St Davids, Pembrokeshire, Wales, United Kingdom

Early history | Age of David | Medieval pilgrim site | Decline | Modern city | Geography | City status | Arts | Charity | Sport | Tourist Industry

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 St Davids or St David's (Tyddewi) is a city and a community (named St Davids and the Cathedral Close) with a cathedral in Pembrokeshire, Wales, lying on the River Alun. It is the resting place of Saint David, Wales's patron saint, and named after him. St Davids is the United Kingdom's smallest city in population and urban area (the smallest city by local authority boundary area being the City of London). St Davids was given city status in the 12th century. This does not derive automatically from criteria, but in England and Wales it was traditionally given to cathedral towns under practices laid down in the early 1540s, when Henry VIII founded dioceses. City status was withdrawn in 1886, but restored in 1994 at the request of Queen Elizabeth II. St Davids is also known archaically by the name Meneva or Menevia (Mynyw).

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Early history Although the surrounding landscape is home to a number of Palaeolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age sites, archaeological evidence suggests that Pembrokeshire was not heavily occupied by the Romans. As such, only one or two names in Ptolemy's Geographia have been linked to the whole county.

Following the Roman withdrawal from Britain, the area that would become St Davids was known in Ecclesiastical Latin as Meneva or Menevia and in Welsh as Mynyw. Some medieval texts state that the area was home to a cell, church or monastery founded by Saint Patrick around the year 470AD, years before the birth of Saint David.

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Age of David David is said to have been born to Saint Non around 500AD, at the place where the Chapel of St Non now stands. He was baptised by Saint Elvis at Porthclais, and was brought up by his mother at Llanon. He may also have been educated at the "Ty Gwyn", Whitesands by Saint Paulinus. David is thought to have founded an earlier community somewhere to the west of modern St Davids, before establishing a new church and monastery at a place then known as "Glyn Rhosyn" on the banks of the Afon Alun (where the current Cathedral now stands).

During his life, David gained great fame throughout the Celtic church and was a key figure in the fight against the Pelagian Heresy. At the Synod of Brefi in 545AD, Saint Dubricius (who held two Bishoprics, Caerleon and Llandaff) is said to have freely given David the ancient Metropolitan See of Caerleon. It is also implied that in transferring the See from Caerleon, David also transferred an important royal court. The Welsh Triads name "Mynyw" as the seat of "one of the three Tribal Thrones of the island of Britain" (the other courts being Celliwig and Pen Rhionydd). The entry states that the court had Arthur as Chief Prince, "Dewi" as the Chief Bishop, and "Maelgwn Gwynedd" as Chief Elder. Indeed, Geoffrey of Monmouth, would describe David as "The pious archbishop of Legions, at the city of Menevia".

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Medieval pilgrim site The ecclesiastical settlement would become known as Tyddewi (House of David) and was a famous centre of pilgrimage early in its history, attracting both foreign pilgrims of status and numerous Viking attacks by the ninth century. Its scholastic community was also famous throughout the Celtic world and in Anglo-Saxon England. When Alfred the Great wanted to establish a centre of learning at his court, he requested Asserius Menevensis, (Asser of St Davids) to join them. At that time, Asser had lived all his life at St Davids, being raised, tonsured, trained and ordained there. Yet Alfred's desire to secure his service was such that he acquiesced to a number of delays and requests before finally agreeing that Asser could split his time between Alfred's court and St David's.

The cult of Saint David was actively encouraged by the Cathedral's pre-Norman Bishops, especially Sulien and Rhigyfarch, who would write Vita sancti Davidis episcopi, the standard Vita of the saint.

As the Normans advanced into Pembrokeshire, the city became a marcher borough, and the new hundred was named "Dewisland". The cathedral was rebuilt during the Norman era and much of the earliest sections that are still extant, date back to the twelfth century. However, it is thought that this cathedral would have followed the layout of medieval structure and it continued to host its many ancient relics, including the remains of David.

At its height, the city was visited by many pilgrims, including noblemen and kings such as William the Conqueror in 1077, Henry II in 1171, and Edward I and Queen Eleanor in 1284. Pope Calixtus II decreed that two pilgrimages to St Davids were equivalent to one to Rome ("Roma semel quantum dat bis Menevia tantum"). This allowed a vast income to be raised from visiting pilgrims in the Middle Ages.

