St. David's Priory is the oldest Roman Catholic Church in Swansea. It replaced an earlier church building that had been established c1808. Father Charles Kavanagh (d.1856) built the new church of St. David's in 1847 as well as the Catholic school adjoining St. David's. St. David's was enlarged and in 1864 a new presbytery was built. Most of the parishioners came from the Greenhill area and it became essential to build a church there and in 1866 St. Joseph's church opened. In 1873 the parish was taken over by the monastic Order of Saint Benedict, and St. David's Church was elevated to the status of a Missionary Priory. In 1875 St. Joseph's became an independent Mission and a larger new church was opened in 1888. Today the mission is divided into two districts, St. David's which is responsible for Catholics in the area south of Croft and Thomas Street and St. Joseph's that is responsible for the Catholics north of this line.

This collection contains a wealth of material for a variety of different types of research. Documents include:
  • Parochial registers, 1808-1982
  • Church service records, 1862-1982
  • Financial records, 1876-1973
  • Church fabric records, c.1808-1960
  • Parochial memoranda and miscellanea (including material relating to the history of the Roman Catholic Church in Swansea and South Wales), c.1808-1985
  • St. David's School records, 1855-c.1983
  • Material relating to daughter churches including St. Joseph's Church (Greenhill), 1870-1945, St. Illtyd's Church and School (Danygraig), c.1870-1953, and St Benedicts (Sketty), 1921-1936