St Davids, Pembrokeshire : Historical writing

Descriptive gazetteer entries

These other entries in our collection of descriptive gazetteers are also about St Davids. You may be able to find further references to St Davids in the descriptive gazetteers by doing a full-text search here.

Place Type of entry Source
DAVIDS (St.) a city, a parish, and a sub-district Imperial
St Davids small town and parish Bartholomew

This additional information from our descriptive gazetteers is for locations within the parish or parishes associated with St Davids.

Place Type of entry Source
CARVARCHELL a village Imperial
Carvarchill village Bartholomew
CYLCH-GWYLOD-Y-WLAD a division Imperial
CYLCH-MAWR a division Imperial
CYLCH-Y-DRE a division Imperial
HENDREDRAW a village Imperial
RAMSEY an island Imperial
Ramsey Island island Bartholomew

Travel writing

This website includes the complete texts of books describing journeys around Britain, written between the twelfth and nineteenth centuries. Selecting one of the links below will take you to the first reference to St Davids within the selected text. This will not always be a description of a visit: travellers often mention places other than where they are, for example as a basis for comparison.

Traveller Section No. of Refs.
William Camden Rest of Wales 10
Gerald of Wales Book II, Ch. 1: Saint David's 7
Daniel Defoe Letter 6, Part 3: Worcester, Hereford and Wales 4
Gerald of Wales Introduction 3
Gerald of Wales Book I, Ch. 5: Usk and Caerleon 3
Gerald of Wales Book I, Ch. 13: Camros and Newgale 2
Gerald of Wales Book II: Preface 2
George Borrow Rheidol Valley 1
George Borrow Lampeter 1
Gerald of Wales Book I, Ch. 8: Swansea and Gower 1
Gerald of Wales Book I, Ch. 11: Haverford West 1
Gerald of Wales Book II, Ch. 4: Strata Florida 1
Gerald of Wales Book II, Ch. 7: Anglesey 1
William Camden The Division of Britaine 1
William Camden Hereford, Radnor, Brecon, Monmouth and Glamorgan 1
William Camden Smaller Islands in the British Ocean 1
Daniel Defoe Letter 4, Part 2: Somerset and Wiltshire 1
Daniel Defoe Letter 10: Lancashire, Westmorland and Cumberland 1
John Wesley 1781-4: An Ideal Circuit; Wesley in his Eighties; Wesley Visits Holland; Scotland 1

This website includes two large libraries, of historical travel writing and of entries from nineteenth century gazetteers describing places. We have text from these sources available for these places near your location:

Place Mentioned in Travel Writing Mentioned in Historical Gazetteer
Solfach 0 2
Whitchurch 1 3
Llanhywel 0 2
St Elvis 0 2
Ramsey Island 1 2
Llanrhian 0 3
Llandeloy 0 2
Llanrheithan 0 3
Trevine 0 3
Newgale 2 2
Brawdy 0 2
Dewisland 0 2
South Bishop Lighthouse 0 1
Mathri 1 2
Roch 0 3
St Edrens 0 2
St Lawrence 0 2
Nolton 0 2
Granston 0 2
Hayscastle 0 2

Names from historical writing

The following appear as names for St Davids. Follow the links for what the author actually said:

Name Author Source
DAVIDS ST John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
DAVY S. MYNSTER William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
MENEVIA William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
Gerald of Wales The Itinerary of Archbishop Baldwin through Wales (Oxford, Mississippi, 1997).
MENEW William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
SAINT DAVIDS George Borrow Wild Wales: Its People, Language and Scenery (Oxford, Mississippi, 1996).
William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
ST DAVIDS John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
ST TAFFYS Daniel Defoe A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain, divided into circuits or journies (London: JM Dent and Co, 1927).
TUY DEVY William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).

NB: These variant names come from our collections of historical travel writing and descriptive gazetteers:

  • The above links take you to the first reference to this particular version of the name within a book of travel writing, or to the relevant gazetteer entry.
  • Some names may derive from research by antiquarian writers such as William Camden and Thomas Pennant into the Roman, Saxon and medieval names of places. Their claims are not always supported by modern place-name researchers.
  • References by travel writers to the place using its "normal" name are not included. Descriptive gazetteer entries are included only if the name does not appear anywhere else.