Feastday: June 14
Death: 6th century
Welsh monk of the house of Cunedda, the son of Ithel ab Ceredig ab Cunedda Wledig. He preached in Pembrokeshire, Wales, and then went to Brittany, in France. Several churches bear his name.
Village in Wales Human settlement in Wales
Another view of the abbey ruins
The Teifi estuary at St Dogmaels, with Gwbert in the background
St Dogmaels (Welsh: Llandudoch) is a village, parish and community in Pembrokeshire, Wales, on the estuary of the River Teifi, a mile downstream from the town of Cardigan in neighbouring Ceredigion. A little to the north of the village, further along the estuary, lies Poppit Sands beach. The parish includes the small settlement of Cippyn, south of Cemaes Head.
Name
The English and Welsh names seem to bear no similarity, but it has been suggested that possibly both names refer to the same saint or founder Dogfael (Dogmael), with ‘mael’ (prince) and ‘tud’ (land or people of) being added to Dog/doch as in Dog mael and Tud doch.
History
St Dogmaels Abbey is 12th-century Tironesian and was one of the richer monastic institutions in Wales. Adjacent to the abbey ruins is the parish church (Church in Wales) of St Thomas, which appears successively to have occupied at least three sites close to or within the abbey buildings. The present building is a respectable minor Victorian edifice and contains the Ogam Sagranus stone.
St Dogmaels was once a marcher borough. George Owen of Henllys, in 1603, described it as one of five Pembrokeshire boroughs overseen by a portreeve. The parish appeared (as Sct. Dogmels) on a 1578 parish map of Pembrokeshire.
In the 1830s, the parish's population was 2,109, and fell into four areas: Cippyn, Abbey, Pant-y-groes and Bridgend. In 1832, boundary changes meant that a part of Pembrokeshire, including a part of St Dogmaels, was included in Cardiganshire. This was reversed by the Welsh Assembly in 2002.
There are more than 30 listed buildings in the parish, including the parish church, the abbey and the mediaeval flour mill, Y Felin.
In 2006, the village won the Wales Calor Village of the Year competition after beating Trefriw in the final.
Governance
An electoral ward of the same name exists, stretching to include the community of Nevern. The population taken at the 2011 census was 2,218.
Shakespeare in St Dogmaels Abbey
A Shakespeare play is performed annually in the abbey during the summer since the first play was performed in 1987. The actors are both local and from all parts of Great Britain.
Twinning
St Dogmaels is twinned with the village of Trédarzec in Côtes-d'Armor, Brittany.
