6453

 

I  

Designated  

02/10/1951  

29/07/2005  

Church of Saint Daniel  

 

Pembrokeshire  

Pembroke  

Pembroke  

St. Daniel's Hill  

198212  

200476  

 

In a prominent position on a hill some 1.1km S of Pembroke Castle.  

Religious, Ritual and Funerary  

 

Disused medieval church on an ancient, pre-Norman site, connected with St. Deiniol in C6. The present building has vaulted nave possibly C14 and added chancel also vaulted, C14 or C15. C15 W tower with later thin broached spire. There are no early medieval references to the church, but it may be the hermitage of St. David near Pembroke. Repaired in C18, 1849, and 1893. Described as rarely used and inhabited by owls c1710, it was restored and used by an early Methodist congregation established by the Rev Howell Davies, 'the apostle of Pembrokeshire' c1745. According to his diaries John Wesley preached here eight times between 1767 and 1789. The church became a settled place for his preachers in the Pembrokeshire circuit formed c 1771, though Wesley also preached in the Town Hall on his visits to Pembroke. Wesley's preferment to the perpetual curacy of St. Daniel's was listed in January 1772. In 1780 it was said that the church had been in disrepair but that Trinity House, responsible for the upkeep of the tower and spire as a sea-mark, had accepted a private offer to repair it for the use of John Wesley, but that after the repairs were done the offer changed and the church was leased to another leading nonconformist figure, George Whitfield, for £20 a year. In 1831 it seems to have been leased to Baptists. In 1839 offered for sale, leased to a 'dissenting body'. In 1849 sold by W. Bowling to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners and a chapel of ease erected (presumably the existing building was repaired), for use as a mortuary chapel. The repairs of 1893 were followed in 1896 by repairs to the spire after a lightning strike. A plaque within records that c 1909 the old choir stalls from St. Mary's church were moved here and the chancel was renovated.  

Disused church, rubble stone with slate roofs. Small, with nave, chancel, W tower and spire. Slightly lower chancel ridge. Coped gables. N wall of nave has a blocked window to right, a big early C19 pointed doorway with stone voussoirs, C19 double doors and cemented tympanum, and a C19 lancet window in tooled grey limestone. S wall has two C19 lancet windows and a blocked opening. Chancel has N blocked square headed window and blocked doorway with segmental head; one large blocked opening to S; E end wall with battered base and C19 triple lancet window with coloured glass. clasping buttress at SE corner. W tower has battered base, deep corbelled flat parapet and recessed stone spire. Vertical slit bell-opening in E, W and N, C19 lancet window in W wall; curved staircase projection on S side in angle to nave. Spire of tooled grey limestone, square low base with string course under spire broached to octagonal with tiny lucarnes on cardinal faces at base and another string course just above.  

Interior not accessible at time of survey. Said to have nave and chancel with pointed vaulted roofs of same height but chancel vault springing from lower level. C19 vestigial chancel arch on square pillars. Narrow pointed door to tower; vaulted chamber at base of tower with stone stairs on S. Pointed alcove in S chancel wall. Late C18 panelled reading desk, not in original position, probably from St. Mary's. Brick floor.  

Graded I as a medieval church with masonry vaults to both nave and chancel, and also retaining one of the unusual Pembrokeshire thin stone spires. Of historical significance also for the connection with John Wesley.