St Non's Chapel & Holy Well

The clifftop birthplace of St David — a ruined chapel, a holy well that still gets offerings, and one of the finest short walks from the city.

Tradition — old, specific and stubborn — says St David was born here, on this clifftop, in a storm, around the year 500. What stands now is a small ruined chapel in a field above St Non's Bay, a holy well whose water was credited with cures for centuries (coins still glint in it), and a modern retreat chapel nearby. As a place it out-punches its stones: sea, cliff, well, story.

It's a twenty-minute walk from St Davids — leaving the city by Goat Street and returning past Caerfai Bay makes a perfect free hour, and the Coast Path stage from Solva passes directly through. Free, open always, and best at the golden end of the day when the coast light does the preaching.

Pair with the cathedral for the full David story, birth to shrine — and see more free days out.