In the year l824  the Rector of Barmouth convened a vestry meeting  to discuss the building of a new church. The parish church was situated in Llanaber, more than a mile from the harbour and centre of town. Barmouth was fast becoming a favourite holiday place, and the need for a church to accommodate visitors and locals had become a priority for the Anglican community. The Bishop of Bangor was approached, and though agreeing with the idea, said that funds would have to be raised from voluntary subscription. The Rector T.G.Roberts, was determined to have his church, and immediately commenced fundraising. His hard work was rewarded when, in 1830, he submitted a plan by Edward Haycock, an architect from Shrewsbury, which was accepted and the church soon completed

St. David’s is built on an old shipbuilding yard (which was one of the main industries of Barmouth until the coming of the railway in 1867 ) There was a lot of opposition to the site as it stood right on the beach, the harbour wall not being built at the time, and for some years following there were problems from drifting sand. However with the building of a new harbour, (the old one being at Aberamfraw, beyond the bridge) at around the time of the coming of the railway, the problem of sand ceased.

For many years services were held in English in the mornings and Welsh in the evenings, but when St. John’s was built, in 1889, for the benefit of English holidaymakers, services were held in Welsh only. In later years they were changed to being bilingual, as they often are at present.

St. David’s is a neat cruciform structure, built in the later style of English architecture, completed in 1830, with other alterations added between 1886 and 1910 i.e. the door in the north transept, a new vestry and the organ pump room.

The church plate has been donated over the years by various local patrons, and the altar was constructed in 1880. The font formed of five stone centre columns, was donated by Margaret and Edmund Humphreys and family. The stained glass window behind the altar, was designed by Alex R.Gibbs of London in the 1880’s.