St Davids with its Cathedral and Ruined Bishop's Palace (#5) is Britain's smallest city. The Cathedral with the shrine of St David, has been a place of pilgrimage for centuries and is still a honey pot destination for visitors today.
St Davids is the largest and most important medieval diocese in Wales, with property scattered across the south west Wales.
The Cathedral houses the relics of the C6th St David who is the patron saint of Wales and attracted substantial number of pilgrims. So much so, that in the C12th, Pope Calixtus II stated that two pilgrimages to St Davids was equivalent to one pilgrimage to Rome. William I came in 1081 to pray at the shrine of St David. Henry II and Edward I both made pilgrimages. Pilgrims and tourists still arrive in substantial numbers today and it is an important tourist destination.
The Cathedral sits in the valley floor just below the city ands can’t be seen from the sea. It is built of the local purple Cambrian sandstone, which changes colour with the light. At times the cathedral appears plum coloured, other times dark and dour and in bright sunlight can even appear golden.
St David was born near Whitesands Bay, just a short distance away, around 500AD. He founded a monastery along the banks of the River Alun which rapidly became a site of learning. David rapidly became recognised as the most influential clergy man in all Wales during what is known as the 'Age of the Saints'. Celtic and Irish monks were attracted to come and study here. Pilgrims also came attracted by the asceticism connected to David as well as the learning and devotion. Many made gifts of land and wealth.
This wealth attracted Viking attacks from the C9th and at least two Bishops were murdered in the raids. St David’s shrine and precious metals were removed from the church for safe keeping and the site left abandoned.
Henry I appointed Bernard as the first Norman Bishop in 1115. This was an important position as, not only was the Bishop a spiritual leader, he was also responsible for maintaining peace and acting as a military commander if necessary.
Bernard established St Davids as the seat of an archbishopric, with a chapter of canons. He also re-established St Davids a major centre of pilgrimage (although he failed to discover David’s body) with a new cathedral and a shrine in the presbytery close to the High Altar. Nothing is now left of his cathedral which was a simple building with a nave and apse.
Peter de Leia , bishop from 1176-98 with Gerald of Wales who was a canon of St Davids and archdeacon of Brecon, rebuilt and extended the cathedral, using the local purple Cambrian sandstone. It was a simple building with an aisled nave with a wooden roof, low tower over the crossing, transepts and aisled presbytery ending in a flat east end. It was built in the Transitional Norman style with round arches in the nave arcades and pointed arches in the triforium above.
On the death of Peter de Leia, Gerald was a candidate for Bishop, but his intellectual and organisational skills made him feared by Henry II and the then Archbishop of Canterbury who didn’t want an active Welsh Bishop! He took his case to Rome, unsuccessfully, and retired to Lincoln where he died.
In 1220 the tower collapsed and was rebuilt, using paler west of England oolitic limestone. A separate bell tower was built for the bells. There was further earthquake damage in 1247-8. The different arch styles can still be seen in the side aisles.
The Lady Chapel was built at the east end in the late C13th leading off the ambulatory and the Chapel of St Thomas Becket off the north transept.
In 1275 a new shrine to St David was built on the north wall of the presbytery, making easier access to pilgrims. Its ruined base with kneeling niches for pilgrims, is all that survives.
In the C14th Bishop Henry Gower remodelled cathedral in the latest Decorated style and was also responsible for building the Bishop’s Palace (#5) He heightened the nave, side aisles, presbytery and choir inserting larger windows and added another storey to the tower. He added the sedilia and tombs to the Lady Chapel and remodelled St Thomas’s Chapel with a chapter house and treasury above and also built a two storey porch over the south door.
He was responsible for the magnificent stone pulpitium built across the east end of the nave which houses his tomb.
In 1365, Bishop Adam Houghton was responsible for building St Mary’s College, immediately recognisable by its different coloured stone, for the Vicars Choral who were responsible for the services in the Cathedral, along with its cloister on the north side of the Cathedral.
A defensive wall was built round the Cathedral close in the mid C14th with four gateways. Porth y Tŵr was built next to the bell tower and is the only gateway to survive. It formed a a two-tower gatehouse a portcullis and double gate within the central passageway. To the side was a smaller pedestrian gateway. The room beside the central passageway served as the Bishop’s prison with a bottle dungeon below.The room and chamber above were used by the medieval city council and mayor.
The building was in ruins by the C20th and was restored in 1929 with funding from anonymous donor.
Major work during the C15th and C16th included relaying the sanctuary with encaustic tiles, which can still be seen in front of teh high altar.
The choir stalls were replaced with beautifully carved misericords.
The painted ceilings of the presbytery and tower lantern date from then.
The Holy Trinity Chapel with its fan vaulting is early C16th and was built between the presbytery and Lady Chapel by by Bishop Vaughan, who is buried in it.
The north nave arcade was beginning to lean outwards and needed massive external props with flying buttresses to the outside.
