Woodstock (Welsh: ''Wstog'') is a rural village in the southern foothills of the

Preseli Hills The Preseli Hills or, as they are known locally and historically, Preseli Mountains, ( Welsh: ''Mynyddoedd y Preseli / Y Preselau'' , ) is a range of hills in western Wales, mostly within the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. The range stre ...

in the

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, ...

and

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

Ambleston Ambleston ( cy, Treamlod) is a village, parish, and community in Pembrokeshire, Wales, lying seven miles (11 km) north-north-east of Haverfordwest. The parish includes the hamlets of Wallis and Woodstock ( cy, Wstog). Name The English and W ...

, Pembrokeshire, Wales. There is a built-up area on the B4329 former turnpike, and another down a side-road, close to, but with no road access to

Llys y Fran Llys y Fran is a small village and parish in the community of New Moat on the southern slopes of the Preseli Mountains in Pembrokeshire, Wales. The parish includes the small settlement of Gwastad. A notable feature is Llys y Fran Reservoir and Cou ...

reservoir.

Name

According to a pre-1850 parish map, the area on the B4329 was named Woodstock Slop, and the other just Woodstock. The Welsh name does not appear on parish or Ordnance Survey maps before the 20th century, but the Methodists were using the name in 1913.

History

Close to Woodstock village is Woodstock Ring, a prehistoric earthwork containing the possible traces of a building within, indicating habitation in prehistoric times. Woodstock has been described as a modern village but the manor of Woodstock (along with that of Ambleston) was bequeathed by Sir

James Perrot Sir James Perrot (1571 – 4 February 1636) was a Welsh writer and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1597 and 1629. He was the illegitimate son of Sir John Perrot, who was himself falsely rumoured to be an ille ...

, son of Sir

John Perrot Sir John Perrot (7 November 1528 – 3 November 1592) served as lord deputy to Queen Elizabeth I of England during the Tudor conquest of Ireland. It was formerly speculated that he was an illegitimate son of Henry VIII, though the idea is reje ...

to Francis Perrot, and then in 1642 to his nephew

Herbert Herbert may refer to: People Individuals * Herbert (musician), a pseudonym of Matthew Herbert Name * Herbert (given name) * Herbert (surname) Places Antarctica * Herbert Mountains, Coats Land * Herbert Sound, Graham Land Australia * Herbert ...

. In 1761 Herbert's descendant Sir John Perrot sold Woodstock to Admiral Thomas Tucker. The manor is mentioned many times in respect of indentures, grants and tenancies in the 17th and 18th centuries. In 1717 Woodstock mill was leased to yeoman Lewis John.

Richard Fenton Richard Fenton (January 1747 – November 1821) was a Welsh lawyer, 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 then a month ...

, in 1811, recorded passing through Woodstock, stating that the name came from an extensive manor owned in early times by Huko Hywel, whose daughters married Normans, and that the manor eventually came into the possession of the Perrott family. James Hartley Jones, whose name appears on the Ambleston War Memorial, is recorded as having enlisted at Woodstock (he lived in the nearby hamlet of Wallis) early in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Chapel

Fenton noted that a chapel of ease to Ambleston parish existed in the village, but had long since ceased to exist, and the cemetery had been ploughed. Woodstock Chapel - geograph

Woodstock Calvinistic Methodist Chapel was founded by the Reverend

Howel Davies Howel Davies (c.1716 – 13 January 1770) was a Welsh Methodist minister. Little is known about his early life, but by 1737 he is known to have been a schoolmaster at Talgarth. There he was converted by Howel Harris, and on his advice went to ...

. It was built in 1755, the first Methodist chapel in Pembrokeshire, and was rebuilt in 1809 and restored in 1890. The chapel is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

School

A school was opened in Woodstock in 1869 and closed in the 1960s. School records are kept by Dyfed Family History Society.

References

{{authority control Villages in Pembrokeshire