St. Dogmaels' Timeline
The timeline below is extracted from a much more detailed timeline produced by St.Dogmaels' historian, Glen Johnson in 2009. The full timeline can be viewed as a PDF on the "About Us" page of the website. Glen has extensively researched information contained within books he has already produced about the area. These are available for sale at the Coach House Visitors Centre.
- Around 7000BC – A flint axe was lost at Cemaes Head, where it was rediscovered nearly 9000 years later.
- Around 424 – The cell of St. Dogfael was founded – probably in Cwm Degwell.
- 988 – St Dogmaels was raided by Vikings.
- 1091 – The Battle of Llandudoch – Rhys ap Tewdwr defeated Gruffydd ap Maredudd.
- 1113 – Robert fitz Martin, new Norman ruler of Cemaes, established St Dogmaels Abbey, initially as a Priory, with 13 monks from Tiron.
- 1118 – A further 13 monks arrived from Tiron to raise St Dogmaels Priory to Abbey status.
- 10/09/1121 – Formal establishment of the Abbey of St Mary at St Dogmaels – Fulchard was enthroned as the first Abbot.
- 1138 – Danish mercenaries hired to attack Cardigan, instead ransacked and looted St Dogmaels.
- 1188 – Gerald de Barri (Geraldus Cambrensis) and Archbishop Baldwin visited the Abbey while recruiting for the Third Crusade.
- 1349 – The Black Death reaches St Dogmaels, possibly killing as much as a third of the population.
- 04/05/1388 – The Archbishop of Canterbury visited the Abbey.
- January 1402 – Guy, Bishop of St David’s, visited the Abbey and accused Abbot Philip Fader of keeping a monastery of drunk, gluttonous and lecherous monks.
- 1504 – The Bishop visited the Abbey and found the monks well-behaved and the North Transept recently elaborately restored.
- 1537 – The Abbey of St Mary was closed by Henry VIII and sold to John Bradshaw for conversion into a mansion.
- 1537 – The Parish Church of St Thomas the Apostle was probably moved to the present site.
- 1619 – William Bradshaw had a corn mill built or rebuilt – possibly the site of Y Felin.
- 1662 – John Vaughan was ejected as Vicar of St Dogmaels owing to his Nonconformity.
- 1769 – The ‘White Hart’ was trading by this date.
- 1776 – The 25 ton smack ‘Providence’ was the first recorded ship built at St Dogmaels.
- 1790 – St Dogmaels National (Church) School was founded.
- 1825 – Y Felin was largely rebuilt.
- 1830 – Tivy Stores warehouse (Jewsons) was built to designs by Daniel Evans.
- 1839 – Work began on the building of the Cardigan Union Workhouse.
- 1848-52 – The parish Church of St. Thomas the Apostle was rebuilt to designs by A Ashpitel.
- 1849 – The first lifeboat arrived at St Dogmaels – Captain George Bowen was the first coxswain.
- 1866 – The Vicarage and Coach House were built with stone from the abbey ruins.
- 1868 – St Dogmaels Board School was built.
- 1917 – Closure of Cambrian Mills, Teifi Stores.
- 1926 – Regular production ceased at Y Felin Mill.
- 1935 – The Workhouse closed.
- 1959 – St Dogmaels was ‘Pembrokeshire’s Best Kept Village’.
- 1964 – Alun Owen of Penally wrote the screenplay of ‘A Hard Day’s Night’.
- 1977-81 – Y Felin was restored to full working order.
- 1994 – A landslip affected the Cwmmins area.
- 2002-03 – Large extensions were added to Ysgol Llandudoch School.
- 2006 – The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall visited St Dogmaels.
- 2008 – Coach House Visitor’s Centre opened.