The nave roof was lowered to reduce the pressure on the walls and replaced by an oak ceiling suspended from tie beams.
At the time of the reformation, Bishop Barlow was a strong protestant supporter and determined to make a break from the Catholism of the past. He dismantled the shrine of St David, stripping it of its jewels and confiscating the relicts of David and Justinian. The rood loft was removed along with the chantry chapels and the medieval service books were destroyed.
The Cathedral was no longer a place of pilgrimage. Bishop Barlow deemed it unsuitable as the centre of administration for the diocese and moved his chief residence to Abergwili just outside Carmarthen. He is reputed to have been responsible for the removal of the lead on the roof of the Bishop’s Palace. The tomb of Edmund Tudor, father of Henry VII survived and was moved to present position in front of high altar, after the Dissolution of Greyfriars at Carmarthen.
Parliamentary soldiers removed lead from Cathedral roof in 1648 and the east end of cathedral left roofless for 200 years. They destroyed the library, smashed the stained glass windows, organ and bells. Brasses were removed from tombs.
By end of the C18th, there was increasing concern about condition of west front, which had already moved almost 3’ from the vertical and was still moving, due to slope of land. Major work began in C19th and in 1862, Sir George Gilbert Scott was commissioned to survey and report on the state of the building, particularly the tower which was in imminent danger of collapse. Work began on a complete restoration and refurbishment. Remarkably he was able to rebuild and stabilise the tower without demolishing it. The west front was rebuilt. The C15th presbytery roof was restored and repainted, new stained glass was put in the windows and the brass on the tomb Edmund Tudor replaced. Tiles on the cathedral floor were replaced apart from those in front of the high altar. Mosaics were placed in the three blocked windows in the east wall of the presbytery
After Scott’s death, his son John Oldrid Scott oversaw the restoration of the Lady Chapel to its original Perpendicular form. St Edward Chapel at the end of the south aisle was restored with an alabaster altar and reredos and contains the tomb and memorial to the Countess of Maidstone who paid for the restoration.
The C20th saw the replacement of the rood cross. St Thomas a Becket chapel wasrestored with the cathedral library above (replacing the medieval chapter house and treasury). The organ was rebuilt and new heating and lighting systems installed.
The newly restored shrine of St David on north wall of the presbytery was unveiled in 2012. The niches at the base of the shrine contain two reliquaries, reputed to contain the remains of St David and St Justinian.
This plan of the cathedral is taken from the Medieval Heritage website for St Davids Cathedral .
Website
cont...
St Davids is the largest and most important medieval diocese in Wales, with property scattered across the south west Wales.
The Cathedral houses the relics of the C6th St David who is the patron saint of Wales and attracted substantial number of pilgrims. So much so, that in the C12th, Pope Calixtus II stated that two pilgrimages to St Davids was equivalent to one pilgrimage to Rome. William I came in 1081 to pray at the shrine of St David. Henry II and Edward I both made pilgrimages. Pilgrims and tourists still arrive in substantial numbers today and it is an important tourist destination.
The Cathedral sits in the valley floor just below the city ands can’t be seen from the sea. It is built of the local purple Cambrian sandstone, which changes colour with the light. At times the cathedral appears plum coloured, other times dark and dour and in bright sunlight can even appear golden.
St David was born near Whitesands Bay, just a short distance away, around 500AD. He founded a monastery along the banks of the River Alun which rapidly became a site of learning. David rapidly became recognised as the most influential clergy man in all Wales during what is known as the 'Age of the Saints'. Celtic and Irish monks were attracted to come and study here. Pilgrims also came attracted by the asceticism connected to David as well as the learning and devotion. Many made gifts of land and wealth.
This wealth attracted Viking attacks from the C9th and at least two Bishops were murdered in the raids. St David’s shrine and precious metals were removed from the church for safe keeping and the site left abandoned.
Henry I appointed Bernard as the first Norman Bishop in 1115. This was an important position as, not only was the Bishop a spiritual leader, he was also responsible for maintaining peace and acting as a military commander if necessary.
Bernard established St Davids as the seat of an archbishopric, with a chapter of canons. He also re-established St Davids a major centre of pilgrimage (although he failed to discover David’s body) with a new cathedral and a shrine in the presbytery close to the High Altar. Nothing is now left of his cathedral which was a simple building with a nave and apse.
Peter de Leia , bishop from 1176-98 with Gerald of Wales who was a canon of St Davids and archdeacon of Brecon, rebuilt and extended the cathedral, using the local purple Cambrian sandstone. It was a simple building with an aisled nave with a wooden roof, low tower over the crossing, transepts and aisled presbytery ending in a flat east end. It was built in the Transitional Norman style with round arches in the nave arcades and pointed arches in the triforium above.
