St. David's Episcopal Church, also known as St. David's at Radnor or Old St. David's, is a parish of the Episcopal Church located at 763 South Valley Forge Road in

Radnor Township, Pennsylvania Radnor Township, often called simply Radnor, is a township (Pennsylvania), first class township with Home Rule Municipality (Pennsylvania), home rule status in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. Radnor Township is part of the famed P ...

. The church property contains the original church built in 1715, a chapel, church offices, school and cemetery. The property straddles the borders of Radnor Township and Newtown Township in Delaware County and the majority of the cemetery is in Easttown Township, Chester County. It was founded c. 1700 in the

Welsh Tract The Welsh Tract, also called the Welsh Barony, was a portion of the Province of Pennsylvania, a British colony in North America (today a U.S. state), settled largely by Welsh-speaking Quakers in the late 17th century. The region is located to the ...

section of the

Province of Pennsylvania The Province of Pennsylvania, also known as the Pennsylvania Colony, was a British North American colony founded by William Penn, who received the land through a grant from Charles II of England in 1681. The name Pennsylvania was derived from ...

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, of or about Wales * Welsh language, spoken in Wales * Welsh people, an ethnic group native to Wales Places * Welsh, Arkansas, U.S. * Welsh, Louisiana, U.S. * Welsh, Ohio, U.S. * Welsh Basin, during t ...

settlers and has grown to be the largest congregation in the

Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania The Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania is a diocese of the Episcopal Church of the United States, encompassing the counties of Philadelphia, Montgomery, Bucks, Chester, and Delaware in the state of Pennsylvania. The diocese has 36,641 members ...

with approximately 3,000 members. The original church and cemetery were placed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1978.

History

Founding

After the establishment of the

in the

colony of Pennsylvania The Province of Pennsylvania, also known as the Pennsylvania Colony, was a British North American colony founded by William Penn, who received the land through a grant from Charles II of England in 1681. The name Pennsylvania was derived from ...

, the area was settled by numerous emigrants from

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, particularly Welsh

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestantism, Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally ...

, although

Welsh people The Welsh () are an ethnic group and nation native to Wales who share a common ancestry, History of Wales, history and Culture of Wales, culture. Wales is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. The majority of people living in Wa ...

of other faiths, drawn by Pennsylvania's

religious toleration Religious tolerance or religious toleration may signify "no more than forbearance and the permission given by the adherents of a dominant religion for other religions to exist, even though the latter are looked on with disapproval as inferior, ...

and the opportunity to conduct their affairs in their own language, settled the area as well. In those days, life on the frontier saw exercise of religious beliefs in a limited way (frequently without houses of worship or clergy), which became a concern to many. The

Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts United Society Partners in the Gospel (USPG) is a United Kingdom-based charitable organisation (registered charity no. 234518). It was first incorporated under Royal Charter in 1701 as the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Pa ...

, in London, sent the Welsh

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

Rev. Evan Evans to the area as a circuit missionary. He began holding fortnightly services in private houses, including that of William Davis in the area known as Radnor, in the southern part of the Welsh Tract, starting November, 1700. The first mention of a church is in 1700 with historical records mentioning a church made of logs at the location of the current old stone church which was intended to also be used as a shelter against potential attacks from native Americans. In 1708,

John Oldmixon John Oldmixon (1673 – 9 July 1742) was an English historian. He was a son of John Oldmixon of Oldmixon, Weston-super-Mare in Somerset. He was brought up by the family of Admiral Robert Blake in Bridgwater and later became involved in tr ...

in his book ''The British Empire in America'' noted that After Rev. Evans' departure, the Welsh-speaking Anglicans of Radnor sent the Society a 100-signature petition requesting a shipment of Welsh-language prayer books and Bibles, and especially requesting another Welsh-speaking missionary. A complete response was apparently slow in coming; ten years later, upon meeting their new leader, the parishioners "heartily engaged themselves to build a handsome stone church to be named after the

Patron Saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...

of Wales". The cornerstone of the new building was laid on May 9, 1715. In an unusual expression of solidarity between denominations, several other clergymen assisted with the laying of the foundation, including Pastor Andreas Sandel of Old Swedes Church in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. A floor was not added to the church until 1765. The building still stands, and seats 100 in old-fashioned box pews; the current organ is not original, having been built in 1952. An early pastor, the Rev. John Clubb, who served from about 1707 to 1715, and later the Rev. Robert Weyman, who served during the 1720s, were paid by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts and shared duties between St. David's and

Old Trinity Church Old Trinity Church, also known as Trinity Church, Oxford, is a historic Episcopal Church (United States), Episcopal church established in 1696 located in Oxford Township, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, Oxford Township, Pennsylvania, which is ...

