Military Heritage - Civil War to Cold War

Its strategic position on Britain's western seaboard, coupled with the magnificent sheltered harbour of Milford Haven, has afforded Pembrokeshire a military and maritime significance which has long been recognised. To prevent enemy invaders taking advantage of the many landing places around the Pembrokeshire coast, various defences have been erected over the centuries - from Tudor blockhouses and Napoleonic forts to Victorian gun batteries, WWI boom defences and WWII mine-fields and tank traps.

Map of Pembroke Dock 1830 The building of Pembroke's Royal Naval Dockyard in 1814 gave added impetus to the need to defend the Haven, while the onset of the Second World War saw the creation of a string of airfields from which air-crews flew perilous missions in support of Atlantic convoys or to hunt hostile submarines.

Searchlight and anti-aircraft batteries sprang up to intercept enemy planes, and elaborate decoy systems were established to bamboozle any bombers which made it past the guns.

Remnants of defensive systems from every era still exist all over Pembrokeshire. The Norman castles are probably the most obvious examples, but there are many other sites from later years which are of considerable military significance but which tend to be overlooked - everything from gun towers to pill boxes, bomb shelters and radar stations.

The county's battlefields also tend to be unremarked. Several battles and skirmishes were fought on Pembrokeshire soil during the Civil Wars, while the county famously played host to the last invasion of mainland Britain in 1797 when a rag-tag French invasion force quickly surrendered to the local yeomanry.

It is the aim of our little group of historians - with the help of the local communities - to uncover and highlight these sites of military and maritime activity so that their significance can be better appreciated by the public in general and so that they can be preserved to give future generations an understanding of our military heritage.

Introduction by Roger Thomas, Chairman of Pembrokeshire Military and Maritime Heritage Group

