St. Davids Cathedral

The present St. Davids Cathedral was founded in 1181 by Norman Bishop Peter de Lia.  It was also home to Jacques, a friend of Gerald, a writer of twelfth-century Wales. Over the next century, the central tower collapsed twice.  In the fourteenth century, it was renovated and extended during the repair program of Bishop Henry Gower of Wales, which included the ships, the choir, and the main stone screen.  This ornately carved gothic screen is found on ships, as well as a statue of him in his tomb.  The crucifixes of some of the bishops of this period and earlier also exist and are on display in the treasury of the Davids Cathedral.
Bishop Gower was a prominent figure, a rare example of a Welsh bishop in the Norman period.  After a long education at Oxford University and as Chancellor of the University, he was ordained Bishop of St. Davids in 1328.
A great medieval architect, he also founded the impressive Bishop’s Palace, the residence of St. David’s Bishop until the Sixteenth Century Reconstruction.  He fortified the forts in the adjacent wall.  Built against the octagonal bell tower of the Davids Cathedral, the Port-y-Tour (the gate to the tower) is the only surviving gate to the fort.
Sixteenth-century religious reformers called themselves Protestants and despised the poverty and wealth seen in the church.  They demanded that the Bible be made available in more common languages than Latin, which is used by priests and scholars.
In 1536, Protestant Bishop William Barlow has ordained Bishop of St. Davids.  He remained bishop of Bath and Wells until 1547.  He decided to give St. David’s a complete rest with the Middle Ages and removed St. David.  He removed or destroyed all the relics and treasures in the cathedral, including the contents of the library.  Today we can only talk about the medieval collections of the Cathedral from the medieval scholars who used them.  Only a very small fraction is scattered in other collections around the world.
In spite of all this, Barlow’s lifetime has been marked by the installation of a wonderful wooden ceiling.  It is also the ceiling of the only cathedral in Britain with hanging ornately carved pendants.  It is mostly made of oak panels, with an ornately carved pendant below it, each 1.5 m high and more than 1 m wide.  The sides and corners of the deck are also decorated with half and half pendants.
  Barlow also wanted to take the Bishop of St. Davids out of the Bishop’s Palace.  This was partly practical because he wanted to move the episcopal headquarters from St. Davids to a more central position in the episcopate, such as Carmarthen.  But he did not approve of the majesty of the dormitory dormitory dormitory dormitory.  Bishop Barlow was unable to change the position of the episcopate from St. Davids.  However, he led the bishops out of the bishopric.  His successors never came to live permanently near the Cathedral, and lived in Abergville, a short distance from the factory.
Today, the Bishop’s Palace is managed by the CADW, the Wales Heritage Service, and stands as a prominent ruin outside the Cathedral.  Basho Barlow and renovations accelerated the palace’s wealth and the escape of lead from its roof.
The next century was a catastrophe for the Cathedral.  Commonwealth troops in the Civil War were ordered to vacate the Cathedral.  They caused further damage by smashing stained glass windows, breaking the tower to steal bells, and causing irreparable organ damage.  Many eastern areas of the Cathedral are not securely installed.  Although they were open to the elements, they too perished.
The cathedral needed extensive renovations in the nineteenth century. In response to these challenges, Bishop Turwal commissioned the famous church architect George Gilbert Scott in 1861 to conduct a survey.  This was completed and the seats were presented to the church the following year.  1862 Scott’s report shows that the cathedral tower collapsed and water leaked from the Alon River.
Much of Scott’s Cathedral has been renovated, and the tower is fastened with ties.  It still exists today.  He cut through some of the main tower windows and moved the interior roof (vault) of the tower from its original position to its present location above the window.  This allows more light to enter.  The result of the painting can still be seen in the cathedral today.
A generation later, Dean Howell appealed for the restoration of Lady’s Church.  In October 1901, a special service was held at the church to mark its last rites.  The Bishop of Exeter preached the Sermon on the Mount. The idea of renovating St. David’s Cathedral was planted long before the Gothic-Renaissance in the 1780s and 1790s.  The ideal of the Gothic revival was to build a shrine in the Gothic style or to restore its medieval appearance.
In the 1790s, John Nash was commissioned to renovate the west front porch of the Cathedral building.  However, his impressive new wall was practically non-existent and was attached to existing ship walls.  They were also located on a slope to the west under the pressure of the leaning tower.  When Scott arrived in the 1860s, it once again tended to be dangerous and needed a complete overhaul.
Church reform in Scott’s Victorian era was extensive.  During his time it received generous public donations, and a restoration movement was led by the future Bishop William Basil Jones and the historian Edward A. Freeman.  In 1856 they published together with the History and Antiquities of St. David.  It is evident from its extensive list of recipients that the seat attracted interest in the Davids cathedral.