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ST. DAVIDS
Archiepiscopal Capital
of Wales?

Around AD 540,  the Abbey of Mynyw (St. Davids) was founded by St. David, the grandson of a local chieftain, in the Rhoson Uchaf (Rosina Vallis) in modern-day Pembrokeshire. Despite opposition from an Irish warlord who had settled in the area, David established a thriving community protected in a hollow between the hills.

Ancient legend says that Wales always had an archiepiscopal see. Originally this was supposed to have been at Caerleon. However, about five years after moving to Mynyw, St. David spoke so eloquently against the Pelagian heresy at the Synod of Brefi (at Llandewi Brefi), that St. Dyfrig gave up the Archbishopric in his favour. David accepted and, naturally enough, decided to transfer his cathedra to his own monastery at Mynyw (St. Davids). The place has remained a cathedral city ever since: the smallest in Britain.