St Davids Cathedral
Saint Davids Cathedral | ||
---|---|---|
Eglwys Gadeiriol Tyddewi | ||
Canon Treasurer Sian Jones | | |
Assistant priest(s) | Gillian Butcher | |
Laity | ||
Organist/Director of music | Simon Pearce | |
Organist(s) | Laurence John | |
Chapter clerk | Arwel Davies | |
Verger | Chris Cooks | |
Business manager | Judith Leigh |
St Davids Cathedral (Welsh: Eglwys Gadeiriol Tyddewi) is an Anglican cathedral situated in St Davids, Britain's smallest city,[1] in the county of Pembrokeshire, near the most westerly point of Wales.
Early history
The
In 1081,
In 1115, with the area under
The present cathedral was begun in 1181 and completed not long after. Problems beset the new building and the community in its infancy: the collapse of the new tower in 1220 and earthquake damage in 1247/48.
Under
In 1365, Bishop Adam Houghton and John of Gaunt began to build St Mary's College and a chantry. He later added the cloister, which connects it to the cathedral.[3]
The episcopacy of Edward Vaughan (1509–1522) saw the building of the Holy Trinity chapel, with its fan vaulting which some[who?] say inspired the roof of King's College, Cambridge. This period also saw great developments for the nave, whose roof and Irish oak ceiling were constructed between 1530 and 1540. Bishop Barlow, unlike his predecessor as bishop, wished to suppress the following of David, and stripped St David's shrine of its jewels and confiscated the relics of St David and St Justinian in order to counteract "superstition" in 1538. In 1540, the body of Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond and father of Henry VII, was brought to be entombed in front of the high altar from the dissolved Greyfriars' Priory in Carmarthen.
The establishment of the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell greatly affected many cathedrals and churches, and was particularly felt in St Davids. The cathedral was all but destroyed by Cromwell's forces and the lead was stripped from the Bishops Palace roof.
Present cathedral
There is a pronounced slope to the floor of the cathedral, amounting to a height difference of nearly four metres between the east and west ends, and the building is still shifting minutely.[4]
The Welsh architect John Nash was commissioned to restore the west front in 1793 to repair the damage done two hundred years previously. Eclectic in style (with Gothic and Perpendicular characteristics – the latter attributed partly to his destruction of the windows of the chapel of St Mary's College in order to reuse that tracery for his west front), his work soon proved to be substandard (as had his previous work on the chapter house). Within a century the Nash west front had become unstable and the whole building was restored by George Gilbert Scott between 1862 and 1870. The lady chapel was restored by public subscription in 1901 and the eastern chapels were restored through a legacy of the Countess of Maidstone, granddaughter of Bishop John Jenkinson, between 1901 and 1910.
The cathedral suffered the pains of
The 1950s saw the appointment of the Reverend Carl Witton-Davies as
The 1960s saw the restoration of St Mary's College as the cathedral hall, for the use of the cathedral parish and for use as an area for art exhibitions and poetry readings. It was dedicated by Archbishop
During the 1980s a number of official events in cathedral life took place: in 1981,
The decades leading to and immediately following the year 2000 have been the most notable in the cathedral's history since its construction.[
The ring of bells was cast by Whitechapel Bell Foundry of London and presented as a gift by the American Friends of St Davids Cathedral. The substantial task of rebuilding the cloisters as an education centre and refectory began in 2003 and was completed in May 2007. The translation of Wyn Evans from dean to bishop led to the appointment of Jonathan Lean as dean in 2009.
The bells are not hung in the central tower of the cathedral but in the old gatehouse, Porth y Twr. There are 10 bells, with the heaviest weighing 24 long cwt 3 qr 25 lb (2,797 lb or 1,269 kg) in D. The back eight bells were cast in 1928 by Mears & Stainbank, London and two trebles added in 2000 cast by Whitechapel Bell Foundry, London. Details of the bells:
Bell | Weight | Note | Diameter | Cast year | Foundry | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
long measure | lb | kg | inches | mm | ||||
1 | 5 long cwt 1 qr 3 lb | 591 | 268 | F♯ | 2000 | Whitechapel Bell Foundry | ||
2 | 5 long cwt 1 qr 23 lb | 611 | 277 | E | 2000 | Whitechapel Bell Foundry | ||
3 | 5 long cwt 2 qr 22 lb | 638 | 289 | D | 30.00 | 762 | 1928 | Mears & Stainbank |
4 | 5 long cwt 3 qr 23 lb | 667 | 303 | C♯ | 31.00 | 787 | 1928 | Mears & Stainbank |
5 | 7 long cwt 0 qr 13 lb | 797 | 362 | B | 33.00 | 838 | 1928 | Mears & Stainbank |
6 | 8 long cwt 2 qr 3 lb | 955 | 433 | A | 35.75 | 908 | 1928 | Mears & Stainbank |
7 | 10 long cwt 3 qr 13 lb | 1,217 | 552 | G | 39.00 | 991 | 1928 | Mears & Stainbank |
8 | 11 long cwt 2 qr 23 lb | 1,311 | 595 | F♯ | 41.00 | 1,041 | 1928 | Mears & Stainbank |
9 | 17 long cwt 1 qr 2 lb | 1,934 | 877 | E | 46.00 | 1,168 | 1928 | Mears & Stainbank |
10 | 24 long cwt 3 qr 25 lb | 2,797 | 1,269 | D | 52.00 | 1,321 | 1928 | Mears & Stainbank |
The restored Shrine of
Cathedral life
There are at least three services said or sung per day, each week, with sung services on five out of seven days.
