An Elegant Georgian Gothic Quadrangle: The Royal Charter of 1828

There are two foundation stones to what began life as St David’s College, Lampeter, in the reign of King George IV (1820–30): one literal and the other metaphorical. The literal stone is that which was laid – with modified Masonic ceremony – by Thomas Burgess, Bishop of St Davids and Canon of Durham, on 12 August 1822, the king’s birthday. The metaphorical stone is the Royal Charter, granted by the king on 6 February 1828, nearly a year after the first students had been admitted, though the building was not then quite complete. The site of the college, on the outskirts