St David's Church

As late as 1824, the parish church, St Mary's, Llanaber was the only Anglican place of worship in the area. At that time, the numbers of tourists and visitors was increasing and the Rector, Rev. T G Roberts, saw the necessity of building a new church for the English worshippers. So, in 1824, he convened a vestry meeting of the Churchwardens and the most influential church people of the district to discuss the advisability of erecting a Chapel of Ease. It was resolved to apply to the Bishop of Bangor for his permission, but the bishop only gave his assent on the condition that the cost of the building should be defrayed by voluntary subscription. The rector accomplished this task having…

These efforts on behalf of the church were rewarded and on 4 December 1830 Reverend Roberts was able to submit a plan and particulars of the proposed sanctuary. The church designed by Edward Haycock of Shrewsbury is a neat Cruciform structure built in the later style of English architecture and contains accommodation for 470 people of which 230 places were to be free, in consideration of a grant of £300 from the Incorporated Society for Building and Repairing Churches and Chapels. The church was built at the southern end of Barmouth, on a site that was formerly a ship building yard. At the time of the erection of the church there was a great deal of opposition to the site; the opposing…