Pembroke ( ; cy, Penfro ) is both a town and a

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, t ...

Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; cy, Sir Benfro ) is a county in the south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and the rest by sea. The county is home to Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. The Park oc ...

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 ...

, with a population of 7,552. The names of both the town and the county (of which the

county town In the United Kingdom and Ireland, a county town is the most important town or city in a county. It is usually the location of administrative or judicial functions within a county and the place where the county's members of Parliament are elect ...

Haverfordwest Haverfordwest (, ; cy, Hwlffordd ) 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, being the second most populous community in the county, ...

) have a common origin; both are derived from the Cantref of Penfro: ''Pen'', "head" or "end", and ''bro'', "region", "country", "land", which has been interpreted to mean either "Land's End" or "

headland A headland, also known as a head, is a coastal landform, a point of land usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends into a body of water. It is a type of promontory. A headland of considerable size often is called a cape.Whittow, J ...

". Pembroke features a number of historic buildings, town walls, complexes and Pembroke Castle which was the birthplace of Henry Tudor, who became .

History

Pembroke Castle, the substantial remains of a stone

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

fortress A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

founded by the Normans in 1093, stands at the western tip of a peninsula surrounded by water on three sides. The castle was the seat of the powerful Earls of Pembroke and the birthplace of King

Henry VII of England Henry VII (28 January 1457 – 21 April 1509) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizure of the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death in 1509. He was the first monarch of the House of Tudor. Henry's mother, Margaret Beauf ...

Gerald de Windsor Gerald de Windsor (1075 – 1135), ''alias'' Gerald FitzWalter, was an Anglo-Norman lord who was the first Castellan of Pembroke Castle in Pembrokeshire (formerly part of the Kingdom of Deheubarth). Son of the first Constable of Windsor Castle ...

was the first recorded Constable of Pembroke. Pembroke town and castle and its surroundings are linked with the early Christian church. Following the final extension of the castle about 1254 the town was extended and defensive perimeter walls erected around the edge of the town. The walls survive on their medieval foundations, although much rebuilt over the centuries. A great many of the town's original medieval burgage plots survive and are divided by early stone walls that are of significant national importance. Monkton Priory, sited on a hill across the river from the castle, founded in 1098 by

Arnulf de Montgomery Arnulf de Montgomery (born 1066; died 1118/1122) was an Anglo-Norman magnate. He was a younger son of Roger de Montgomery and Mabel de Bellême. Arnulf's father was a leading magnate in Normandy and England, and played an active part in the A ...

and granted by him to the Benedictine order, has very early foundations and retains much of the Norman walls of the nave. The choir and sanctuary were renovated in the 19th Century. Monkton Hall, close by the Priory church, is regarded as the oldest domestic building in Pembrokeshire and possibly Wales and is thought to have been the guesthouse for visitors to the Priory. The first stone building in the town was a defensive tower, now known as the Medieval Chapel, at 69a Main Street and built on a cliff edge. There are the remains of a

great hall A great hall is the main room of a royal palace, castle or a large manor house or hall house in the Middle Ages, and continued to be built in the country houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries, although by then the family used the gr ...

to the north and recently filled-in arched cellars. The building was thought to have been later used as an early church as the layout is the same as

St. Govan's Chapel St Govan's Chapel is a chapel located at St Govan's Head, Pembrokeshire in south west Wales. Built into the side of a limestone cliff, the building measures with walls constructed from limestone, and consists of two chambers, one in the front ...

and was used by

John Wesley John Wesley (; 2 March 1791) was an English cleric, theologian, and evangelist who was a leader of a revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies he founded became the dominant form of the independent Meth ...

in 1764 to preach

Methodism 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 b ...

. In 1866 it became the brewery for the York Tavern which was briefly

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three ...

's headquarters at the end of the

Siege of Pembroke The siege of Pembroke took place in 1648 during the Second English Civil War. In the engagement, Parliamentarian troops led by Oliver Cromwell sieged Pembroke Castle in Wales. The Castle had become a refuge for rebellious Parliamentarian ...

during the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I (" Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of r ...

. The town's main bridge across the River Pembroke, which also acts as a dam, crosses and constrains the

millpond A mill pond (or millpond) is a body of water used as a reservoir for a water-powered mill. Description Mill ponds were often created through the construction of a mill dam or weir (and mill stream) across a waterway. In many places, the co ...

