Legends abound about St David, but little can be known for certain. He is thought to have been active in the latter part of the 6th century, possibly dying on 1 March 589.
In Rhygyfarch’s life, written around 1080, David’s father, Sant king of Ceredigion, dreams of his birth thirty years ahead of time. Then Sant is said to have raped his mother, the nun Saint Non! David is recorded as having been born during a thunderstorm, on the cliffs near what was to become the city of St Davids. Rhygyfarch wrote that David founded twelve monasteries, including Glastonbury, Bath and Crowland. Eventually he returned to Pembrokeshire, where he founded his chief monastery at Vallis Rosina, (Mynyw). This was at the westernmost point of Wales and would have been a hub of sea routes, encouraging contact with Ireland. It would have followed the Celtic tradition of small stone ‘beehive’ huts, rather than the grand architecture of later years. David’s regime appears to have been very strict; he is thought to have belonged to a particularly ascetic branch of monasticism. The monks had no individual possessions and lived on a diet of bread and herbs. David earned the nickname ‘Aquaticus’ or ‘Waterman’ through his habit of immersing himself in ice-cold water as a way to subdue the flesh. He was buried in his monastery; his body and belongings would have been kept as relics.
The Medieval Cathedral
By the 12th century, St Davids had become the cathedral of a diocese, covering over half the land area of Wales. Bernard, the first Norman bishop, was appointed by Henry I of England in 1115. Bernard was an energetic champion of the rights of his see; his plan to make St Davids the seat of an archbishop ended in failure. However, he is thought to have gained a privilege from Pope Calixtus II, ruling that two pilgrimages to St Davids were worth one to Rome. The future of the church as a centre for pilgrimage was secure.
The present church was begun by Bishop Peter de Leia from 1181 to 1220 using a transitional Norman style. The combination of round-headed arches in the nave arcades with pointed arches in the triforium indicates that building styles were changing from Romanesque to Gothic. Then in 1220 the tower collapsed; the choir and the transepts were rebuilt in an early Gothic style.
In 1275, a new shrine to St David was constructed on the north side of the presbytery. Its ruined base may still be seen today. It is likely this followed the supposed rediscovery of St David’s corpse. Abbot John de Gamages, the prior of Ewenny in Glamorgan, was said to have had a dream revealing the precise location of David’s grave! Edward I and his queen, Eleanor of Castile, prayed at this shrine in 1284. It was wise for an English king who wished to subdue the Welsh to pay attention to their patron saint.
In the second quarter of the 14th century, Bishop Henry Gower undertook a major remodelling in the Decorated style of Gothic. He increased the height of the aisles, added new and larger windows and built what is now the middle stage of the tower. He was also responsible for the ornately carved stone screen or pulpitum, dividing the nave from the choir. The southern part of the screen contains Gower’s own tomb.
The landscape round St Davids was sacred for the pilgrims and a number of subsidiary chapels surrounded the small town. Browne Willis wrote in 1716, ‘there were formerly several chapels about St David’s which all belonged to the mother church and were commodiously seated to draw the devotion of pilgrims.’ In particular, there were chapels dedicated to St Justinian, St Non and St Patrick within two miles. As well as that of David, the cathedral contained the shrines of St Caradog and of David’s contemporary St Justinian.
Decay and Restoration
After the Reformation, Henry Barlow, bishop from 1536-1548, was determined to break the hold of ‘superstition’, including ending pilgrimages to David’s shrine. He stripped the shrine of its jewels and confiscated the relics of David and Justinian.
Apart from this, there seems to have been little damage at this time. However, a great deal of damage was done during the Civil War, when parliamentary soldiers tried to get lead from the roof. The east end fell into decay and stayed roofless for the next two centuries. Moreover, the church had been built without adequate foundations, on a sloping and waterlogged site. By the 18th century the west front had moved almost a metre from the perpendicular. Then in 1862, Sir George Gilbert Scott reported that the tower was cracked and in danger of collapse. He restored most of the cathedral, bracing the tower with tie rods, and replacing John Nash’s west front, (built in the 1790s).
The Overton family dominated the publishing of prints in London for over a century, from around 1665 until 1765. Henry Overton (1675/6-1751) took over his father’s shop at the White Horse, selling a range of prints, including maps, topographical view and portraits.
He gradually expanded his range of plates, quickly responding to new fashions. Although he was sometimes involved with prestigious publications, many of his designs were plagiarized from others, for instance William Hogarth.
