St. David’s Cathedral, South Wales

St. David’s Cathedral and Bishop’s Palace are located on the banks of the River Alun, in a deep, sheltered but marshy valley, 1 mile from the sea, at the western point of Wales.

The spot where St. David’s Cathedral stands has been associated with St. David, the patron Saint of Wales, for over a thousand years.  It is believed that St. David founded a monastery here in the 6th Century. Legend says that he was also born here. Legend also says that on the spot where he was baptized, a holy well sprang from the ground and the waters healed the blindness of the Irish Bishop who baptized him, so we have to take these legends with a grain of salt.  St. David is thought to have died on the 1st of March, which became St. David’s day in Wales.

We know there was a Cathedral Church here in the 10th and 11th Centuries, as it was raided by the Vikings numerous times and, on at least two occasions, the Bishops at the time were killed. In 1115, Henry I appointed the first Norman Bishop of St David’s.  At the end of the 12th Century, the Cathedral began to be rebuilt.

At the end of the 13th Century, a shrine was built to house the bones of the ‘rediscovered’ body of St. David. St. David’s has been a place of pilgrimage since at least the 13th Century. It was said that, ‘two trips to St. David’s were worth one trip to Rome’, if you were keeping score. The Cathedral has had many alterations throughout the medieval period, some due to changes in fashion but others due to necessity.  The tower fell in the 13th Century, and there was also an earthquake that caused damage. 

Near the High Altar lies Edmund Tudor, grandfather of Henry VIII. King Henry had his body moved here after dissolving the monastery of Greyfriars in Carmarthen, where the tomb had originally stood.  

An effigy of Rhys ap Gruffydd also lies in the Cathedral.  He ruled the kingdom of Deheubarth, in South Wales, from 1155 to 1197. He was forced to submit to Henry II when Henry took him prisoner, after the King had invaded and taken his lands.  A few weeks later he was released and given a small amount of his property back.  In 1171, he made peace with the King and retained good relations with him for the rest of his life. His effigy is not thought to be contemporary but may date from the 14th Century. It is possible that it had been damaged and was then replaced.