. The first bridge was constructed to house a

tide mill A tide mill is a water mill driven by tidal rise and fall. A dam with a sluice is created across a suitable tidal inlet, or a section of river estuary is made into a reservoir. As the tide comes in, it enters the mill pond through a one-way ga ...

, originally granted to the Knight's Templar in 1199. The last mill building was destroyed by fire in 1956. On both banks of the Pembroke River to the west of the castle are many remains of early activities. The North Shore Quarries are relatively complete as are the remains of medieval and

Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personific ...

slipways where wooden vessels were built before the industrial dockyard and admiralty town was built on the grid pattern of

Pembroke Dock Pembroke Dock ( cy, Doc Penfro) is a town and a community in Pembrokeshire, South West Wales, northwest of Pembroke on the banks of the River Cleddau. Originally Paterchurch, a small fishing village, Pembroke Dock town expanded rapidly followin ...

. There is a very early complete graving dock in what was Hancock's Yard. During the English Civil War, the strategic maritime shire was primarily in the control of the parliamentary forces which aspired to prevent communication to Ireland. At Pennar Flats there was an early submarine base used for experiments in submarine warfare. Three of the houses on the then foreshore, part of the shipyard before the Admiralty Dock Yard was built, are still standing but are heavily altered. The

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water ta ...

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...

is to the northwest of Pembroke. It was established in 1814.

Geography

Pembroke town stands on the South Pembrokeshire limestone

peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on a ...

by the

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...

of the

River Cleddau The River Cleddau ( cy, Afon Cleddau) consists of the Eastern and Western Cleddau rivers in Pembrokeshire, west Wales. They unite to form the Daugleddau estuary and the important harbour of Milford Haven. The name of the combined estuary – ...

, flanked on all sides by woodland and arable farmland. The town is south of the county town of

. The town is centred on Main Street, which is the only street that is inside the original Pembroke town walls. Outside the walls, residential estates have been built to the north towards

, to the east towards

Lamphey Lamphey ( cy, Llandyfái ) is both a village, a parish and a community near the south coast of Pembrokeshire, Wales, approximately east of the historic town of Pembroke, and north of the seaside village of Freshwater East. The 2011 census re ...

, and to the south. To the west of the town lies the village of Monkton, which is included as part of the

of Pembroke. At the 2001 census, the community had a population of 7,214. The conurbation of Pembroke Dock and Pembroke has a combined population of 15,890 and as such is one of the major population centres of

West Wales West Wales ( cy, Gorllewin Cymru) is not clearly defined as a particular region of Wales. Some definitions of West Wales include only Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire, which historically comprised the Welsh principality of '' Dehe ...

Governance

Local government

There are two tiers of local government covering Pembroke, at

(town) and

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

level: Pembroke Town Council and Pembrokeshire County Council. Pembroke Town Council is based at

Pembroke Town Hall Pembroke Town Hall ( cy, Neuadd y Dref Penfro) is a municipal building in Main Street, Pembroke, Pembrokeshire, Wales. The structure, which is the meeting place of Pembroke Town Council, is a Grade II listed building. History The first munic ...

. The

of Pembroke covers an area of Settlement Populations, Pembrokeshire County Council 2001 Census
Retrieved 17 January 2010 and includes the Pembroke St Mary North, St Mary South, St Michael and Monkton wards. For representation on the county council, the four wards comprising Pembroke community each elect one councillor.

Senedd and Westminster representation

Pembroke is part of the Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire National Assembly for Wales constituency and

UK Parliamentary constituency The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and No ...

. The local Assembly Member is

Angela Burns Angela Jane Burns is a British businesswoman and politician who was elected as Conservative AM for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire from 2007 to 2021. Background Burns was from an English family and brought up in several foreign coun ...

of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

and the local

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP) is

Simon Hart Simon Anthony Hart (born 15 August 1963) is a British politician serving as the Chief Whip of the House of Commons and Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury since October 2022. He previously served as Secretary of State for Wales between 201 ...

, also a Conservative.

Administrative history

Pembroke was an

ancient borough The ancient boroughs were a historic unit of lower-tier local government in England and Wales. The ancient boroughs covered only important towns and were established by charters granted at different times by the monarchy. Their history is larg ...

