The church was subject to 11 Viking attacks between 9, seven of which occurred between 10. By the 11th century St Davids was an established pilgrimage centre. Evidence for the cult in Wales is seen in the vernacular poem of around 930, Armes Prydein, and in the late 11th-century Life of David. The cult of St David became known in Wessex around that time. In 885 King Alfred of Wessex invited Asser of St Davids to join his intellectual circle, testifying to the importance of St Davids as a place of learning. Latin annals were compiled at St Davids from the 8th century onwards. The site has a tradition of `nawdd? (sanctuary) and is thought to have been the location of the location of the early medieval St Davids Monastery, dating from from at least the 7th century. A number of springs and wells lie close to the walls, including the now-destroyed St Mary's well (NPRN 423503), whose site is some 20m east of the external east wall, and Pistyll Dewi (NPRN 423501), which reportedly lay close by, within the east enclosure wall. The close, its present form dating chiefly to the 13th and 14th centuries, may at least partially reflect an earlier enclosure ? the names of some of its entries possibly preserving the locations of early medieval entries. St David's Cathedral is situated within a large rectilinear walled enclosure known as The Close, dissected by the River Alun which is fed by a number of streams and springs to the north and east of the site.
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