Tufton is a crossroads hamlet in the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

of Henry's Moat in

Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and otherwise by the sea. Haverfordwest is the largest town and ...

, Wales, on the B4329, a road between

Eglwyswrw Eglwyswrw () is a village, Community (Wales), community and parish in the former Cantref of Cemais (Dyfed cantref), Cemais, Pembrokeshire, Wales. The village lies between Newport, Pembrokeshire, Newport and Cardigan, Ceredigion, Cardigan at the ...

and

Haverfordwest Haverfordwest ( , ; ) is the county town of Pembrokeshire, Wales, and the most populous urban area in Pembrokeshire with a population of 14,596 in 2011. It is also a Community (Wales), community consisting of 12,042 people, making it the secon ...

across the

Preseli Hills The Preseli Mountains (, ; or ), also known as the Preseli Hills, or just the Preselis, are a range of hills in western Wales, mostly within the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park and entirely within the county of Pembrokeshire. The range ...

. It is in the

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

of Puncheston.

Name

The origin of the place name Tufton is not clear. There is a tenuous link with the ''Tufton Arms'' in the 1792 marriage of Joseph Foster Barham of Trecwn (who inherited Pembrokeshire property from his mother, Dorothea Vaughan, and whose son Charles Henry was a Pembroke JP) to Lady Caroline Tufton, daughter of Sackville Tufton, 8th Earl of Thanet.

Inn

The ''Tufton Arms'' inn stands at the crossroads. The pub holds a beer festival on the first Friday in July. According to a 19th-century map, this was the only inn in the parish.

Coursing Coursing by humans is the pursuit of game or other animals by dogs—chiefly greyhounds and other sighthounds—catching their prey by speed, running by sight, but not by scent. Coursing was a common hunting technique, practised by the nobility, ...

meetings were hosted by the pub in the mid-1800s and, in a fox hunting report, it was described as having "good beer". In 1863, the landlady, Mrs Thomas, died "at an advanced age". A Mr Thomas was landlord in 1868, when he was called as a witness in Haverfordwest in a case of sheep-stealing. The thief, Caleb Morris, was sentenced to five years, and later Thomas, after a collection, was presented with a watch in recompense for his sheep. It was the annual custom of the Reverend C. H. Barham to entertain his tenants and friends at Thomas's inn, which in 1873 was able to provide a roast dinner and ale for "upwards of 90 persons".

Chapel

Siloh Chapel is a Calvinistic Methodist chapel in the Union of Welsh Independent churches. It was founded in 1842, registered to solemnise marriages in 1844, and restored in 1900. Short biographical details of the early ministers and members of the congregation appeared in a history published in 1871.

Transport

Tufton is on the B4329, a centuries-old route between Cardigan and Haverfordwest and is on a bus route.

National Cycle Route The National Cycle Network (NCN) was established to encourage cycling and walking throughout the United Kingdom, as well as for the purposes of bicycle touring. It was created by the charity Sustrans who were aided by a £42.5 million ...

47 crosses the B4329 at Tufton.

''Blaenwern''

The hymn tune ''

Blaenwern Blaenwern is a Welsh Christian hymn tune composed by William Penfro Rowlands (1860–1937), during the Welsh revival of 1904–1905. It was first published in Henry H. Jones' ''Cân a Moliant'' (1915). The Metre (hymn), metre of the tune is 8.7.8 ...

'' is named after a farm near Tufton where the composer,

William Penfro Rowlands William "Penfro" Rowlands (19 April 1860 – 22 October 1937) was a Welsh schoolteacher and composer. Rowlands was born at Llys y Frân, Maenclochog, Pembrokeshire (Sir Benfro in the Welsh language, hence his middle name). Probably his best- ...

, was either sent as a boy or sent his son, to recuperate from an illness in the early 20th century.

Historic structures

"Tufton Castle" is the name given by Coflein to an enclosure just north of the hamlet, which may have been an ancient Iron Age settlement. Coflein records a mediaeval strip field system, identified from aerial reconnaissance in 2007 and a post-mediaeval rubble stone house worthy of note. An 1888 map shows a smithy at the crossroads.

Richard Fenton Richard Fenton (January 1747 – November 1821) was a Welsh lawyer, topography, topographer and poet. Biography Fenton was born in January 1747 in St David's, Pembrokeshire, and was baptised in St David's Cathedral on 20 February 1747, "being t ...

, in the early 19th century, described a small roadside house as ''Poll-tax Inn''. Fenton attributes the name to a place where poll tax was collected, but other names have been used, such as ''Paltockes Inne'' in 1200, ''Paltocksin'', ''Battog's Inn'' or ''Baltox Inn''. It appears on an old parish map south of Tufton on the B4329, which has now bypassed the place (the old road forded a stream, shown on modern maps as ''Portrux Ford''), which is in the parish of Castlebythe.

References

External links

OS Map 017/NE, Map of Pembrokeshire 1868-1892
{{authority control Villages in Pembrokeshire Puncheston