ABSTRACT
The circumstances of the diocese in 1660 had deteriorated since the 1640s, including the depredations of the Reformation. In the diocese of St. David, the cathedral had been despoiled, and with it all the structures of episcopal government. Thomas Richards identified 51 pluralist clergy in the post-restoration St. David's diocese. The first post-restoration bishop, William Lucy, owed his appointment to St. David's diocese in 1660 to his staunch support of the royalist and ecclesiastical causes during the Commonwealth. Lucy entered a diocese that was almost ruined: episcopal administration had ceased in 1640, and the conditions of the cathedral at St. David, the collegiate church at Brecon and the Bishop's Palace at Abergwili were very poor following the depredations of the Interregnum. Lucy also spent 1,500 Euros on repairs to houses at St. David. Lucy's successor in 1677 was William Thomas, who had been educated at Carmarthen and previously been precentor of St. David.
