St Govan's Head - St Govan's Chapel

On St Govan's Head, near Bosherton. St. Govan's Chapel is a small medieval church clinging to the ragged rock halfway down the cliffs of a secluded headland. It is difficult to imagine a more strikingly situated church in all of Britain. St. Govan was a sixth century hermit who established a cell for himself on this lonely spot, in the fashion of early Celtic Christian monks, who tended to live in isolated places. Legends sprang up about the saint, and about the curative properties of the natural spring which used to rise just inside the door of the chapel.

During the medieval period the holy well and cell became a place of pilgrimage for cripples seeking a cure, and the original cell was rebuilt as a small chapel in the 13th century. The chapel is a very simple rectangular building with a steeply pitched roof and bellcote. Access is by way of 52 stone steps from the top of the cliffs.

Legend has it that the chapel was founded when St. Govan hid in a rocky fissure of the cliff to escape from pirates. A further legend states that King Arthur's knight Sir Gawain lies buried beneath the stone altar of the chapel.

St. Govan's Chapel is contained within the Pembrokeshire National Park, and the Pembrokeshire Coast National Trail runs along the nearby cliffs. The area is far enough off the beaten track that even today it retains an air of secluded beauty.