Introduction to St Davids by Greg Stevenson

We’re cheating a bit on Y Dref Gymreig, as technically one town is a city. But we all know that we’ve seen bigger villages than Tŷ Ddewi, so we thought it fair game for our survey of small Welsh towns. And as they say, good things come in small packages.

There can be few that would doubt that this is one of the nicest urban environments in the Principality. I think everyone loves St Davids and its architecture must be one of the main reasons.

The fact that Pope Calixtus II decreed that two pilgrimages here equaled one to Rome made this town wealthy indeed in the medieval period.

The remote location has meant that this ended up as the smallest cathedral city in Britain – it never really developed beyond the significance of the cathedral. And thank goodness – it is so charming because of its small size!

The streets of St Davids aren’t particularly distinguished. Considering the power of this town in the medieval period, what we have is a fairly average collection of eighteenth and nineteenth century west Wales buildings – but in immaculate condition. Money from tourism, and the second homes market means there is pressure here to have the right kind of period windows, and houses painted in pretty colours.

Court House (a former shop and residence) and Menai make for nice townhouses, but all the formal architecture of this town is in the cathedral precinct. And as anyone could guess, there is one building – the cathedral – that dominates the story here.