In 1107 Bishop Herwald was succeeded by Urban, the first purely Norman bishop of
Llandaff. He was an active ecclesiastical reformer and an energetic builder, and
he proceeded to rebuild the Cathedral and re-dedicated it to the Roman Apostle St
Peter. This work began in April 1120 and it appears to have been cruciform in layout.
Llandaff itself became the centre of a Norman lordship, including Canton, Ely, Fairwater,
Llandaff North and Gabalfa. There was at times, friction between the adjacent lordships
of Llandaff and Cardiff, as each, in its own way, was of prime importance in the
Normanised parts of Glamorgan.
Until the nineteenth century restoration the Cathedral had no spire. But in the
13th century a campanile, or bell tower, was built on the village green, overlooking
The main residence of the Bishop of Llandaff during the Middle Ages was the Bishop’s
Castle, the picturesque shell of which stands at the southern end of The Green. It
was built about 1280 and may have served a military purpose. In 1404 it was thoroughly
sacked by Owain Glydwr and its appearance today is much as he left it.
The Archdeacon’s Castle was about half the size of the Bishop’s Castle and lay to
the north of the Cathedral. It is said to have been destroyed in 1404 and there
are no remains left.
In 1545 Bishop Kitchen was appointed. He leased and sold off much of the church’s
property during his tenancy with the result that Llandaff remained, until the nineteenth
century one of the poorest dioceses in Britain. He sold the manor of Llandaff to
Miles Mathew in 1553, which included his main manor house (where the Cathedral School
now stands) and land in Canton, Fairwater and Ely.