Scheduled MonumentsWalesSt Davids Bishop’s Palace
Medieval · Palace

St Davids Bishop’s Palace

Pembrokeshire, Wales
Cadw SAM PE006
Period
Medieval
Site type
Palace
Broad class
Domestic
Nation
Wales
Boundary

Scheduled area

© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © Cadw

Overview

History & significance

St Davids Bishop's Palace is a medieval episcopal residence situated adjacent to St Davids Cathedral in Pembrokeshire, Wales. The palace was constructed primarily during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, representing one of the finest examples of late medieval domestic architecture in Wales. The remains comprise substantial stone structures including a residential range with decorated windows and doorways, a kitchen block, and ancillary buildings, all formerly arranged around a courtyard. The palace served as the administrative and residential seat of the Bishop of St Davids until its decline following the Reformation, and the surviving ruins demonstrate the considerable wealth and status of the medieval Welsh Church through their architectural quality and scale.

St Davids Bishop’s Palace is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference PE006. View the official record →

About this monument

Questions & answers

What is St Davids Bishop’s Palace?

St Davids Bishop's Palace is a medieval episcopal residence situated adjacent to St Davids Cathedral in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Cadw under reference PE006.

What period does St Davids Bishop’s Palace date from?

St Davids Bishop’s Palace dates from the medieval period, and is classified as a palace. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.

Who is responsible for protecting St Davids Bishop’s Palace?

St Davids Bishop’s Palace is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Cadw — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in Wales. The official designation reference is PE006.

What other scheduled monuments are near St Davids Bishop’s Palace?

Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Whitewell (0.4 km), St Non's Chapel (1.1 km), Clegyr-Boia Camp (1.3 km).

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Everything a full report reveals about St Davids Bishop’s Palace

This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of St Davids Bishop’s Palace's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:

Overview
An interactive map of the location with every monument and battle plotted, and a plain-language history built only from what the record holds.
Monuments
The legally protected scheduled monuments around the location, each with its period, type and significance.
Battlefields
The battles and sieges fought on this ground, mapped and set on a timeline of the wider conflict.
Roman Britain
The Roman roads, forts and towns near here, and the Iron Age people who held the land before Rome arrived.
Civil War
The Civil War fighting, garrisons and recorded militaria in this area, woven into the arc of 1642 to 1651.
Geology
The bedrock beneath the site, its age and rock type, reaching back hundreds of millions of years.
Local Names
What the street and field names around here actually mean, and the history buried inside them.
Historical Maps
Ordnance Survey maps from the 1800s, layered over the location as it stands today.
Literature
The books, county histories, charters and archives that mention this place, quoted with their sources.
Legal
The protected sites nearby and the metal-detecting, access and treasure laws that apply to this ground.
Spotlight
A deep dive into the most remarkable, lesser-known history of the place, traced back to the record.
Target Zones
For detectorists: the most promising ground to search nearby, ranked by confidence, with what to expect.
Timeline
The whole story of the location told era by era, from prehistory to the present day.
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The ground beneath

The bedrock under St Davids Bishop’s Palace

St Davids Bishop’s Palace stands on Unnamed Igneous Intrusion, Neoproterozoic, bedrock that formed in the Neoproterozoic. The rock here is felsic-rock.