Maiden Wells is a small village located south of
Pembroke in
Pembrokeshire,
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
. The earliest reference to Maiden Wells is 'Mayden Welle' in 1336. The population is currently around 300.
History
The village gets its name from a well in the centre of the village which is fed by an underground spring. It is said that the water from the well is associated with fertility. In the past, the village had a public house, post office and a petrol station - but all have long since closed. The village has a chapel - Gilead
Calvinistic
Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...
Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...
Chapel - which was completed in 1876.
Name
For thirty years until 2017, road signs approaching to the village displayed '
MAIDENWELLS' leading to some confusion over the spelling. However, all current and historical maps - including
Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1745. There was a ...
- record the village name as 'Maiden Wells' rather than 'Maidenwells'.
To coincide with the opening of a new road bypass in 2017, Pembrokeshire Council sought to resolve any confusion by confirming that the correct spelling is indeed ''Maiden Wells'' and updated the road signs accordingly.
Bypass
Maiden Wells has suffered with very heavy traffic since the 1960s when the Texaco (now
Valero) oil refinery and
Pembroke Power Station
Pembroke B Power Station is a 2,200 MWe natural gas-fired power station near Pembroke in Wales. The power station was officially opened in September 2012 and is the largest gas-fired power station in Europe. It is also the largest power sta ...
opened. Even though the road through Maiden Wells is a
C-road designed for light traffic, by 2015 around six thousand vehicles a day were passing through the village including many vans, lorries and oil tankers.
Following numerous complaints and traffic accidents,
Pembrokeshire County Council
Pembrokeshire County Council ( cy, Cyngor Sir Penfro) is the governing body for Pembrokeshire, one of the Principal Areas of Wales.
Political control
The first election to the council was held in 1995, initially operating as a shadow authori ...
began a consultation with residents in the summer of 2010 about building a new road bypass. The council proposed three different routes.
The eventual chosen route generated controversy as it cuts through the centre of the village which and then passes to the north of the village.
[ County Council defends Maidenwells bypass route, near Pembroke]
The construction of the new road required the demolition of two cottages to make way for a new roundabout.
Work on the new road and associated drainage works began in January 2017 and the new road opened to traffic on Monday, 12 June 2017.
References
External links
Historical information and sources on GENUKI
{{authority control
Villages in Pembrokeshire