Bell's Cathedrals: St. David's

by Philip A. Robson

discovered recess behind the high altar.[38] Probably these are the same relics which were found in the lower part of the recess run with mortar and formed into a solid mass, evidently to prevent desecration. The relics have been extracted and are carefully preserved in the cathedral.

St. David, whom Walcott[39] gives as Bishop from 519-542 (when he presumably died), was canonised by Pope Calixtus II. (Guido of Vienne)[40] 1119-1124, and judging by the numerous Edwardian coins found in the neighbourhood the shrine attained the height of its celebrity during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Bishop Gower was thus able to build his magnificent palace as a hostelry for the many distinguished pilgrims. Amongst the kings who paid homage to St. David were William I. in 1081,[41] when he subdued Wales, and this shrine doubtless formed in some sense a common bond between conquerors and conquered; Henry II., on his way to and from Ireland (1171-1172) when he gave inter alia two velvet copes “for the singers in serving God and St. David,”[42] and it was while waiting here for a fair wind that Henry is reported to have learnt from a bard that King Arthur was buried in the Isle of Avalon; whilst the last royal visit recorded is that of Edward I. and Queen Eleanor in 1284.[43]

It appears that the remains of St. David’s confessor, St. Justinian, were translated from Porthotinan, near St. David’s, to a new tomb in the cathedral in which he himself was also subsequently interred.[44] But it is not clear at what date the relics were translated to a movable feretory. However, it is certain that it was portable, as in 1086 it was stolen and despoiled.[45] In spite of William of Malmesbury definitely stating that the relics were transferred to Glastonbury in 946,[46] they were still in their place when Henry II. made his pilgrimage, and a century later (1275) we find Bishop Richard de Carew building a new shrine which agrees with the general architectural character of the existing structure.[47] But we find that the relics, or some of them, were inclosed in a portable shrine long after this. An Extent of the Bishop’s lands made in the year 1326 informs us that the burgesses of St. David’s were bound to follow the Bishop in time of war with the shrine of St. David for one day’s journey in either direction,[48] and under a statute of Bishop Nicholas the chantry priests were enjoined to carry the shrine in procession on the instructions of the precentor or president of the Chapter.[49] Yet the evidence[50] of those who certainly saw the shrine before the Reformation, convinces us that this structure is the same that anciently bore the name, and, as Freeman[51] says, “the term feretrum, in spite of its etymology, was continually applied to standing shrines, as, for instance, to the celebrated shrine of St. Cuthbert at Durham.” By a statute[52] of Bishop Beck, 1287, recited and confirmed by Bishop Gower in 1342, three officers are directed to take charge of all things given or left “tam ad fabricam, quam ad Feretrum, sive caput.”

The style of the shrine is Early English merging towards Decorated. The base extends from pier to pier of the third arch from the east on the north side of the presbytery. On this are three low chamfered and pointed arches, about 12 inches high, and four deeply-sunk quatrefoils occupy the spandrils; the recesses beneath the arches are also about 12 inches in depth and backed with a stone wall. The outer quatrefoils are merely ornamental, but the two central ones communicate with lockers at the back for offerings. Above these arches is a flat table, restored in many places, on which rested the movable feretory and which also bears the principal structure of three arches and round shafts. The capitals are rather Early English in character, as are the heads[53] at the junctions of the arches, but the crocketed hood-moulding and label running across the archway are most undesirable Perpendicular additions. The arches contained frescoes on the wall at the back. According to Browne Willis,[54] “St. David himself is painted in his Pontificalibus; and on each side of him is a Bishop Saint; one by the Inscription is known to be St. Patrick (to the west); the other is somewhat defac’d.” It is a figure in episcopal attire and said to be St. Denis. He goes on to say that the whole was formerly surmounted by a wooden canopy—“a fair Arch of Timber work painted”—and marks of this remain. The back—towards the north choir aisle—is supposed to be imperfect. It has three low rounded arches, the centre being the widest, and over each was a chamfered quatrefoil, and between these were two rather high niches. A string runs round the each opening, but does not run along the base of the quatrefoils. Quite recently stones were to be seen in the pavement hollowed by continual friction with the knees of the pilgrims. Undoubtedly this shrine suffered when the presbytery arcade was walled up owing to the collapse of the aisle roofs, but now that all is dry and in good repair the three saints might well be repainted.

THE SHRINE OF ST. CARADOC.

Often mistaken for, somewhat similar to, and of about the same date as, the shrine of St. David, is that of St. Caradoc on the south side of the north transept (dedicated to St. Andrew), where he was buried by his own express wish near the altar of St. Stephen. He died in 1124, and at the instance of the historian Giraldus was canonised by Pope Innocent III.[55] The tomb consists of a round arch, with a stone shelf below supported by a wall in which are two pointed arches and a couple of quatrefoils chamfered inwards. Above the arch is a small portion of wall containing some air-holes. It has been suggested that as this transept has been dedicated to St. Andrew, one of the patron saints of the Church, that it was designed as a receptacle of relics of that saint.[56]

The Aisles of the Presbytery, except for sundry attractive monuments, are not very interesting, but have undergone various changes. After the fall of the tower they were reconstructed in the prevalent Transitional style. In the Early English period the wall of the south aisle was rebuilt further south.[57] The old roofs were removed, the walls raised, and new windows inserted in the Decorated period by Bishop Gower (1328-1347). Three hundred years later they were in a ruined condition. In the general restoration of the latter part of this century they have been re-roofed and extensively repaired.

THE SHRINE OF ST. CARADOC.

The capitals of the pier-shafts on the aisle side resemble those in the presbytery, but the piers themselves are peculiar. A group of shafts is attached to each pier; these, however, finish below the capitals of each pier with a bracket. It has been supposed that these were intended for figures, and it is quite likely that this may have been the best way the Transitional architects saw of avoiding a raw appearance when they gave up their groining system.