Llandaff Cathedral

Llandaff Cathedral (Welsh: Eglwys Gadeiriol Llandaf) is a Church in Wales cathedral and parish church in Llandaff, Cardiff, Wales. It is the seat of the Bishop of Llandaff, head of the Church in Wales Diocese of Llandaff. It is dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Paul, and three Welsh saints: Dubricius (Welsh: Dyfrig), Teilo and Oudoceus (Welsh: Euddogwy). It is one of two cathedrals in Cardiff, the other being the Roman Catholic Cardiff Metropolitan Cathedral in the city centre.

The current building was constructed in the 12th century on the site of an earlier church. Severe damage was done to the church in 1400 during the rebellion of Owain Glyndŵr, during the English Civil War when it was overrun by Parliamentarian troops, and during the Great Storm of 1703. By 1717, the damage to the cathedral was so extensive that the church seriously considered the removal of the see. Following further storms in the early 1720s, work was begun in 1734 on a new cathedral designed by John Wood, the Elder, but this was never completed, and instead a major restoration by John Prichard was carried out in the 1840s and 1850s. In January 1941, during the Cardiff Blitz of the Second World War, the cathedral was severely damaged by a parachute mine that blew the roof off the nave, south aisle and chapter house. The stonework which remains from the medieval period is primarily Dundry stone from Somerset, though local blue lias constitutes most of the stonework dating from the post-Reformation period. The work done on the church since World War II is primarily of concrete and Pennant sandstone, and the roofs, of Welsh slate and lead, were added during the post-war rebuilding. In February 2007, the organ was damaged during a severe lightning strike, following which there was a successful appeal for £1.5 million for an entirely new organ.

For many years, the cathedral had the traditional Anglican choir of boys and men, and more recently a girls' choir, with the only dedicated choir school in the Church in Wales, the Cathedral School, Llandaff. The cathedral contains a number of notable tombs, including Dubricius, a 6th-century British saint who evangelised Ergyng (now Archenfield) and much of South-East Wales; Meurig ap Tewdrig, King of Gwent; Teilo, a 6th-century Welsh clergyman, church founder and saint; and many Bishops of Llandaff, from the 7th-century Oudoceus to the 19th-century Alfred Ollivant, who was bishop from 1849 to 1882.

There is common consensus that the Norman cathedral was constructed on the site of an ancient Celtic church, but there is little consensus on the original church's age, importance or size.

Welsh tradition associates the church's founding with Lucius, the legendary 2nd-century King of the Britons and the first Christian convert in Britain. Lucius was believed to have beseeched Pope (Eleutherius) to convert him to Christianity. The Pope's response was to send a Christian mission to Britain, which would include the building of Britain's first church. The Welsh Triads relate this tradition to Llandaff, stating that Lucius "made the first Church at Llandaf, which was the first in the Isle of Britain." another triad lists "the three archbishoprics of the Isle of Britain" and states that "the first was Llandaf, of the gift of Lleirwg (Lucius), the son of Coel, the son of Cyllin, who first gave lands and civil privileges to such as first embraced the faith in Christ." Although the Lucius legend is now considered to be pseudo-history, it was recounted by Nennius, Bede and Geoffrey of Monmouth, and seems to have been widely accepted in the medieval period.

Four names are associated with the task of executing the Pope's wishes; these include the early Welsh saints Fagan, Deruvian and Elvan. Fagan is sometimes named as "the first Bishop of Llandaff" while all three became patrons of churches and villages throughout the diocese. Iolo Morgannwg also linked these early figures to Llandaff, writing extensively on this supposed early foundation. In the Iolo Manuscripts, he credits Fagan as the second Bishop of Llandaff (succeeding Dyfan, a figure Iolo conflates with Deruvian).

In their writings on Lucius of Britain, both Geoffrey of Monmouth and Iolo Morganwg state that the original Christian community at Llandaff was re-established by Saint Dyfrig (Dubricius) and his successor, Saint Teilo. The most notable legends surrounding these two state that Saint Dyfrig was made Archbishop by Saint Germanus of Auxerre while he travelled through Britain to oppose the Pelagian heresy, and link both saints with King Arthur.

The Normans considered Dyfrig and Teilo as the cathedral's founders and they, along with their successor Oudoceus, are the modern cathedral's patron saints. The continuation of a Post-Roman church is supported by the high number of ancient remains at the site (most notably an ancient Celtic cross at the Bishop's Court's well) and both secular and ecclesiastical writings.