Views of all the cathedrall church’s of England and Wales is a set of twenty-nine miniature cathedral views. The engravers were John Harris and Elisha Kirkall. Harris (active 1700-1740), the engraver of the illustration of St Davids, specialized in large-scale engravings of topography, cartography and architecture. He appears to have been a surveyor as well as an engraver, and to have travelled extensively round England and Wales. He is best known for his folio-size engravings of old St Paul’s Cathedral. Late in his career, he gained a great deal of work drawing illustrations for antiquarian county histories.
Willis, B. (1717). A survey of the cathedral church of St David's, and the edifices belonging to it, as they stood in the year 1715. To which is added, some memoirs relating thereto and the country adjacent, from a MS wrote about the latter end of Queen Elizabeth's reign. Together, with an account of the arch-bishops, bishops, precentors, chancellors, treasurers, and arch-deacon of the see of St David's. London: Printed for R. Gosling.
Browne Willis (1682-1760) was a prolific gentleman antiquarian. Having a particular fascination for churches, he embarked on ‘pilgrimages’ to English cathedrals and abbeys. Unusually, for his day, he was fascinated by medieval buildings, rather than the fashionable Greek and Roman styles. Between 1718 and 1730, he published a series of ecclesiastical histories. The earliest of these were his surveys of the four Welsh cathedrals, beginning with St Davids in 1716.
St Davids was the most remote cathedral in the province of Canterbury. In a letter to its bishop, Adam Ottley, in June 1716, Willis admitted that it was one of the few he had not visited. He wrote, ‘… I was no ways qualifyed for it; it being one of the only cathedrals in England I have not seen; and so consequently my describing it, will look ridiculous in the eyes of my Friends.’ However, in the preface to his book, he commented on, ‘The representation made to me that the Cathedral Church of St David’s was in so ruinous a Condition, that it was in daily Likelihood of falling.’
Almost half the finished text was the work of Willis’ friend and former teacher, William Wotton. (In order to escape his debtors, Wotton was living in Carmarthen under an assumed name, Dr Edwards). Wotton contributed two letters; the first of these contained a description of the cathedral and its monuments, the bishop’s palace, and various associated buildings. Wotton sometimes commented on the poor condition of the fabric, for instance writing of the south aisle, ‘The Roof is off, and Windows down; and the Arches between the Choir or Chancel, and that, are wall’d up.’
Wotton’s second letter contained an account of the cathedral and town, selected and transcribed from an Elizabethan manuscript. Willis himself then contributed biographical accounts of the various cathedral officials, bishops, precentors, chancellors, treasurers and archdeacons. The volume also contains a plan of the cathedral, and a drawing of its southern elevation. These were the work of Joseph Lord of Carmarthen, who appears to have been a professional surveyor. The engraver was Michael Burghers.
Willis’ book had been haphazardly written and he was frequently careless in his attention to detail. Several Welsh clergy supplied him with corrections; a close printed page of ‘errata’ for the volume was quickly issued. However, despite all the deficiencies, he had been able to start the slow process of drawing attention to the poor state of the diocese.
Manby, G.W. (1801). The history and antiquities of the parish of Saint David, South-Wales, the most ancient documents collected from the Bodleian Library, to which is annexed, a correct list of the archbishops, bishops, &c. who have filled that see. London: Printed, at the Oriental Press, by Wilson and Co. for Edward Harding.
George William Manby (1765-1854) is best known as an engineer. In particular, he invented the Manby Mortar, a means to rescue victims of shipwreck. The mortar fired a thin rope from shore into a ship’s rigging, thus allowing a stronger rope, attached to the thin one, to be pulled aboard the ship.
However, before this, Manby had also published several topographical books. His history of Saint Davids was the earliest of these. He began with a description of the cathedral building. At this time, John Nash’s controversial west front was new. Manby commented, ‘The west front has been rebuilt; and, by the means adopted to give it strength, exhibits a beautiful specimen of architecture; though the great contrast between the antient and modern stiles offends the eye …’ He also said of Nash’s controversial chapter house, ‘Adjoining to this room, to the north, is a smaller one … the whole is built with suitable offices, as kitchens, cellars, &c. in the Gothic style, with a fancied spire. The whole of this edifice is much condemned by visitors, not only from its own appearance, but from its being contrasted by those antient and splendid structures so nearly seated by it.’
