The Church of St David, Colva, HR5 3RA
2.30pm Saturday July 19th, 2025
This is a fundraising event for St David’s Church; please join us to learn about its history and that of Colva from local people. Parking available in the field opposite. Refreshments will be provided.
If you would like to see what a medieval village church was really like then a visit to the Grade II* listed St David’s is certainly worth your while.
At some 380 metres high up in the beautiful Radnorshire hills, St David’s is one of the highest churches in Wales. The current building dates back to the 13th century and it is believed there was an earlier Celtic church on the site.
Set within a remote sheep farming community St David’s lies on an old drovers’ road between Gladestry and Glascwm. The views from the churchyard over the valley are stunning and visitors come from far and wide to appreciate the beautiful setting and enchanting atmosphere.
There are fragmentary wall paintings and texts on the walls; these had been whitewashed over and were only discovered in the 1980s and although they are now much abraded they are extremely rare. The illustrations are thought to be very early (13th century) and the texts likely 16th century painted over earlier illustrations. Some words can still be deciphered.
The above is likely from the Apostles’ Creed.
There is much to see inside the church including the 18th century bells, a font dated 1200, a rare inscribed funeral byre, some fine wall memorials, a painted coat of arms board dated 1733 and of course the remnants of medieval wall paintings. The churchyard contains some very old gravestones; the oldest still legible is dated 1703. Parish records exist from 1666 and transcripts of the list of burials can be viewed in the church together with a transcript of all of the memorial inscriptions. The later parish records show the status and domicile of those buried and this provides a fascinating social document.
Colva Farm, next to the church, was formerly the Sun Inn and would have been patronised by drovers driving black Welsh cattle from Cardiganshire and Carmarthenshire to Hereford and London markets.
The Sun Inn was also visited by the famous Victorian Clergyman Francis Kilvert en route from Clyro. During the last ten years of his life Kilvert kept the diary that is an unique description of life in mid-Victorian times. It also contains many references to his beloved Radnorshire Hills. He stopped at the Sun Inn for refreshment and visited the church which he described as a ‘‘poor humble dear little white-washed church sequested among its large ancient yews.’
The photograph shows John Davies and his sister Bessie, we think around 1900. They are likely descendants of the Davies who served as churchwardens and are mentioned on the Coat of Arms Board and funeral byre. We will hear about what it was like living at Colva Farm from one of its inhabitants.
On 18th April 1912 the pioneer aviator Denys Corbett Wilson made an emergency landing on Well Field, Pentwyn, Colva. People came from far and wide to see the flying machine, a Blériot XI.
Three days later he was on his way to be the first to fly across the sea from Britain to Ireland.
To celebrate the centenary, the current occupier of Pentwyn, with the help of many friends, built a full size mock up of the plane (made out of willow and string and young ash saplings) and had an Edwardian party in April 2012 to mark the centenary of the day he took off.
We will hear the story of Denys Corbett Wilson from the maker of the replica plane who still lives at Pentwyn.
