Saint David
Saint David is the Patron Saint of Wales. He was born in the 5th or 6th century. He has been the Patron Saint of Wales since the 12th Century, having been canonised in 1123.
St David became renowned as a teacher and preacher, founding monastic settlements and churches in Wales, Dumnonia, and Brittany. St David's Cathedral stands on the site of the monastery he founded in the Glyn Rhosyn valley of Pembrokeshire.
Several miracles have been attributed to St David. His best-known miracle is said to have taken place when he was preaching in the middle of a large crowd at the Synod of Brefi. The village of Llanddewi Brefi stands on the spot where the ground on which he stood is reputed to have risen up to form a small hill. A white dove, which became his emblem, was seen settling on his shoulder. This dove appears in most images of St David.
Historic tales suggest that St David was a vegetarian, only eating bread, herbs and vegetables and just drinking water. As a result, he has been adopted as the patron saint of vegans and vegetarians.
It is said that St David died at Dyfed on 1st March 589, although this date is disputed. His major shrine is in St David's Cathedral.
The Church at Airmyn is dedicated to St David. The reason for this dedication is unknown. While, at the time of David's canonisation in 1123, there were more than 60 churches in Wales dedicated to St David, it appears that there are now only six churches in England dating to before 1350 which have the same dedication. One of these is Airmyn Church.
It may be that more churches with this dedication existed in England during early medieval times and that these have been long-lost and forgotten. However, the question remains ... why would churches in England be dedicated to the Patron Saint of Wales? Especially when relationships between the Welsh and English were not good. Battles between Wales and England had been waged on and off from the 5th to the 15th century. So, how did the villagers of Airmyn even know about St David, let alone wish to dedicate their hard-fought-for church or chapel to this Saint?
One theory - our own personal suggestion which we expect may be disproved!! - is that Airmyn may have been on the drove route from North Wales to London.
Droving of livestock can be dated back to prehistoric times and, although generally ceasing with the arrival of the railway, continued in many places until the early 20th century. Reasons for droving were largely financial, with prices for livestock in London being hugely higher than prices which could be obtained locally. As a result, drovers would move thousands of animals at a time on the long journey, covering approximately 10 miles per day. As an example, a journey from North Wales to London could take approximately one month of travelling every day across extremely challenging, often boggy, routeways and flooded river-crossings . This would then have to be repeated on the way back home. Such was the size of the convoys that they could block the roads for hours, accompanied by deafening levels of noise. Locals were given pre-warning of the herd’s approach!
Droving had its dangers, especially for the men returning home with hundreds of pounds in their pockets, making them prime targets for highway robbers. Also, they would need to find places to stay en route - not easy with thousands of animals in tow! The drovers would need to source food and drink for themselves and for their animals. For this reason they would set up seasonal camps, where they knew that sufficient field space and food and drink for the animals and amenities for themselves would be available. They would then return to the same camps every year. Many of these camps became known as Little London. The origin of this name seems to have been that the site was seen by the drovers as a 'little London' on their way to the 'big' city of London. Alternative theories suggest that the name was given by the villagers, denoting people who didn't belong to their village, but were just there temporarily.
One such camp is in West Cowick, approximately 4 miles from Airmyn. Could it be that the drovers camped here and used the nearby facilities, such as public houses, in Airmyn? But surely, they would also need to satisfy their spiritual needs? For this they may have visited the church at Snaith, but the church there already had a firm dedication ... to St Laurence. Maybe their arrival every year in Airmyn gave them the opportunity to influence the dedication of Airmyn's 'new' church - namely, to St David. And, on the part of the villagers, they may have felt that this dedication would encourage the drovers to return each year, with the resultant positive impact on the finances of the village. Furthermore, by worshipping at the new church in Airmyn - with the familiar dedication to St David - the drovers may have welcomed the opportunity of bringing with them a little bit of the home which they would not see for many weeks or months!
There are, however, problems with this theory ...
Saint David is said to have been a vegetarian. Would drovers want to worship in a church dedicated to a vegetarian, when their occupation was moving animals for slaughter and eating?
The Monastic Rule of David prescribed that monks had to pull the plough themselves without draught animals, must drink only water and eat only bread with salt and herbs. St David actively taught his followers to refrain from eating meat and drinking beer ... not teachings that would have been appealing to drovers!
Nevertheless, if there were at least 60 churches dedicated to St David in Wales, presumably many of the drovers would have grown up worshipping in such a church. They possibly didn't even know of the vegetarian issues - these would presumably have been mainly practised in the monasteries rather than the villages. A life of vegetarianism would have been quite difficult for most medieval villagers to follow! And, after all, worshippers at the Church of St Laurence don't necessarily do more cooking just because he is the Patron Saint of cooks!!
The map below shows the early churches (marked in purple) dedicated to St David which are still in existence today. The two churches marked in green have the same dedication, but are of a slightly later date. The churches marked in black only date back to the 19th or 20th centuries.
Also marked on the map, with small white flags on a red background, are Little London sites which are relatively close to early St David churches. Did the drovers camp at the Little London sites, making sure that their animals were fed and watered, and then feed themselves, literally and spiritually, in the local village?
A further interesting point is 'Little Airmyn' which is said to have been the earlier origin of Airmyn. Could this have been another local drovers' camp, named 'Little Airmyn' instead of 'Little London'? Or maybe an earlier name may have been 'Little London' and this was changed to 'Little Airmyn' at a later date?
Some of the drovers' routes are now sections of the A5 in Snowdonia and the A44 through Powys and the Heart of England, as well as the A1.
The map to the left shows a suggestion of routes that may have started at the beginning of the A5 and the A44, travelling north-eastwards to take advantage of the markets at Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds, then south along the route of the A1 to London. During the journey the men would have stopped off at a number of places now called Little London, marked by white flags on a red background. Other stopping places are now noted by the name 'Coldharbour' of which there are many across the country.
This route is only a suggestion and not taken from any definitive evidence, although the use of the ancient A5, A44 and A1 routes is acknowledged. [2]