Manby went on to describe the area round the cathedral, including Ramsey Island and St David’s Head. Of the city itself, he wrote that the air was extremely pure and the inhabitants said to be long-lived. After the main part of the book, he added an appendix, listing the churches in the diocese with details of their patronage. The volume finishes with Browne Willis’ eighty-year old list of diocesan officials.
Manby illustrated his book with engravings from his own drawings. Fifty years later, Basil Jones and Edward Augustus Freeman were critical of Manby’s work, commenting that it showed ‘what absurdities may be written upon any subject by an author who is profoundly ignorant of it.’
Charles Norris (1779-1858) was a gentleman artist. Although he was probably born in London, he spent most of his life in Wales. In 1800, he and his wife Sarah purchased a yacht, The Nautilus, and moved to Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire. Their final relocation, in 1810, was to Tenby.
It was also in 1810 that Norris started to issue an ambitious publication, The architectural antiquities of Wales. He intended each number to contain six oblong folio plates from his own drawings. The instalments would be complete in themselves, showing a county, district, town, or, if substantial enough, individual building. Norris also provided the letterpress. The first three numbers, issued in 1810 and 1811, all depicted St Davids. The first part contained Norris’ views of the cathedral, the second the bishop’s palace and surrounding chapels. At this time, the cathedral was still in a poor condition. In Norris’ accompanying text, he comments that the north and south choir aisles were unroofed. One of his drawings shows the Lady chapel, which he described as Bishop Vaughan’s chapel, in ruins.
Norris’ production was of a high quality. He had employed a variety of engravers, including John George Landseer, the father of Edwin. The finished issues were printed on hand-made paper. Furthermore, the work was dedicated to the Prince Regent, the future George IV. However, it was an expensive failure; only the first three instalments were ever issued. Deciding that professional craftsmen were too expensive, Norris spent a year teaching himself how to engrave.
James Sargant Storer (1771-1853) was a draughtsman and engraver, noted for his works on topography and architecture. His plates, which he drew and engraved himself, were noted for their extreme accuracy and beauty of finish.
His works included a four-volume survey of English and Welsh cathedrals, published between 1814 and 1819. Pugin is said to have described the illustrations as ‘by far the best views of our cathedrals for accuracy of drawing and detail.’ By this time, Storer was working alongside his eldest son, Henry Sargant Storer.
The entry for St Davids is part of the third volume. Storer’s account of the cathedral’s history, starting with the saint himself, is followed by eight plates. His text includes a comment on the current bishop Thomas Burgess, at that time working for the foundation of what was to become St David’s College, Lampeter.
‘… But the work which will transmit his lordship’s name, with greater glory to posterity, is the share which he has had in founding a provincial college within the diocese, for the education of ministers of the Welch church, who have not the means of an university education. The important consequences of such an institution to the remote see of St David’s are evident, and will place the name of Burgess upon a level with the highest on the list of her truly great “bishops and benefactors.”
William Basil Jones (1822-1897), the lead author of this standard work on Saint Davids, was later involved in the cathedral’s restoration.
Although Jones was born in Cheltenham, he grew up in Llangynfelyn, about ten miles north-north-east of Aberystwyth. In 1840, he went up to Oxford, where he eventually became lecturer in modern history and classics. Even as a student, Jones was fascinated by the dilapidated and remote cathedral at Saint Davids. He encouraged his fellow students to spend time there for reading parties over the summer. Back at Oxford, he organized a fund to raise money for the restoration of Bishop Gower’s 14th century screen. With his friend, Edward Augustus Freeman, he published this elaborate history of the cathedral. It came out in four parts, starting in 1852; the complete volume was issued in 1856. It was dedicated to Connop Thirlwall, the then bishop of Saint David’s.
Jones was ordained deacon in 1848 and priest in 1853. Alongside this, he published a string of books, often of Welsh interest. He was a member of the Cambrian Archaeological Association, almost from its foundation.
He gradually went up the career ladder in the church, returning to West Wales as bishop of St Davids in 1874. At this time, Sir George Gilbert Scott was engaged in the cathedral’s restoration. The building was officially re-opened in 1877, the tower having been made safe and its foundations drained. The presbytery had been restored, and its aisles re-roofed and re-glazed. The entire restoration was said to have cost £30 000. However, all was not yet finished; it was to be under Jones that John Nash’s west front was at last replaced.
Jones died in 1897; fittingly the lady chapel was re-roofed in his memory and that of two deans, James Allen and Owen Phillips.
