.

List of organists

In popular culture

The cathedral's exterior and overall design were used as the basis of the fictional Nemeton monastery in the video game '' Koudelka'' and its sequels '' Shadow Hearts'' and '' Shadow Hearts: Covenant''.

References

External links

*
Cathedral Festival websiteAmerican Friends of St Davids Cathedral
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Davids Cathedral Anglican cathedrals in Wales Grade I listed churches in Pembrokeshire Pre-Reformation Roman Catholic cathedrals History of Pembrokeshire Welsh folklore Tourist attractions in Pembrokeshire

Cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the ''cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...

Grade I listed cathedrals in Wales Burial sites of the House of Dinefwr Burial sites of the House of Tudor