Start-end point of the Wales Coast Path at St Dogmaels

Aber Teifi, gyda Gwbert yn y cefndir - Teifi estuary with Gwbert in the background - geograph

St Dogmaels ( cy, Llandudoch) is a village,

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

and

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, villag ...

in Pembrokeshire, Wales, on the

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...

of the

River Teifi , name_etymology = , image = File:Llyn Teifi - geograph.org.uk - 41773.jpg , image_size = , image_caption = Llyn Teifi, the source of the Teifi , map = , map_size = , map_caption ...

, a mile downstream from the town of Cardigan in neighbouring

Ceredigion Ceredigion ( , , ) is a county in the west of Wales, corresponding to the historic county of Cardiganshire. During the second half of the first millennium Ceredigion was a minor kingdom. It has been administered as a county since 1282. C ...

. A little to the north of the village, further along the estuary, lies

Poppit Sands Poppit (), is a small, dispersed settlement which lies on the southern side of the estuary of the River Teifi, near Cardigan, in northern Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is primarily known for its popular sandy beach, called Poppit Sands () whi ...

beach. The parish includes the small settlement of Cippyn, south of Cemaes Head.

Name

The English and Welsh names seem to bear no similarity, but it has been suggested that possibly both names refer to the same saint or founder Dogmael (Dogfael), with ‘mael’ (prince) and ‘tud’ (land or people of) being added to Dog/doch as in ''Dog mael'' and ''Tud doch''. It is the current standard usage not to have a full-stop after the 'St' or an apostrophe in 'Dogmaels'.

History

St Dogmaels Abbey is 12th-century Tironesian and was one of the richer monastic institutions in Wales. Adjacent to the abbey

ruins Ruins () are the remains of a civilization's architecture. The term refers to formerly intact structures that have fallen into a state of partial or total disrepair over time due to a variety of factors, such as lack of maintenance, deliberate ...

is the parish church (

Church in Wales The Church in Wales ( cy, Yr Eglwys yng Nghymru) is an Anglican church in Wales, composed of six dioceses. The Archbishop of Wales does not have a fixed archiepiscopal see, but serves concurrently as one of the six diocesan bishops. The pos ...

) of St Thomas, which appears successively to have occupied at least three sites close to or within the abbey buildings. The present building is a respectable minor Victorian edifice and contains the Ogam Sagranus stone. St Dogmaels was once a marcher

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle ...

. George Owen of Henllys, in 1603, described it as one of five Pembrokeshire boroughs overseen by a portreeve. The parish appeared (as ''Sct. Dogmels'') on a 1578 parish map of Pembrokeshire. In the 1830s, the parish's population was 2,109, and fell into four areas: Cippyn, Abbey, Pant-y-groes and Bridgend. In 1832, boundary changes meant that a part of Pembrokeshire, including a part of St Dogmaels, was included in Cardiganshire. This was reversed by the Welsh Assembly in 2002. There are more than 30

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

s in the parish, including the parish church, the abbey and the mediaeval flour mill, ''Y Felin''. In 2006, the village won the Wales Calor Village of the Year competition after beating Trefriw in the final.

Pembrokeshire Coast Path

The northern end of the Pembrokeshire Coast Path is often regarded as being at

, near St. Dogmaels, where the official plaque was originally sited but the path now continues to St. Dogmaels, where a new marker was unveiled in July 2009. Here the path links with the

Ceredigion Coast Path The Ceredigion Coast Path ( cy, Llwybr Arfordir Ceredigion) is a waymarked long distance footpath in the United Kingdom, on the coast of Ceredigion, Wales. It is in length, running along the coast of Cardigan Bay from Cardigan ...

, which continues northwards as part of the Wales Coast Path.

Governance

An electoral ward of the same name exists, stretching to include the community of

Nevern Nevern ( cy, Nanhyfer) is both a parish and a community in Pembrokeshire, Wales. The community includes the settlements of Felindre Farchog, Monington, Moylgrove and Bayvil. The small village lies in the Nevern valley near the Preseli Hills ...

. The population taken at the 2011 census was 2,218.

Shakespeare in St Dogmaels Abbey

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

play is performed annually in the abbey during the summer since the first play was performed in 1987. The actors are both local and from all parts of Great Britain.

Twinning

St Dogmaels is

twinned Twinning (making a twin of) may refer to: * In biology and agriculture, producing two offspring (i.e., twins) at a time, or having a tendency to do so; * Twin towns and sister cities, towns and cities involved in town twinning * Twinning inst ...

with the village of

Trédarzec Trédarzec (; br, Tredarzeg) is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department of Brittany in northwestern France. Etymology The name is ''treb'' = farmstead, ''tarz'' = spring. Population Inhabitants of Trédarzec are called ''trédarzécois'' ...

Côtes-d'Armor The Côtes-d'Armor (, ; ; br, Aodoù-an-Arvor, ), formerly known as Côtes-du-Nord ( br, Aodoù-an-Hanternoz, link=no, ), are a department in the north of Brittany, in northwestern France. In 2019, it had a population of 600,582.

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period o ...

References

External links

Further historical information and sources on GENUKIVillage websiteAbbey Shakespeare PlayersPhotographs of St Dogmaels and surrounding area on Geograph
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Dogmaels Villages in Pembrokeshire Communities in Pembrokeshire