Walton East ( cy, Waltwn) is a small rural 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 or m ...

established around a church at least as early as Norman times. It is southwest of

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 Co ...

and north of

Clarbeston Road Clarbeston ( cy, Treglarbes) is a village and parish in Pembrokeshire, Wales, east of Haverfordwest. The parish, together with Wiston and Walton East, constitute the community of Wiston. The population was 318 at the 2011 census. Name The Eng ...

and in Wiston

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, tow ...

Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; cy, Sir Benfro ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and the rest by sea. The count ...

, Wales.

History

Walton East, in the 12th century, was part of the possessions of the commandery of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem at

Slebech Slebech was a community (prior to 1974, a civil parish) in Pembrokeshire, Wales, which is now part of the combined community of Uzmaston and Boulston and Slebech, a sparsely populated community on the northern shore of the Eastern River Cleddau. ...

, given by its

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

owner, Walter de Wale, thus its name: "Wale's town", or Walton. It is marked as just Walton on a 1578 parish map of Pembrokeshire. Until the 16th century, the parish was in the

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to de ...

Dungleddy 200px, Ancient Dyfed showing Deugleddyf Cantref and its "commotes" 200px, Pembrokeshire showing Dungleddy Hundred The Hundred of Dungleddy was a hundred in the centre of Pembrokeshire, Wales. It had its origins in the pre- Norman cantref of Deug ...

, southwest

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

Owen Owen may refer to: Origin: The name Owen is of Irish and Welsh origin. Its meanings range from noble, youthful, and well-born. Gender: Owen is historically the masculine form of the name. Popular feminine variations include Eowyn and Owena. ...

in 1602 placed it on the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

side of the language boundary, but by the 19th and 20th centuries it was a mainly

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

-speaking community. In the 1870s, the parish extended to with a population of 223 in 40 houses. In 1875, a Welsh Calvinist Methodist Chapel was built in the village. In the southwest of the parish is Penty Park, former home of members of the Philipps family; there are two

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 ...

s in the park. Estate records from 1590 to 1916 are held by the

National Library of Wales The National Library of Wales ( cy, Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru), Aberystwyth, is the national legal deposit library of Wales and is one of the Welsh Government sponsored bodies. It is the biggest library in Wales, holding over 6.5 million boo ...

. A pre-1850 parish map shows little settlement outside Walton East village, but shows Walton West a short distance away. In the 1830s there were some 230 inhabitants. The population declined steadily over the next 150 years to 150 in 1961. A map made at the turn of the 20th century shows several farms butting up to the village, several other dwellings and a smithy, as well as church and chapel, and several springs.

Parish church

The parish church, dedicated to St Mary the Virgin, has no tower or spire. The present church was built 1849 to 1852, and the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (

RCAHMW The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW; cy, Comisiwn Brenhinol Henebion Cymru; ), established in 1908, is a Welsh Government sponsored body concerned with some aspects of the archaeological, architectura ...

) describes the church: The parish is now one of 13 in the present combined parish of Daugleddau, in the

Church in Wales The Church in Wales ( cy, Yr Eglwys yng Nghymru) is an Anglicanism, Anglican church in Wales, composed of six dioceses. The Archbishop of Wales does not have a fixed archiepiscopal see, but serves concurrently as one of the six diocesan bishop ...

Diocese of St Davids The Diocese of St Davids is a diocese of the Church in Wales, a church of the Anglican Communion. The diocese covers the historic extent of Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire, together with a small part of western Glamorgan. The episcop ...

Notes

External links

Historical information and sources on GENUKI
{{authority control Villages in Pembrokeshire