Welsh Journals

sites and monuments on the ground and the creation of new were thus fostered by the demands of the cult. In the Middle Ages, the cathedral close and small town of St. David's were surrounded by a number of subsidiary chapels. Quoting in 1716 from a manuscript ascribed to the 16th century Pembrokeshire historian George Owen, Browne Willis describes them thus: 'there were formerly several chapels about St. David's which all belonged to the mother church and were commodiously seated to draw the devotions of pilgrims'.10 Today all are partial or total ruins but their purpose and profitability was still a vivid memory in the 17th and 18th centuries. In 1602 it was reported 'that there were some living who could remember, since ye offering money was brought on Saturdays to ye Chapter-House and there divided by dishfuls, ye quantity not allowing them leisure to tell it'. Furthermore, added Archdeacon Yardley, 'All these chapels are near ye seaside, being there placed to draw ye devotion of ye seamen and passengers when they first came ashore'.11 Such architectural details as remain of the chapels are of late medieval date, but the available archaeological evidence suggests that nearly all of them developed from earlier cemetery sites. The outlines of St. Patrick's chapel are just visible in the sands above the high-water mark of Porth Mawr, or Whitesands Bay (See Map). Excavation in 1924 uncovered a simple rectangular chapel.12 Further limited excavation was undertaken in 1969, after, in Douglas Hague's felicitous phrasing, 'the elements, the incessant passage of holiday feet, and the innocent plying of tiny spades exposed some burials in the graveyard of St. Patrick's Chapel'. Three cist burials were found, one aligned north-south and one with a crudely inscribed cross slab re-used as a cover stone.13 In the right conditions the wide sands of Porth Mawr or Whitesands provided a safe landing and embarkation point for early medieval vessels. The only harbour for St. David's was and is the narrow creek of Porth Clais. This, and Porth Mawr, provided the shortest crossing point to Ireland and there are several early medieval references to Irish peregrini as well as kings and raiders using these landing places. We do not know when the dedication to Patrick was made; insufficient excavation has taken place to establish whether there might have been a timber precursor to the stone chapel and no pre-12th century stone churches or chapels are as yet proven to have existed in Wales. Perhaps