Wales from the Air (2): Origins and Conquest

BBC Documentary from the 1960s

Religion - A Welsh Passion with very deep roots...

In the Bronze Age Wales was sacred ground. 1500 years later, Welsh Druids led Celtic Europe against the Romans. When the Romans left Britain, Wales became a land of Saints, sending Patrick to Ireland and keeping David at home.

Dewi Sant - St David built his church here in the 6th century. He built it in a hollow to be out of sight from the Pirates and Vikings on the Irish Sea.

While the rest of Britain reeled under the Saxon onslaught, Christianity spread like wildfire through the land of Wales.

St Govan's chapel is a 13th century example built on a cliff-encircled site in Pembrokeshire. The current chapel was built in the 13th Century but is said to have been built on the site of the original hermitage built here by St Govan in the 6th Century. Legend says if any man fleeing from unjust persecution comes here, the rocks will close around him to protect him.

The first step in the isolation of the Welsh was a spiritual one that started in AD 602 when the Welsh Bishops were summoned to meet St Augustine at Orph. When they went to meet him, he made the mistake of not rising in greeting so the Welsh called off the conference and went back to Wales.

No doubt they would do exactly the same today, but St Augustine would probably get worse coverage in the press today for his less than respecful stance.