, located about 20 miles to the east in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

Revolutionary and Federal periods

With the coming of the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

in the colonies, a wave of resentment against the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

(which professed loyalty to the

king King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

) arose among the congregation. A leader of this opposition was

Anthony Wayne Anthony Wayne (January 1, 1745 – December 15, 1796) was an American soldier, officer, statesman, and a Founding Father of the United States. He adopted a military career at the outset of the American Revolutionary War, where his military expl ...

, a lifelong member of St. David's who was later appointed major general of the American forces. The rector, the Rev. William Currie, bound by his oath of duty to the king, resigned his position, which remained officially vacant for 12 years (Rev. Currie performed marriages, baptisms, and the like privately until at least 1783). During the war, no services were held in the church. The church building provided shelter for soldiers of both sides and

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies representing the Thirteen Colonies and later the United States during the American Revolutionary War. It was formed on June 14, 1775, by a resolution passed by the Second Continental Co ...

soldiers cut the lead out of the windows of the church to use as bullets. After the nearby

Battle of Brandywine The Battle of Brandywine, also known as the Battle of Brandywine Creek, was fought between the American Continental Army of General George Washington and the British Army of General Sir William Howe on September 11, 1777, as part of the Am ...

, sixteen British soldiers were buried in the cemetery at St. David's. While St. David's left the organization of the Church of England, it remained in the

Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is a Christian Full communion, communion consisting of the Church of England and other autocephalous national and regional churches in full communion. The archbishop of Canterbury in England acts as a focus of unity, ...

, and the church was represented at the first General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States in 1784, after the peace treaty was signed. The church was formally incorporated and chartered in August 1792. A church school was organized in 1820. The first confirmation services were conducted by Bishop William White, who became the first Presiding Bishop. The first physical addition to the church holdings was the fieldstone "Old Rectory" in 1844.

Suburbanization

After the construction of the " main line" of the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad ( reporting mark PRR), legal name as the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, also known as the "Pennsy," was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At its ...

in 1832, the once-isolated community began to evolve more rapidly, particularly after the railroad built local stations and offered frequent train service in the Philadelphia area. One of the way stations on the Main Line was named St. Davids for the church (the station is approximately 3 miles/4 km from the church), and a community of the same name grew up around the station. The community has no post office of its own, and is served by the nearby Wayne post office. As Philadelphians began to live outside the city in the late 19th century, the church's parishioners became more suburban. As the congregation grew, the parish expanded accordingly. A parish house (office building), with church school facilities, was built in 1924 and enlarged in 1950. Further growth of the congregation led to heated discussion over whether the parish should accommodate a burgeoning membership or retain its early character; this was resolved by the 1956 construction of a new worship building, several times the size of the original church. On October 13, 1947, a Pennsylvania Historical Marker was placed at St. David's Church to recognize the historical importance of the site. The old church built in 1715 and cemetery were placed on the

on September 20, 1978. A separate building was built for Sunday school classes in 1965, the year the parish celebrated its 250th anniversary at a service attended by the

Bishop of St David's The Bishop of St Davids is the ordinary of the Church in Wales Diocese of St Davids. The succession of bishops stretches back to Saint David who in the 6th century established his seat in what is today the city of St Davids in ...

in Wales. The building is named the Knewstub Building for a former rector of the parish. Continued growth of the congregation rendered the chapel too small by the time it was 50 years old. A new, larger chapel, seating 650, was constructed adjacent to the old one in 2006. A three-manual, 48-stop, mechanical action organ was installed in 2007. The old chapel, its pews, etc., removed, is now named St. David's Hall, hosting receptions after services and other church-related activities, and serving as a connector between the new chapel and the parish offices. The church grounds lie at the intersection of three

townships A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

and two

counties A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

. The old church building, along with a small portion of the graveyard, is located in Newtown Township, Delaware County; the chapel and offices are located in Radnor Township, Delaware County; and most of the graveyard is in Easttown Township, Chester County.

