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Tours > Wales > St. Asaph
St. Asaph
 One surprise, upon reaching St. Asaph, in the lovely, unspoiled Vale of Clwyd, is to find the cathedral situated on a hill, instead of being hidden down in a hollow as is found at St. David's, Llandaff and Bangor. Perhaps St. Asaph's needed to be placed in a prominent spot, for it is the smallest medieval cathedral in the British Isles.
St. Asaph may have been founded as Llanelwy in the sixth century as a monastic settlement by St. Kentigern, San Cyndyrn (San Kundirn) in Welsh but also known as St. Mungo). Kentigern's successor as Bishop in 570 was Asaph, who gave his name to the city and the Diocese. In 1151 Geoffrey of Monmouth was appointed Bishop though he never visited his diocese, preferring to spend most of his time at Oxford.
In 1188, Gildas described the church as "very poor indeed," and less than one hundred years later, it was completely destroyed by the army of Edward I on his conquest of North Wales. In a major and unprecedented victory for the Welsh Church, the cathedral was then rebuilt on its original site through the efforts of Bishop Anian II despite Edward's preference for Rhuddlan (where he established a huge fortress and where the Statute of 1284 created a dependent Wales to be governed by royal edict).
Further damage took place in 1402 during the rebellion of Owain Glyndwr, when a fire destroyed the woodwork, and again in 1715 when the tower was completely demolished in a fierce storm. Our old friend Sir Gilbert Scott was responsible for major restoration during the latter half of the 19th and the early part of this century. As at Bangor, it is mainly his church that you see today.
 In addition to Geoffrey of Monmouth, prominent churchmen to have held the Bishopric at St. Asaph over the centuries include Bishop William Morgan, the main translator of the Bible into Welsh in the latter half of the 16th century, which perhaps "saved" the language from degenerating into a mere peasant patois, and who is buried in the cathedral he served so well. Others include Bishop William Lloyd, who resisted Anglicization in his diocese by ensuring the appointment of Welshmen, but remembered mostly as one of those (in the reign of James II), who refused to have the Declaration of Indulgence read; and Bishop Samuel Horsley, who opposed Joseph Priestly in the famous Trinitarian controversy in the 18th century. In 1920 a momentous event occurred when then current Bishop A.G. Edwards was enthroned as the first archbishop of the newly constituted Church of Wales.
Inside the Cathedral, tiny by English standards, (which, as most Welshmen and women know, simply does not apply in North Wales in matters of architecture or language), there is much of interest. The refurbished roof painting celebrates the investiture of Charles in 1969, though that event is fading into distant memory and becoming less glamorous and memorable each passing year. The 13th century nave of Anian II has 14th century arcades; the saint himself is remembered by an effigy in the South Aisle which also contains the curious Greyhound Stone with its unexplained heraldic decorations.
In the south aisle is also found a tablet to the memory of explorer H.M. Stanley (of Dr. Livingstone fame) whose youth as an orphan was spent at the St. Asaph Workhouse nearby and now part of the Glan Glwyd Hospital (Ysbyty Glan Clwyd). An exquisitely carved ivory Madonna may have come from a galleon of the ill-fated Spanish Armada.
In the Chapter Treasury is a fine collection of early bibles and prayer books including the first Welsh New Testament (1587), Bishop Morgan's magnificent Welsh Bible of 1558, and many other Welsh religious books. Another item of interest is the Triglot Dictionary of the eccentric Richard Robert Jones (Dic Aberdaron), who traveled about Wales in the early 19th century with his faithful cat and who, though unschooled, is reputed to have mastered dozens of foreign languages, ancient and modern. It is the association with Dr. Morgan, however, that makes St. Asaph's Cathedral especially sacred to all who hold the Welsh language and religious traditions dear. On the cathedral's grounds is a memorial to the translators of the Bible with Bishop Morgan's name in the center.
Next Stop: Corwen
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