Highlights

Manorbier: Manorbier village stands at the head of the valley leading to the sea and contains several attractive houses and cottages.
Newport: The historic township of Newport is beautifully situated where the Preseli Hills meet the estuary of the River Nevern.
Neyland and Llanstadwell: Before the 1850s ‘Nailand’ was a small fishing village in the parish of Llanstadwell, with a modest shipbuilding and ship repair industry on the shore of Westfield Pill.
St Ishmael's: St Ishmael’s village gives its name to a largely agricultural community on the northern shore of Milford Haven.
St Florence: St Florence, in the Ritec Valley, is an attractive medieval village grouped around an impressive Norman church. At one time St Florence was at the head of a tidal inlet and several ancient route-ways pass through the village. Regular agricultural fairs were held here in medieval times.
Templeton: Templeton village still shows its medieval roots, its long single street being fronted by small farms and houses with burgage plots stretching behind.
Angle: Angle village has a long seafaring tradition, perpetuated in the form of the local RNLI lifeboat. Situated at the entrance to Milford Haven, the Angle Peninsula has long been recognised as an important defensive site and the area is rich in military heritage.
Castlemartin: The community of Castlemartin includes the great sweep of Freshwater West beach and a large part of the Royal Armoured Corps (RAC) tank range established on the Castlemartin Peninsula in the late 1930s and further developed during the Cold War period.
Crymych: Crymych stands at the crossroads of two ancient trackways over the mountains, but the village only really developed after the now-defunct Whitland to Cardigan railway line reached here in 1880.
Dale: Dale gives its name to the peninsula which shelters the entrance to Milford Haven. At Mill Bay, just inside the harbour entrance, Henry Tudor landed in 1485 on his way to gaining the English crown at Bosworth Field.
Dinas Cross: The village stands on the narrow strip between the Preseli Hills and the north Pembrokeshire coast. It has a strong seafaring tradition.
Fishguard and Goodwick: The picturesque harbour of Lower Fishguard was once home to fifty coastal trading vessels. Fishing was also important, and smoked herrings were exported to southern Europe. Fishguard’s ‘twin town’ of Goodwick was a fishing village until mid-Victorian times, after which it began to develop as a seaside resort.
Hundleton: Hundleton is small village built around a traditional village green.
Lamphey: Lamphey was the favourite residence of the Bishops of St David’s, and they built themselves a palatial fortified mansion here, complete with deer park and fishponds.
Llawhaden: Llawhaden is an ancient settlement, dominated by the shell of a ruined castle which was once the splendid residence of the Bishops of St David’s.
Maenclochog: 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.
Marloes and St Brides: Once a village of lobster fishermen, Marloes still has close links with the sea and with the Pembrokeshire islands; boats for Skomer and Skokholm leave from nearby Martin’s Haven.
Milford Haven: Milford Haven was planned as a new town in the early 19th century between the earlier settlements of Hakin and Pill. A dockyard built ships for the Admiralty, and there was a regular boat service to Ireland.
Pembroke Dock: Steeped in military and naval heritage, Pembroke Dock did not exist before 1814. It came into being purely as a result of the decision to locate a naval dockyard on land owned by the Meyrick family of Bush.
Pembroke: Pembroke’s history is entwined with that of its magnificent Norman castle, birthplace of Henry VII and the subject of a bitter siege by Cromwell during the Civil Wars.
Carew: A village steeped in history, Carew boasts one of the finest castles in the county, a thousand-year-old Celtic cross and a beautifully-restored tidal-mill.
Amroth: The coastal village of Amroth on the Carmarthenshire border is at one end of the Pembrokeshire Coast Path. The village is divided into three parts, one at either end of the sand-and-pebble beach and one around the Norman church of St Elidyr in the wooded valley behind.
Solva: Its fjord-like inlet makes Solva the safest harbour on this part of the coast - a fact much appreciated by the many yachtsmen who keep their boats here.
St David's: The smallest city in Britain has been a place of pilgrimage since the Middle Ages, when two pilgrimages to St David's equalled one to Rome. David, the Welsh patron saint, established a monastery here in the sixth century which flourished despite Viking raids.
The Havens: Once a pair of coal-mining and fishing villages, Broad Haven and Little Haven began to develop as seaside resorts in Victorian times.
Pencaer: The windswept and sparsely populated community is noted for its stunning coastal scenery and for its part in the unsuccessful 1797 French Invasion.
Brawdy: This rural area’s peaceful agricultural existence ended in 1944 when RAF Brawdy came into operation, rather late in the war. The airfield runways and associated buildings have since become a major feature of the community.
Nevern: Now a quiet and picturesque village, Nevern was an important administrative centre in medieval times.
Wolfscastle: SM 958265: Wolfscastle village is situated to the north of Treffgarne Gorge, a strategic spot through which the road, rail and river all pass, connecting north and south Pembrokeshire.
Lawrenny & Martletwy: Its position at the junction of the Carew River and the Milford Haven waterway meant that Lawrenny Quay was for many years a busy river port.
Eglwyswrw: Eglwyswrw village is strategically sited on the turnpike road from Cardigan to Newport and Haverfordwest.
Letterston: The comunity of Letterston is centred on the village of that name, which in turn is centred on an important junction of two ancient trade routes.
Nolton & Roch: Nolton is a farming village with a much-restored Norman church. A mile away is Nolton Haven, a narrow inlet which ends in a sandy beach.
Stackpole: The coastal community of Stackpole includes the villages of Stackpole, Bosherston and St Twynnells.
Gwaun: The Gwaun Valley is a long wooded defile cutting through the Preseli Moors to Lower Fishguard where the Afon Gwaun flows into Fishguard Bay.
Clunderwen & Llandysilio: SN 120200: Clunderwen House was built on an early site and was referred to in 1634 as a baronial hall. Two centuries later, when a station was built where the new South Wales Railway crossed the Tenby to Cardigan road, it took the name Narberth Road.
Llanrhian: The north Pembrokeshire community of Llanrhian includes the farming village of Croesgoch, the seafaring settlement of Trefin and the little slate-exporting harbour of Porthgain.
Herbrandston: Herbrandston is a rural community on the north shore of Milford Haven.
Wiston & Clarbeston Road: Nowadays a farming village, Wiston was once a busy market town with a Norman church and castle, but it fell into decline following the sacking of the town by the Welsh under Llywellyn ab Iorwerth in 1220.
Cosheston: Cosheston is a medieval village stretching along the ancient roadway west of Carew; the medieval burgage plots are still evident.

Military Heritage - Civil War to Cold War

Highlights

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