On the death of Peter de Leia, Gerald was a candidate for Bishop, but his intellectual and organisational skills made him feared by Henry II and the then Archbishop of Canterbury who didn’t want an active Welsh Bishop! He took his case to Rome, unsuccessfully, and retired to Lincoln where he died.
In 1220 the tower collapsed and was rebuilt, using paler west of England oolitic limestone. A separate bell tower was built for the bells. There was further earthquake damage in 1247-8. The different arch styles can still be seen in the side aisles.
The Lady Chapel was built at the east end in the late C13th leading off the ambulatory and the Chapel of St Thomas Becket off the north transept.
In 1275 a new shrine to St David was built on the north wall of the presbytery, making easier access to pilgrims. Its ruined base with kneeling niches for pilgrims, is all that survives.
In the C14th Bishop Henry Gower remodelled cathedral in the latest Decorated style and was also responsible for building the Bishop’s Palace (#5) He heightened the nave, side aisles, presbytery and choir inserting larger windows and added another storey to the tower. He added the sedilia and tombs to the Lady Chapel and remodelled St Thomas’s Chapel with a chapter house and treasury above and also built a two storey porch over the south door.
He was responsible for the magnificent stone pulpitium built across the east end of the nave which houses his tomb.
In 1365, Bishop Adam Houghton was responsible for building St Mary’s College, immediately recognisable by its different coloured stone, for the Vicars Choral who were responsible for the services in the Cathedral, along with its cloister on the north side of the Cathedral.
A defensive wall was built round the Cathedral close in the mid C14th with four gateways. Porth y Tŵr was built next to the bell tower and is the only gateway to survive. It formed a a two-tower gatehouse a portcullis and double gate within the central passageway. To the side was a smaller pedestrian gateway. The room beside the central passageway served as the Bishop’s prison with a bottle dungeon below.The room and chamber above were used by the medieval city council and mayor.
The building was in ruins by the C20th and was restored in 1929 with funding from anonymous donor.
Major work during the C15th and C16th included relaying the sanctuary with encaustic tiles, which can still be seen in front of teh high altar.
The choir stalls were replaced with beautifully carved misericords.
The painted ceilings of the presbytery and tower lantern date from then.
The Holy Trinity Chapel with its fan vaulting is early C16th and was built between the presbytery and Lady Chapel by by Bishop Vaughan, who is buried in it.
The north nave arcade was beginning to lean outwards and needed massive external props with flying buttresses to the outside.
The nave roof was lowered to reduce the pressure on the walls and replaced by an oak ceiling suspended from tie beams.
At the time of the reformation, Bishop Barlow was a strong protestant supporter and determined to make a break from the Catholism of the past. He dismantled the shrine of St David, stripping it of its jewels and confiscating the relicts of David and Justinian. The rood loft was removed along with the chantry chapels and the medieval service books were destroyed.
The Cathedral was no longer a place of pilgrimage. Bishop Barlow deemed it unsuitable as the centre of administration for the diocese and moved his chief residence to Abergwili just outside Carmarthen. He is reputed to have been responsible for the removal of the lead on the roof of the Bishop’s Palace. The tomb of Edmund Tudor, father of Henry VII survived and was moved to present position in front of high altar, after the Dissolution of Greyfriars at Carmarthen.
Parliamentary soldiers removed lead from Cathedral roof in 1648 and the east end of cathedral left roofless for 200 years. They destroyed the library, smashed the stained glass windows, organ and bells. Brasses were removed from tombs.
By end of the C18th, there was increasing concern about condition of west front, which had already moved almost 3’ from the vertical and was still moving, due to slope of land. Major work began in C19th and in 1862, Sir George Gilbert Scott was commissioned to survey and report on the state of the building, particularly the tower which was in imminent danger of collapse. Work began on a complete restoration and refurbishment. Remarkably he was able to rebuild and stabilise the tower without demolishing it. The west front was rebuilt. The C15th presbytery roof was restored and repainted, new stained glass was put in the windows and the brass on the tomb Edmund Tudor replaced. Tiles on the cathedral floor were replaced apart from those in front of the high altar. Mosaics were placed in the three blocked windows in the east wall of the presbytery
After Scott’s death, his son John Oldrid Scott oversaw the restoration of the Lady Chapel to its original Perpendicular form. St Edward Chapel at the end of the south aisle was restored with an alabaster altar and reredos and contains the tomb and memorial to the Countess of Maidstone who paid for the restoration.
The C20th saw the replacement of the rood cross. St Thomas a Becket chapel wasrestored with the cathedral library above (replacing the medieval chapter house and treasury). The organ was rebuilt and new heating and lighting systems installed.
The newly restored shrine of St David on north wall of the presbytery was unveiled in 2012. The niches at the base of the shrine contain two reliquaries, reputed to contain the remains of St David and St Justinian.
This plan of the cathedral is taken from the Medieval Heritage website for St Davids Cathedral .
Website
cont...
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