Maenclochog
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Maenclochog is the centre of a scattered community of moor-land farms and villages. Lively sheep and horse-fairs were once held on the green, attracting buyers and sellers from a wide area.
Nearby Rosebush once boasted an important slate quarrying industry, and a railway line was built to transport the slates away. Military activity in the area has mainly taken the form of annual training exercises on the Preseli moors, initially for Yeomanry troops who would arrive by train and set up their tented camp above Rosebush. Between April and June 1944 a large area of mountain and common land was requisitioned to enable British and American tank battalions to take part in top-secret Canal Defence Light (CDL) tank training exercises. These featured Grant tanks, each fitted with a very powerful carbon arc light which - it was intended -would be shone in the faces of enemy troops, blinding and disorientating them. It was envisaged that a line of such tanks could create a ‘wall of light’ behind which Allied troops could advance in safety.
Temporary camps were erected at various locations to house the servicemen, including Ty-grig, Rosebush (SN073 290) and Pant-bach, Rosebush (SN074 292). Apart from the remains of tank tracks criss-crossing the moors, little is now visible of these war-time activities.
(Image: April 1946 - US Camp site Ty-grig, Rosebush)
Goetty Mountain (SN068 290)
This is where the volunteer troops would set up camp in the early years of the 20th century. Some evidence of hut platforms has been discovered, probably dating from the First World War.
Cernydd, Maenclochog (SN090 273)
A field here was the site of a searchlight battery during WW2. The battery was housed in six or seven steel and concrete huts on concrete bases, protected by an earth bank to the west.
(Image: July 1946 - PY015 Maenclochog SL Bty, Cernydd)
Upper Blacknuck (SN073 275)
This was the site of a WW2 searchlight battery, although no trace of can now be seen. Upper Blacknuck was later the site of a Royal Observer Corps underground nuclear monitoring post (SN071 279). This chamber, 4.5m x 2.3m, was made of reinforced concrete and brick and was accessed by means of a steel ladder inside a vertical shaft, the shaft being covered by a hatch. The chamber was constructed in 1960 and its current condition is unknown.
(Image: Troops marching through Maenclochog)
Further reading
The Railways of Pembrokeshire by John Morris.
Locations of Interest
- Glan Syfynwy, Rosebush
- At various times during WW2 the railway line running across the remote Preseli moors was closed and used for target practice by the RAF and USAF. Back to map
- Maenclochog Railway Tunnel
- In 1943, the railway tunnel at Castell Forlan to the south-east of Maenclochog was bombed by a RAF in a training exercise. Back to map
Information from: Dyfed Archaeological Trust
- GOETTY MOUNTAIN ROSEBUSH
- 1903-45, Military Camp, now demolished. Open fields used for temporary hutting and tented camps. RJC.Thomas, 03.04.94. Back to map
- MAENCLOCHOG
- 1939-45, Military Camp now demolished. Six hut bases and one hut, protected by earth banks to the west. Ranged against the field boundary. RJC.Thomas, 01.04.94. Back to map
- FOEL CWMCERWYN I
- This is the most northerly of the four cairns on Foel Cwmcerwyn. The barrow is flat topped, covered with rough grass and reeds, and is circa 2.3m high and 17m diameter. There is a slight hollow in the centre at the top of the mound. The monument is i Back to map