Longfellow poem

The poet

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include the poems " Paul Revere's Ride", '' The Song of Hiawatha'', and '' Evangeline''. He was the first American to comp ...

visited St. David's during the Centennial celebrations in Philadelphia, 1876, as the guest of George Childs who lived nearby. Longfellow and his family ended up spending much of the summer that year with Childs and his family. In 1880, Longfellow composed the poem which was among his last works. Struck by the peace and quiet of "this little church among its graves", he composed a poem about it: "Old St. David's at Radnor", which was published later that same year in the collection '' Ultima Thule''. The poem refers to another poet, Welshman

George Herbert George Herbert (3 April 1593 – 1 March 1633) was an English poet, orator, and priest of the Church of England. His poetry is associated with the writings of the metaphysical poets, and he is recognised as "one of the foremost British devotio ...

, and the small

Bemerton Bemerton, once a rural hamlet and later a civil parish to the west of Salisbury, Wiltshire, England, is now a suburb of that city. Modern-day Bemerton has areas known as Bemerton Heath, Bemerton Village and Lower Bemerton. History In 1086, th ...

church of which he was rector.

Historic Structures

The "old" church building, constructed 1715, was added to or modified a number of times, in 1767, 1771, 1786, 1813, 1830, and 1907. These modifications included the relocation of the altar, the addition of an enclosed stair to the choir loft, the addition of a vestry room to the north, and the construction of an enclosure for the main entry door. A horse shed was built in 1850, and added to in 1871. ''Note:'' This includes The horse shed has since been demolished. These structures were recorded in the

Historic American Buildings Survey The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

. Numerous photographs were also taken.

Graveyard

Notable burials at St. David's include: * William W. Atterbury (1866–1935), Brigadier General in World War I, and President of the

1925–35 *

Rose Bampton Rose Bampton (November 28, 1907 in Lakewood, Ohio – August 21, 2007 in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania) was an American opera singer who had an active international career during the 1930s and 1940s. She began her professional career performing mostly m ...

(1907–2007), opera singer *

Wilfrid Pelletier Joseph Louis Wilfrid Pelletier (sometimes spelled Wilfred), (20 June 1896 – 9 April 1982) was a Canadian conductor, pianist, composer, and arts administrator. He was instrumental in establishing the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, serving ...

(1896-1982), Canadian conductor and pianist. Husband of

* George W. Pepper (1867–1961), U.S. Senator 1922–27 *

V. Gilpin Robinson V. Gilpin Robinson (August 21, 1851 - March 27, 1942) was an American lawyer and politician from Pennsylvania who served as a Republican member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for Delaware County from 1911 to 1913. Early life and ...

(1851–1942), Pennsylvania State Representative for Delaware County, 1911–13 *

Helen Hope Montgomery Scott Helen Hope Montgomery Scott (April 8, 1904 – January 9, 1995) was a socialite and philanthropist who '' Vanity Fair'' labeled "the unofficial queen of Philadelphia's WASP oligarchy." She was the inspiration for Tracy Lord in the Philip Barry's ...

(1904–1995), Socialite and philanthropist * Edward Lowber Stokes (1880–1964), US Congressman * Walter Stuempfig (1914-1970), American artist *

(1745–1796), Continental Army Brigadier general during the

* Isaac Wayne (1699–1774), member of the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly * Isaac Wayne (1772–1852) U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania, 1823–25 *

R. Norris Williams Richard Norris Williams II (January 29, 1891 – June 2, 1968), generally known as R. Norris Williams, was an American tennis player and passenger aboard . He survived the sinking of the ''Titanic''. He won the U.S. National Tennis Championsh ...

(1891–1968), professional tennis player and Olympic athlete The grave of American Revolutionary War General Anthony Wayne at St. David's is one of his two graves. He died during a return trip to Pennsylvania from a military post in Detroit. He was initially buried at

Fort Presque Isle Fort Presque Isle (also Fort de la Presqu'île) was a fort built by French soldiers in summer 1753 along Presque Isle Bay in present-day Erie, Pennsylvania, to protect the northern terminus of the Venango Path. It was the first of the French po ...