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Decline The Reformation saw both the income and importance of St Davids begin to fade as pilgrimages fell out of favour, this was followed by a number of Bishops who were seemingly less and less concerned with the welfare of the Cathedral or the city. Perhaps most infamously, Bishop William Barlow sold the lead from the roof of the Bishop's Palace In 1536, beginning a long period of neglect for St Davids.

Barlow had the Bishop's chief residence moved to Abergwili, Carmarthenshire in 1542 and St Davids continued to decline. In 1603, the antiquarian George Owen described the city as one of five Pembrokeshire boroughs overseen by a portreeve. The seventeenth century, saw two separate bishops apply for licences to demolish some of the cities ancient buildings, and the Bishop's palace was now considered "beyond repair".

By the 19th century, only the Cathedral itself seemed to retain the city's former glory, as described in the Penny Cyclopaedia:

At present its appearance is that of a poor village, the houses, excepting those of the clergy, being in a ruinous state. The locality is lonely, and the neighbouring district wild and unimproved; but it is still an interesting place as the seat of a large episcopal see, with a fine cathedral and the remains of other magnificent religious edifices.

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Modern city The unique nature of the Cathedral and the city was evident as late as the twentieth century. Following the disestablishment of the Church in Wales in 1920, the Cathedral Close was allowed to operate as its own civil parish, separate from that of the adjacent city for the next 50 years.

With better transport links and the advent of tourism, the city prospered once more in the later twentieth century, with the city's 210 listed buildings making it a destination for walkers, tourists and modern pilgrims. Many of the ancient buildings, including the Bishop's Palace are today, maintained by Cadw and open to the public.

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Geography The community council area sits at the southern end of the Irish Sea on a peninsula, between Cardigan Bay, St George's Channel and St Brides Bay. It covers not just the mainland area, but also several islands off the coast, of which Ramsey Island is the largest and the only one inhabited, separated by the Ramsey Sound. The most westerly mainland point of Wales is at Pen Dal-aderyn. To the north lie Whitesands Bay and St Davids Head, which are locally notable landscape features. The community includes the former chapelries at St Justinian and Gwrhyd. The mainland contains much area used for farming, but contains very small scattered residences and several campsites.

St Davids Lifeboat Station, at St Justinian, has saved an estimated 360 people since the first lifeboat was located there in 1869; four lifeboatmen have died while saving others. The Irish Sea includes a large number of offshore rocks and islands and is notorious for strong tides. The entire coastline around St Davids forms part of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. Saint Non's Well overlooks the Pembrokeshire Coast Path and St Brides Bay. St David's Airfield, although named after the city when opened in 1943, is in the neighbouring community of Solva. The highest point is Carn Llidi at 181 metres (594 ft).

There are several isolated hamlets in the community: • Berea • Caerfarchell • Carnhedryn • Fachelich/Vachelich • Llandruidion • Rhodiad-y-brenin • Treleddyd-fawr • Trelerw • Tretio.

Several islands and islets lie within a few miles from the coast. These are administratively within St Davids: • Ramsey Island, also known as Ynys Dewi, is the largest. • Carreg Yr Esgob • Carreg Fran • Ynys Eilun • Ynys Bery.

The islands below are part of the Bishop And Clerks grouping, and were included in 1987: • Carreg Rhoson • Carreg Rhoson East Island • Carreg-trai • Cribog • Daufraich • Llechau-isaf • Llechau-uchaf • Maen Daufraich • Maen Rhoson • Moelyn • North Bishop • South Bishop also known as Em-sger, is the furthest away from Pen Dal-aderyn at four miles (six kilometres).

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City status In the 16th century a town was recognised as a city by the English Crown if it had a diocesan cathedral within its limits along with a royal charter or borough privileges, but this link was abolished in 1888, and amid prior borough reorganisation (see Governance below), St Davids lost the right to call itself a city. In 1991 St Davids town council proposed that a case for city status, which the residents had long considered it to have anyway, should be promoted in connection with the 40th anniversary of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, and in 1992 the Home Office agreed to refer the matter to Buckingham Palace. In 1994, at the Queen's request, St Davids was again granted city status along with the Northern Irish town of Armagh, "in recognition of their important Christian heritage and their status as cities in the last century". The letters patent conferring city status were issued on 16 September 1994. The following year the Queen visited to formally present the letters patent in a ceremony at St Davids Cathedral on 1 June 1995.

