Severe damage was done to the church in 1400 during the rebellion of Owain Glyndŵr, during the English Civil War when it was overrun by Parliamentarian troops, and during the Great Storm of 1703.

In January 1941, during the Cardiff Blitz of the Second World War, the cathedral was severely damaged by a parachute mine that blew the roof off the nave, south aisle and chapter house.

The work done on the church since World War II is primarily of concrete and Pennant sandstone, and the roofs, of Welsh slate and lead, were added during the post-war rebuilding.

The cathedral contains a number of notable tombs, including Dubricius, a 6th-century British saint who evangelised Ergyng (now Archenfield) and much of South-East Wales; Meurig ap Tewdrig, King of Gwent; Teilo, a 6th-century Welsh clergyman, church founder and saint; and many Bishops of Llandaff, from the 7th-century Oudoceus to the 19th-century Alfred Ollivant, who was bishop from 1849 to 1882.

Welsh tradition associates the church's founding with Lucius, the legendary 2nd-century King of the Britons and the first Christian convert in Britain.

The Welsh Triads relate this tradition to Llandaff, stating that Lucius "made the first Church at Llandaf, which was the first in the Isle of Britain."

Although the Lucius legend is now considered to be pseudo-history, it was recounted by Nennius, Bede and Geoffrey of Monmouth, and seems to have been widely accepted in the medieval period.

[2] Four names are associated with the task of executing the Pope's wishes; these include the early Welsh saints Fagan, Deruvian and Elvan.

[13][c] After the death of Urban, it is believed the work was completed some time in the last years of Bishop Nicholas ap Gwrgant, who died in 1183.

De Abergavenny also made changes to Llandaff's episcopal seal, giving more detail to the figure of the bishop depicted on it and adding the phrase "by the grace of God" to its inscription.

Sir David ap Mathew was appointed "Grand Standard Bearer of England", by King Edward IV, for saving his life at the Battle of Towton 1461 during the Wars of the Roses.

[39][40][h] Also during this time of unrest, a man named Milles, who claimed to be a practising Puritan, appropriated portions of the cathedral for his own gain.

Milles set up a tavern in the cathedral, used part of it as a stable, turned the choir area into a pen for his calves and used the font as a trough for his pigs.

[47] Wood produced an Italian temple[48] style edifice, working only on the eastern portion of the building, while leaving the remaining western half in ruins.

[60] The restoration done up to this point was to remove all traces of the Italian temple and to repair damages caused by the attempt to transform the cathedral by Wood.

The Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) and John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute were among those who pledged donations sufficient to allow the restoration work to continue immediately.

[82] The Welch Regiment Memorial Chapel was constructed,[70] and Jacob Epstein created the figure of Christ in Majesty which is raised above the nave on a concrete arch designed by George Pace.

[93] Construction began of a grander building under the orders of the second Norman bishop of Llandaff, Urban, in the 1120s, to administer power over the newly formed diocese.

The fine craftsmanship and subtlety of the architecture show a clear similarity to those of Glastonbury Abbey and Wells Cathedral, so it is probable that several of the leading craftsman of Somerset were hired for the building.

[96] Together with London-based John Pollard Seddon, who was able to hire pre-Raphaelite artists Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Thomas Woolner, extensive developments were made.

[96] In 1941, a parachute mine exploded near the south aisle of the cathedral, resulting in the roof of the nave collapsing and the shattering of the windows.

Charles Nicholson was hired to rebuild the roof, and made the decision to remove the altarpiece that Rossetti had added to the north aisle.

In 1949, Nicholson was replaced with George Pace of York, who in coordination with the dean at the time, Glyn Simon, saw a number of improvements in the modern style, though many fittings were clearly still influenced by the Gothic.

The West front of the cathedral is gabled along its length and contains the grand central doorway, higher in level than the floor of the nave.

[87] The south side of the nave is characterised by eight bays with stepped buttresses between them, with aisle windows featuring reticulated heads.

It dates to the mid 13th century[97] and is made from Chipping Campden and Bath limestone, with some local red sandstone from Radyr.

[81] The cathedral has a ring of twelve bells (with an additional "flat sixth", to make thirteen in total) hung for change-ringing, located in the Jasper tower.

[104] In December 2013, five days before Christmas, the cathedral chapter announced that all salaried adult members of the choir (altos, tenors and basses) were being made redundant, along with the assistant organist.

[110][112] It received significant renovations by its builders after wartime damage to the cathedral; it was never entirely satisfactory from this point onwards,[110][113] even before a 2007 lightning strike made it unusable.

[91][108] Originally it had been planned to install a new organ at that time, but the costs of about £1,000,000 were deemed to be too high in the austere climate of post-war Britain.