I recently visited St. David's Cathedral in the town of St. Davids, Pembrokeshire, Wales. A really nice town with a really interesting history (and a great pub - The Farmers Arms!!!). Literally about 20 steps from the back door of the pub you get this view of the Cathedral... In the Treasury Room they had a nice display, including a few medieval coins (really sorry about the fuzzy image)... The sign should say "Bishop Beck" I believe. Here is a link to more about the items in the Treasury... http://www.stdavidscathedral.org.uk/index.php?id=722 Here is a screen shot taken from the virtual tour you can take of the Cathedral (see link above)... Also on display in the Treasury were Maundy Money - read more about them at the above link as well. Just thought I would share.
I hiked around Wales years ago and St. David's was one of my favorite places. The cathedral is made of a purplish stone that is really eye catching. The wooden seats in the choir stalls have human heads carved on the arm rests, and they are all different-- probably actual portraits of medieval common people. Not sure if I stopped at that pub or not but I made a point of sampling the local ales regularly!
That's what we were doing...hiking the Pembrokeshire Coast Trail. Beautiful scenery. We ended our trip at St. Davids. Interesting history. We were looking at all of the different carvings on the choir seats and noticed what looked like a boat with a few guys in it puking over the sides! Not sure what it all means! Giddy up!
Thanks for sharing! I apparently have ancestry in Wales, but I have yet to make an appearance there. After eyeing your picture of the view from the pub I almost purchased an airline ticket. Here, I can go outside and maybe get a view of the Walmart, but no medieval cathedrals. Wow. The coins look like two pennies and a groat, or maybe a half-groat. I can't read the legends, but based on size alone, that's my guess. They look pretty clipped, which probably shouldn't surprise me. How awesome that the church displays them, but I bet the Bishop wants his money back, or at least a cut of the gift shop sales...
