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Tours > Wales > St. David's
St. David's
Situated in the far west of Wales, on the Pembrokeshire coast, is the smallest city in Great Britain that contains the largest cathedral in Wales and the burial place of its patron saint.
 For many centuries, the tiny settlement of St. David's (Ty Dei: Tee Dewee) remained one of the most important and most visited sacred places in the whole of the British Isles. Even the Norman overlord of Britain, William the Conqueror, came here to worship. The shrine of St. David also attracted Geraldus Cambrensis, who sought the bishopric and made three unsuccessful appeals to Rome to get it, his appeals being denied by a Pope not anxious to see a Welsh Church independent of Canterbury.
Other notable visitors to the shrine were Bishop Houghton, Lord Chancellor to King Edward III who earned his fame by being excommunicated by the Pope whom he in turn excommunicated from the cathedral steps; Henry II, who prayed there for victory on his way to Ireland and who returned to give thanks for his successes; Bishop Ferrar, who was burned at the stake during the reign of Mary; and Bishop Davies, who procured the first Welsh translation of the Bible.
Like its counterpart at Llandaff, St. David's has also suffered he ravages of time and human folly. The cathedral building sits in a hollow (Gwyn Rhos) through which runs the river Al. It is believed by many that cathedral was placed here to hide it from Viking raids as it cannot be seen from the sea. However, the founding of the religious settlement dates back much farther than the time of the Norsemen. In 55 AD, David is said to have transferred his monastery from White Sand Bay to the little valley of the Al.
In 1088, despite the secluded, half-hidden situation, the little settlement suffered the indignity of being raided by Vikings, raiding up and down the Welsh coast at will; at various times in later years it also suffered grievous damage from earthquakes. No traces remain from the early founding, much of the present church dating back only to 1180. Less than 40 years later the central tower collapsed, destroying the transepts and choir, but these were soon rebuilt. Bishop Gowey (1328-42), the remains of whose magnificent palace can be visited on the Cathedral grounds, added much to the church, including decorated windows and part of the restored central tower. He is also responsible for the magnificent Rood Screen and is buried inside the cathedral.
During the English Civil War, Cromwell's troops were busy in their usual iconoclastic manner destroying much of the cathedral and its contents. Rebuilding programs were undertaken by John Nash in the late 18th century and by Sir Gilbert Scott in the 19th, but neither architect was able to do much about the slope in the floor which rises 14 feet from the West door up to the high altar. Local legend says the slope was deliberately planned to get the congregation nearer to heaven. You enter the cathedral through an impressive, ruined gateway and walk down a steep flight of stone steps known locally as the 39 Articles.
There is much to see and ponder over at St David's. A guide book is essential. The cathedral contains the shrines of St. Caradog and St. Justinian as well as St. David (though the latter may not actually be buried there according to recent scientific tests of the bones). It also houses one of the only surviving medieval Bishop's thrones in Britain. Edmund Tudor, father of Henry VII is also commemorated here by an impressive altar tomb.
In addition to the remains of Bishop Gower's opulent residence, the cathedral grounds also contain the ruins of St. Mary's College, for secular priests, which John of Gaunt helped found in 1377. Bishop Gower built his palace in 1340; 200 years later, another bishop had the lead from the roof slowly stripped away to provide dowries for his five daughters -- all of whom married later bishops!
Next Stop: Pentre Ifan and Hen Llys
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