Sharing is Caring
Partnership is a theme of current activity by the Cathedral Library, as outlined here by Mari James, St Davids Cathedral Library Development Officer.
It is always a pleasure when groups from around the diocese come to visit. Some of these come in response to our Gwaelod y Cwpbwrdd appeal. We are asking churches across the diocese to look gwaelod y cwpbwrdd (bottom of the cupboard), perhaps in the vestry, for old Bibles or prayer books there. By “old" we mean 300 or 400 years when Bibles and Prayer Books were first being produced in Welsh.
They were large, heavy books distributed to all churches in Wales. A 1620 Welsh Bible recently identified in a church near Carmarthen is now in the Library. A visit to this church will take place this autumn.
The 1660s Restoration of the Monarchy was also a time of new Bibles and Prayer Books. We were pleased to welcome a group from Llanarth churches with whom we have been working on rare Restoration finds gwaelod y cwpbwrdd, now in the Cathedral Library.
In July many responses to research enquiries came to fruition when nearly 100 leading archaeologists from Britain, Ireland and North America came to the cathedral for the annual conference of the British Archaeological Association. We are grateful to them for their insights on much that we accept around us every day.
In October we will welcome the Welsh Church Monuments Society and the Stone Forum on a joint study day. Again, we anticipate both learning from them and sharing with them our centuries-old records in stones and books.
This will be during Libraries Week when one of the other events will be the third production in the Cathedral of Thrice to Rome, the dramatisation of Gerald of Wales’ 12th-century adversarial defence of the metropolitan status of St Davids. This is also part of the annual Legal Wales conference.
And in June 2025, our cathedral is hosting the first annual conference of the Cathedrals Archives, Libraries and Collections Association (CALCA) to be held in Wales. We will be showcasing, to cathedrals from the UK and Ireland, our special building, traditions and early Welsh Bibles and Prayer Books.
Where possible, we arrange these partnership activities so that non-members of the conference groups can also attend. Anyone interested to receive more information on any of these events, can email Library@StDavidsCathedral.org.uk