, Pennsylvania. His son, Isaac Wayne, disinterred the body in 1809 and had the corpse boiled to remove the flesh from the bones. The remaining flesh was reburied at Fort Presque Isle and the bones were placed into two saddlebags and relocated to the family plot in the St. David's graveyard. On June 5, 1811, The Pennsylvania State

Society of the Cincinnati The Society of the Cincinnati is a lineage society, fraternal, hereditary society founded in 1783 to commemorate the American Revolutionary War that saw the creation of the United States. Membership is largely restricted to descendants of milita ...

placed a monument in the cemetery to the memory of Anthony Wayne over the grave containing his bones.

Rectors

The missionaries (to 1714) and rectors (thereafter) of St. David's, with their years of service: * Evan Evans, D.D., 1700–1704 * John Clubb, ''ca.'' 1707–, 1714–1715 * Evan Evans, D.D., 1716–1718 * John Humphreys, 1718–1719 * Robert Weyman, 1719–1730 * Richard Backhouse, 1730–1732 *

Griffith Hughes The Reverend Griffith Hughes (1707 – c.1758), Royal Society, FRS, was a Welsh naturalist, clergyman, and author. Hughes wrote ''The Natural History of Barbados,'' which included the first description of the grapefruit (also known as "The Forbi ...

, 1732–1736 * William Currie 1737–1776 (officially), 1776–1785 (unofficially) * Slator Clay, 1786–1821 * Samuel Crawford Brinckle, 1818–1832 * Simon Wilmer, 1832–1833 * William Henry Rees, D.D., 1833–1838 * Willie Peck, 1838–1845 * Breed Batcheller, 1845–1847 * Thomas Greene Allen, 1847–1848 * John Albemarle Childs, D.D., 1848–1850 * Henry Brown, 1851–1855 * Richardson Graham, 1856–1861 * Thomas Green Clemson, Jr., 1861–1866 * William Frederick Halsey, 1866–1882 * George Alexander Keller, 1882–1902 * James Hart Lamb, D.D., 1902–1918 * William Cunningham Rodgers, D.D., 1919–1922 * Crosswell McBee, D.D., 1922–1945 * John Cecil Knewstub, 1945–1966 * Richard Walton Hess, 1967–1983 * Stephen Kent Jacobson, D.Min., 1984–1996 * W. Frank Allen, 1997–2023 * Devon Anderson (interim), 2024-2024 * Rick Morley, 2024-

References

Citations Sources * * *

External links

St. David’s Episcopal Church website
* " Old St. David's", a poem by

Florence Earle Coates Florence Van Leer Nicholson Coates ( Earle; July 1, 1850 – April 6, 1927) was an American poet whose prolific output was published in dozens of literary magazines, some of it set to music. She was mentored by the English poet Matthew Arnold, w ...

Video of the church and Longfellow’s poem
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Old St. David's at Radnor; read by

Grover Gardner Grover Gardner (b 1956) is an American narrator of audiobooks. As of May 2018, he has narrated over 1,200 books. He was the ''Publishers Weekly'' "Audiobook Narrator of the Year" (2005) and is among '' AudioFile'' magazine's "Best Voices of the Cen ...

. YouTube: West Production Services.
Google Street View

Old Saint David Church Cemetery
at Find A Grave * Th
St. David's Church (Radnor, Pa.) Records
spanning 300 years, are available for research use at the

Historical Society of Pennsylvania The Historical Society of Pennsylvania is a historic research facility headquartered on Locust Street in Center City Philadelphia. It is a repository for millions of historic items ranging across rare books, scholarly monographs, family chron ...

. *

(HABS) documentation, filed under Valley Forge Road (Newtown Township), Wayne, Delaware County, PA: ** ** ** {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Davids Episcopal Church, Radnor, Pennsylvania 1715 establishments in Pennsylvania 18th-century Episcopal church buildings 20th-century Episcopal church buildings Cemeteries in Delaware County, Pennsylvania Anglican cemeteries in the United States Cemeteries on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Churches completed in 1715 Churches in Delaware County, Pennsylvania Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Episcopal churches in Pennsylvania Historic American Buildings Survey in Pennsylvania National Register of Historic Places in Delaware County, Pennsylvania Radnor Township, Pennsylvania Welsh-American culture in Pennsylvania