St David's Church, Llanddew, Breconshire

Description

Bishop's Palace and Bishop Gower's Well, Llanddew, Breconshire

An illustrated account of the nearby Bishop's Palace and Bishop Gower's Well.

Photography: John Ball
Date: 12 September 2010
Camera: Nikon D50 digital SLR

Note 1. Llanddew gained fame in the medieval period as the site of the palace of the Bishops of Brecon. This modest castle was occupied between 1175 and 1203 by Gerald of Wales who, as Archdeacon of Brecon, described it as being 'well adapted to literary pursuits and the contemplation of eternity' and started his famous tour of Wales from here in the late 12th century. The village displays an impressive set of medieval earthworks indicating its former size and importance. [From the Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust (CPAT) website, where the full text is available]

Image 1:

Llannedeu [Llanddew], a mile from Brekenok, a lordship of the Bisshops of S. David, wher was sumtime a veri place of the bisshops, now no thing but an onsemeli [unseemly] ruine. The Archidiacon of Brekenok hath a house even there, and that is also fallen doune for the more part. Giraldus makith mention of this house.

Image 2:

The entrance doorway to the grounds of the Bishop's Palace.

Note 2. The extract above is from John Leland's Itinerary. In 1533, John Leland received a royal commission from King Henry VIII ". . to make a search after England's Antiquities, and peruse the Libraries of all Cathedrals, Abbies, Priories, Colleges, etc. as also all places wherein Records, Writings and secrets of Antiquity were reposed." The royal commission amounted to a guaranteed admission ticket to virtually every place in the realm where documents and historical treasures were kept. His "Itinerary" is a record of his travels, and Leland's notes are usually the earliest descriptions we have of places in England and Wales at the end of the middle ages.

Note 3. Gerald of Wales was born c.1146 at Manorbier, Pembrokeshire of mixed Norman-Welsh blood (see ancestor chart). He spent his childhood at his father's castle at Manorbier and from an early age decided on a career in the church. In his mid 'teens he chose to go to the University of Paris, eventually returning to Wales c.1174 with a mandate from the Archbishop of Canterbury to reform the Church in Wales. About 1175 he directed his attention to Brecon, whose aged archdeacon he discovered living comfortably with a mistress! Gerald removed him from office and became archdeacon of Brecon himself. This post brought him an official residence at Llanddew. [Biograpical details adapted from A Mirror of Medieval Wales – Gerald of Wales and His Journey of 1188, by Charles Knightly, Cadw: Welsh Historic Monuments, Cardiff, 1988; ISBN 0-948329-30-0]

I occupy a tiny dwelling-house not far from the principal castle of Brecknockshire and, indeed, adjacent to it. This is convenient enough for my studies and my work, and here I pass my time in a sort of happy-go-lucky mediocrity. The house gives me pleasure and it is conducive to thoughts of the next world. I would not change it for all the riches of Croesus**. I certainly prefer it beyond all measure to the perishable and transitory things of this world.

**Croesus: the king of Lydia from 560 to 546 BC until his defeat by the Persians in about 547 BC. Croesus became renowned for his wealth, which remained proverbial beyond classical antiquity: in English, expressions such as "rich as Croesus" or "richer than Croesus" are used to indicate great wealth. [The words of Geraldus Cambrensis from Gerald of Wales – The Journey Through Wales and The Description of Wales, translated (from the Latin) by Lewis Thorpe, Penguin Books, London, 1978; ISBN 0-140-44339-8]

Image 3:

Inside the entrance doorway.

Note 4. Near the church, separated only by the village road, is the site upon which once stood the palace of the distinguished Giraldus Cambrensis, and which still contains the remains of one of the palaces of the bishops of St. David's, probably built by Bishop Gower in the fourteenth century. The site is oblong in shape, and covers about an acre and a quarter of ground. It is bounded on the west and north by the old walls, now in a dilapidated state, on the east by a hedge, and on the south by a part of the old wall (see below), and the remains of a handsome gothic arch (see above). [Exracted from Notes on the Parish and Church of Llanddew, Brecknockshire, by Rev John Lane Davies, Cambrian Archaeological Association, Brecon, 1872]

Note 5. The western wall (above) contains a semicircular bastion, and. an exceedingly fine well, which yields an abundant and constant supply of the purest water. The well is arched over and so divided as to leave one half for the supply of the outside village (below) and the other half (right) for private use within the walls.

This well, and the arch above mentioned, are of the fourteenth century, and bear traces of the work of that zealous promoter of church architecture, the good Bishop Gower. [Exracted from Notes on the Parish and Church of Llanddew, Brecknockshire, by Rev John Lane Davies, Cambrian Archaeological Association, Brecon, 1872]

Image 7:

The pump and well. The pump was originally positioned immediately in front of the well. The 'new' pump is marked 'BAMFORD'S FROST PROTECTED LIFT PUMP' and dated 1908.

Image 8:

Bishop Gower's Well.

Visit the late R. F. Vincent's website for a more detailed account of the archaeology of the Bishop's Palace and Well.

• http://www.jlb2011.co.uk/walespic/churches/llanddew1a.htm (link opens in new window)