The cathedral choir at St Davids was the first cathedral choir in the United Kingdom to use girls and men as the main choir, rather than boys and men.
The St Davids Cathedral Festival runs through the Whitsun school holiday each year and showcases some of the world's best performers. The week sees performers, both professional and young, play in front of thousands. The cathedral choir serve as a highlight each year, being a very popular concert, as well as the Festival Chorus and Orchestra who perform a major work on the final night of the festival.
List of deans
Before 1840 the senior residentiary cleric was the precentor and not a dean due to a complication during the dissolution of the monasteries. Since 1840 the title "Dean" has been appended to that of Precentor, hence the deans of St Davids are formally the "Dean and Precentor" and their seat being on what is normally regarded in most places the cantoris side, with a stall "in quire" reserved for the bishop.
- 1839–1878 Llewelyn Lewellin (title of Dean granted in 1840)
- 1878–1895 James Allen
- 1895–1897 Owen Phillips
- 1897–1903 David Howell
- 1904–1918 James Allan Smith
- 1919–1930 William Williams
- 1931–1940 David Watcyn Morgan
- 1940–1949 Albert Parry
- 1950–1957 Carlyle Witton-Davies (afterwards Archdeacon of Oxford, 1957)
- 1957–1972 Edward Jenkins
- 1972–1984 Lawrence Bowen
- 1984–1990 Gordon MacWilliam
- 1990–1994 Bertie Lewis
- 1994–2008 Wyn Evans (afterwards Bishop of St Davids)
- 2009–2017 Jonathan Lean
- 2018–present Sarah Rowland Jones
Sarah Caroline Rowland Jones (born 8 September 1959,
Local legends
Another legend is that Merlin had prophesied the death on Llechllafar of an English king, conqueror of Ireland, who had been injured by a man with a red hand. King Henry II, whilst on a pilgrimage to Saint Davids, having come over from Ireland, heard of the prophecy and crossed Llechllafar without ill effect. He boasted that Merlin was a liar, to which a bystander replied that the King would not conquer Ireland and was therefore not the king of the prophecy.[12] This turned out to be true, for Henry never did conquer the whole of Ireland.[13][14]
Burials
- Rhys ap Gruffydd
- Gerald of Wales
- Thomas Fastolf
- Adam Houghton
- Edward Vaughan (bishop)
- Benedict Nichols
- Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond (father of Henry VII)
Organ
A specification of the organ can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register.[15]
List of organists
- 1509 John Norman
- 1563 Thomas Elliot
- c.1570–c.1586 Thomas Tomkins (father of the composer Thomas Tomkins)[16][17]
- 1713 R. Mordant
- 1714 Henry Mordant
- 1719 Richard Tomkins
- 1719 Williarn Bishop
- 1720 Henry Williams
- 1725 Matthew Maddox
- 1734 Matthew Philpott
- 1793 Arthur Richardson
- 1827 John Barrett
- 1851 William Peregrine Propert
- 1883 Frederick Garton
- 1894 D. John Codner
- 1896 Herbert C. Morris
- 1922 Joseph Soar
- 1953 Peter Boorman
- 1977 Nicholas Jackson
- 1984 Malcolm Watts
- 1990 Kerry Beaumont
- 1995 Geraint Bowen
- 2001 Timothy Noon
- 2007 Alexander Mason
- 2011 Daniel Cook
- 2013 Oliver Waterer
- 2021 Simon Pearce
In popular culture
The cathedral's exterior and overall design were used as the basis of the fictional Nemeton monastery in the video game Koudelka and its sequels Shadow Hearts and Shadow Hearts: Covenant.[18]
See also
- Chapel of St Non – on the coast near St Davids
References
- ^ Alderson, Alf. "Exploring Britain's smallest city". Visit Wales.
- ^ "A Brief History". St Davids Cathedral.
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/13863. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ "About us". St Davids Cathedral. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
- National Historic Assets of Wales. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
- ^ "News Archive 2012". St Davids Cathedral.
- ^ "The Choir". St Davids Cathedral. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
- ^ a b c "Rowland Jones, Sarah Caroline". Who's Who. A & C Black. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ "St Davids Cathedral". Archived from the original on 6 June 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
- ISSN 0009-658X. Retrieved 6 August 2023 – via UK Press Online archives.
- ISSN 0009-658X. Retrieved 6 August 2023 – via UK Press Online archives.
- ^ a b Giraldus De Barri (1806). The Itinerary of Archbishop Baldwin Through Wales, A. D. MCLXXXVIII. Translated by Hoare, Sir Richard Colt. London: William Miller. pp. 6–8.
- ^ a b Phillips, Rev. James (1909). The History of Pembrokeshire. London: Elliot Stock. pp. 205–206.
- ^ a b Jones, William Basil; Freeman, Edward Augustus (1856), The History and Antiquities of Saint Davids, London: J. H. & J. Parker, p. 222
- ^ "Pembrokeshire (Dyfed), St Davids Cathedral of St David & St Andrew". National Pipe Organ Register. The British Institute of Organ Studies. 2005. Retrieved 19 November 2008.
- ^ "St Andrew and St David". English Cathedrals Music. Retrieved 16 September 2016.[self-published source]
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/27515. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ Kikuta, Hiroki (25 October 2000). "Nemeton Monastery" (in Japanese). Retrieved 4 October 2020.