ARCHAEOLOGISTS have discovered that some of the people buried at St Patrick’s Chapel in the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park may have been contemporaries of St David.

A three-week-long excavation on the site at Whitesands Bay revealed the Medieval place of worship was not the earliest use of the site, and that remains discovered below the cemetery may date back into prehistory.

Some of the Christian burials uncovered during this third and final year of the dig are from the early 6th century AD, when St David – now Wales’ patron saint – was a bishop.

Phil Bennett, Cultural Heritage Manager for the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority which supported the dig, said: “Without doubt some of the people buried in St Patrick’s Chapel would have been contemporaries of St David – they might even have known him.

“They were not necessarily compatriots though. Research by the University of Sheffield on skeletons from similar sites in Pembrokeshire revealed that some of the people buried in them were not local but came from Ireland and continental Europe. Initial results from St Patrick’s Chapel suggest a similar pattern, making Whitesands Bay rather cosmopolitan.”

The excavation was carried out to avoid archaeology being lost forever to the sea, after winter storms in 2014 exposed graves. Since the first dig, the remains of almost 100 skeletons have been excavated.

Hundreds of people attended guided tours during the excavation, which was led by Dyfed Archaeological Trust and included a team of dedicated volunteers. It was funded by Cadw (Welsh Government), the Nineveh Charitable Trust and the University of Sheffield.

Ken Murphy, Director of Dyfed Archaeological Trust, said: “Many of the graves uncovered were those of children and were touchingly decorated with sea shells and shiny quartz pebbles. Two of the children’s grave stones had crosses scratched onto them. You can picture the tenderness felt by those involved with the burial.

“Two of the skeletons were buried face down – were they criminals? If so, they were still given Christian burials on consecrated ground.

“This excavation has given us some really important information about the lives, beliefs and practices of people living in Wales over 1,000 years ago.”

The chapel, from where St Patrick is said to have set sail for Ireland in the 5th century AD, was a ruin over 400 years ago but its location has never been forgotten.

The site has been back-filled and re-turfed, but the work of analysing the results of the excavation is only just beginning and will take several years to complete.