Re-thinking history
Partnership events help us learn even more about the Cathedral, reports Mari James, St Davids Cathedral Library Development Officer
In the summer issue of Pobl Dewi we looked forward to a series of partnership events due to take place. It has been really interesting to welcome to the Cathedral, including its historic library and collections, the British Archaeological Association, St Davids and Dewisland Historical Society, the Welsh Stone Forum, UK Church Monuments Society, Legal Wales, Friends of Hereford Cathedral, as well as working with Cadw on this year’s Drysau Agored Open Doors and ten events during Libraries Week.
We often learn about aspects of the past life of our Cathedral from such knowledgeable visitors. For instance, it is evident that there were several large brasses on medieval tombs in the Cathedral Quire and current Trinity Chapel. All that remains of these indicators of wealth and tributes to the importance of those buried beneath, are a few recently identified brass pins in the Quire. However, the splendid brass on the tomb of Edmund Tudor was replaced. So we can still enjoy this as it was originally installed by Henry VII in memory of his father.
We have also been encouraged to question our previous understanding that many of the faces on tomb effigies around the Cathedral had their faces slashed off in one of the waves of iconoclasm over the centuries. Experts from the Welsh Stone Forum pointed out that the supposed vandalism was in line with the natural lines in the Stone. So the damage could just as easily have been caused by natural weathering and lamination, especially as some of the locations were outside the building during periods of neglect. This is a completely different view of the treatment of our forebears and their tombs.
We continue to share such new findings on the Tours of Rarely Seen parts of the Cathedral which are conducted by the Library team. Groups across the diocese wanting to join these, just ask on Library@StDavidsCathedral.org.uk
We also continue to open the Library on Monday and Friday afternoons. We are working on all the arrangements for the first annual conference in Wales of the Cathedral Archives, Collections and Libraries Association on 17th, 18th and 19th June 2025. This includes sessions on the Reformation and first Bibles in Welsh and on our Gerald of Wales and his work elsewhere, from Hereford to Rome. There will also be a special session on the Cathedral Libraries of Ireland.