The Pembrokeshire part of a €175,000 public art project got St Davids buzzing last Friday.
Do the Little Things, three giant wooden skeps (medieval beehives) were unveiled in the grounds of St Davids Cathedral as part of the Ancient Connections project, celebrating the shared history of Pembrokeshire and County Wexford in Ireland.
The Skeps, which are considerably larger than real beehives but will house colonies of bees next spring, were the brainchild of north Walian artist Bedwyr Williams. Bedwyr represented Wales in the prestigious Venice Biennale in 2013 and was awarded the Derek Williams Trust prize in Artes Mundi in 2016.
The skeps were inspired by the legend of St David and St Aiden and the bees, where the bees that St Aiden tended followed him to his ship as he prepared to embark to Ireland to continue his mission.
He returned the bees to St David only for them to follow him once more as he returned to the ship. Again he returned the bees to the monastery. The third time that they followed him, David let Aiden take the bees with him to Ireland where they produced an abundance of honey.
“It seemed like a hare-brained idea when I first thought of it,” said Bedwyr.
However, the more he researched it the more the pieces fell into place; St Davids is Wales’ first bee friendly city, there are colonies of wild bees that live in the grounds of the cathedral and National Theatre Wales recently completed a bee related public theatre project in Pembrokeshire.
“I felt like I had struck gold,” said Bedwyr.
The skeps were made from Canadian cedarwood by a theatre fabrication company in Liverpool. They were installed in the grounds of St Davids last week. Three identical skeps will be installed at Ferns Cathedral in County Wexford in spring 2023.
In the spring the the St Davids skeps will have bees, currently living in another hive near St Davids, installed and it is hoped that some honey will be produced this summer.
The hives are anticipated to be at full production the following summer and the honey will be sold in the cathedral in jars with labels designed by local school children.
The hives in Ferns will also produce honey for sale and it is hoped that there will be honey exchanges between the two communities.
Bedwyr thanked members of the community, especially the beekeepers, including Gayle Twitchen of St Davids wildflower honey, who will take over the honey production and look after the bees in the skeps.
“It’s all very well artists having clever ideas,” he said. “But unless you can find people to help you implement them it’s all pie in the sky.”
Ancient Connections' Ruth Jones added:
"Ancient Connections is delighted to be able to present this publicly after two years of planning. We are very fortunate to have engaged an artist such as Bedwyr, who lives in Wales and is highly regarded internationally.
"Delivering a piece of public art always comes hand in hand with challenges. We are extremely grateful to our partners at Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority and the Dean and staff at St Davids Cathedral, who have given their invaluable support and enthusiasm to the project and helped us navigate through every obstacle to realise this project."
Do The Little Things will also mark the beginning and end of the new pilgrim route between St Davids Cathedral and St Edans Cathedral in Ferns - another legacy of the Ancient Connections project. The Wexford-Pembrokeshire Pilgrim Way will encourage low impact tourism in both regions and will open to the public in 2023.
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