The plaque at the northern end of the Pembrokeshire Coast PathAnother view of the abbey ruinsThe Teifi estuary at St Dogmaels, with Gwbert in the background
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 Dogmael (Dogfael), with ‘mael’ (prince) and ‘tud’ (land or people of) being added to Dog/doch as in Dog mael and Tud doch.[4] It is the current standard usage not to have a full-stop after the 'St' or an apostrophe in 'Dogmaels'.[5]
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 marcherborough. George Owen of Henllys, in 1603, described it as one of five Pembrokeshire boroughs overseen by a portreeve.[6] The parish appeared (as Sct. Dogmels) on a 1578 parish map of Pembrokeshire.[7]
In the 1830s, the population of the parish was 2,109,[8] and it was subdivided into four hamlets: Cippyn, Abbey, Pant-y-groes and Bridgend.[9] In 1832, the Bridgend and Abbey hamlets were included in the Cardigan constituency.[10] The constituency boundary was subsequently also adopted for the municipal borough of Cardigan in 1836.[11] Under the Local Government Act 1888, boroughs were no longer allowed to straddle county boundaries and so the borough of Cardigan was placed entirely in Cardiganshire, leaving St Dogmaels village and parish split between the two counties.[12] The 19th century boundary changes were partially reversed in 2003; the Bridgend area remained in Ceredigion (as Cardiganshire had become), but the rest of the old parish of St Dogmaels was reunited as a single community in Pembrokeshire.[2][13][14]
There are more than 30 listed buildings[15] in the parish, including the parish church,[16] the abbey[17] and the mediaeval flour mill, Y Felin.[18]
The northern end of the Pembrokeshire Coast Path is often regarded as being at Poppit Sands, near St. Dogmaels, where the official plaque was originally sited[20] but the path now continues to St. Dogmaels,[21][22] where a new marker was unveiled in July 2009.[23] Here the path links with the Ceredigion Coast Path, which continues northwards as part of the Wales Coast Path.[24]
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.[25]
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.[26]
Notable people
Joseph Harris (1773–1825), was born at Llan-ty-ddewi, St. Dogmells. He was a Welsh Baptist minister, author, journal editor and a Welsh language poet. He took the Biblical name of Gomer as his bardic name.[27]
Rhodri Thomas (born 1942), born in St Dogmaels, a Welsh former first-class cricketer.