The award of city status is typically granted to a local authority, whose administrative area is then considered to be the formal borders of the city. By this definition, the whole community area of St Davids and the Cathedral Close, including the settlement of St Davids, its surrounding rural area, and islands off the coast, is considered to be within the city. St Davids contains the lowest population of all the cities of the UK, and has the smallest urban area, at 0.23 sq mi (0.60 km²). However, with the formal city area defined by its community council extent of 17.93 sq mi (46.4 km²), this sizeable expanse including offshore islands mean that several UK cities are smaller in area, with the City of London being the smallest at 1.12 sq mi (2.9 km²). In Wales, St Davids is the third smallest after the community areas of St Asaph with 2.49 sq mi (6.4 km²) and Bangor with 2.79 sq mi (7.2 km²).

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Arts The city hosted the National Eisteddfod in 2002. The Archbishop-designate of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, was inducted into the Gorsedd of Bards, a historic order of Druids.

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Charity The St Davids Penknife Club is a group of people dedicated to voluntary fund raising for local groups and charities.

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Sport St Davids has a rugby union club, St. Davids RFC, which competes in the Welsh Rugby Union League West.

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Tourist Industry In addition to the cathedral and 210 other listed ancient buildings and structures, notable features of the city and community include the 14th-century Tower Gate, the Celtic Old Cross and a number of art galleries. St Davids is also a base for walking and water sports. It has several hotels, a pharmacy, shops and galleries, a youth hostel and a number of pubs. In 2019 Consumers' Association members placed St Davids in the top three best value beach destinations in Britain. Whitesands Bay, about two miles (three kilometres) west of St Davids, is a popular water sports resort. It has been described as the best surfing beach in Pembrokeshire and among the best tourist beaches in the world.

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Deer Park, Marloes Beach, Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, Wales 
Deer Park, Marloes Beach, Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, Wales
Image: Adobe Stock Stephen Davies #269856629

St Davids has a population of over 1,600 people. St Davids also forms part of the wider Pembrokeshire District which has a population of over 122,439 people. St Davids is situated near Haverfordwest.

Twin Towns, Sister Cities St Davids has links with:

🇱🇸 Maseru, Lesotho 🇮🇪 Naas, Ireland 🇫🇷 Orléat, France
Text Atribution: Wikipedia Text under CC-BY-SA license

Antipodal to St Davids is: 174.731,-51.882

Locations Near: St Davids -5.269,51.882

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Haverfordwest -4.97,51.8 d: 22.5  

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Pembroke -4.908,51.674 d: 33.9  

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Carmarthen -4.316,51.856 d: 65.5  

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Llanelli -4.193,51.787 d: 74.7  

🇮🇪 Wexford -6.471,52.34 d: 96.6  

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Aberystwyth -4.085,52.416 d: 100.2  

🇮🇪 Wicklow -6.033,52.978 d: 132.4  

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Swansea -3.941,51.623 d: 95.8  

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Bideford -4.207,51.02 d: 120.9  

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Barnstaple -4.06,51.08 d: 122.3  

Antipodal to: St Davids 174.731,-51.882

🇳🇿 Dunedin 170.474,-45.884 d: 19279.3  

🇳🇿 Invercargill 168.373,-46.413 d: 19251.7  

🇳🇿 Christchurch 172.617,-43.517 d: 19071.7  

🇳🇿 Canterbury 171.58,-43.543 d: 19058.6  

🇳🇿 Queenstown 168.658,-45.033 d: 19132.3  

🇳🇿 Wellington 174.767,-41.283 d: 18836.6  

🇳🇿 Richmond 173.183,-41.333 d: 18836.3  

🇳🇿 Hutt 174.917,-41.217 d: 18829.1  

🇳🇿 Lower Hutt 174.917,-41.217 d: 18829.1  

🇳🇿 Nelson 173.284,-41.269 d: 18829.9  

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