, with evidence of borough charters dating back to at least 1168. The borough covered the two parishes of Pembroke St Mary and Pembroke St Michael plus part of the parish of Monkton (also known as Pembroke St Nicholas). The borough was reformed to become a

municipal borough Municipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002. Broadly similar structures existed in S ...

in 1836. The borough included a sizeable rural area within its boundaries as well as the built up area of Pembroke itself. The town of

, which developed from the early nineteenth century as a separate urban area was nevertheless within the borough boundaries of Pembroke, falling within the parish of Pembroke St Mary. The part of the parish of Monkton outside the borough boundaries became a separate parish called

Hundleton Hundleton is a village and a community in Pembrokeshire, Wales, in the parish of Monkton. The community covers the adjacent settlements of West Orielton, Brownslate, Corston and Pwllcrochan. Amenities Hundleton village contains a chapel, a r ...

in 1894. As Pembroke Dock grew through the nineteenth century it began to rival the old town of Pembroke for position as the main settlement within the borough. By 1895 Pembroke Borough Council had adopted the practice of holding its meetings alternately at

and at Pembroke Dock, where the council had established its main administrative offices at 37 Bush Street (renumbered 71 Bush Street in 1906). The council remained based at 71 Bush Street (and later also expanded into neighbouring 73 Bush Street) until the early 1970s when it acquired Llanion Park, part of the Llanion Barracks at Pembroke Dock, to serve as its headquarters. Pembroke Borough Council was abolished under the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

, with the area becoming part of the new district of South Pembrokeshire within the county of

Dyfed Dyfed () is a preserved county in southwestern Wales. It is a mostly rural area with a coastline on the Irish Sea and the Bristol Channel. Between 1974 and 1996, Dyfed was also the name of the area's county council and the name remains in use f ...

on 1 April 1974. A community was established to cover the area of the former borough, with its council taking the name Pembroke Town Council. South Pembrokeshire District Council took over Llanion Park at Pembroke Dock to serve as its headquarters. On 1 April 1986 the community of Pembroke was split into a Pembroke Dock community and a reduced Pembroke community, with Pembroke Town Council thereafter just covering the old town of Pembroke itself. South Pembrokeshire was abolished in 1996, with the area becoming part of a re-established Pembrokeshire.

Education

Primary and pre-school (ages 3–11) education in Pembroke is served by two state schools. In Pembroke town, Golden Grove CP School is a dual stream school established in 2002 following the amalgamation of Golden Manor Infants School and Grove Junior School. In Monkton, pupils can attend Monkton Priory CP School. Secondary education is provided by Pembroke School (in Welsh: ''Ysgol Benfro''), a mixed 11–18

comprehensive school A comprehensive school typically describes a secondary school for pupils aged approximately 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is re ...

of 1,600 pupils with a

sixth form In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for ...

of about 200. The school was formed in 1972 as a result of the amalgamation of the former

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

and secondary modern school. The school takes pupils from the Pembroke family of schools, which as well as Golden Grove and Monkton Priory includes community primary schools in Lamphey, Orielton, Pennar and Pembroke Dock, voluntary controlled primary schools in Angle, Cosheston and Stackpole, and St. Mary's Catholic Primary School in Pembroke Dock.

Culture and community

Pembroke 21C

community association A community association is a nongovernmental association of participating members of a community, such as a neighborhood, village, condominium, cooperative, or group of homeowners or property owners in a delineated geographic area. Participatio ...

was founded in 2004, and is based out of the Foundry House building on the Commons, which they operate as a

community centre Community centres, community centers, or community halls are public locations where members of a community tend to gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may sometimes be open for the whole c ...

. Activities carried out by 21C include organising the annual Pembroke Festival, running the town's fortnightly

farmers' market A farmers' market (or farmers market according to the AP stylebook, also farmer's market in the Cambridge Dictionary) is a physical retail marketplace intended to sell foods directly by farmers to consumers. Farmers' markets may be indoors or o ...

and producing a quarterly newsletter which is distributed to all households in the town. Pembroke Rugby Club organises the town's annual carnival, which is usually held in June. Pembroke Library shares a building with the Tourist Information Centre on Commons Road and offers a full lending service and internet access. Pembroke has been twinned with the towns of Bergen, Lower Saxony,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

, since 1977 and Pembroke, Malta, since 2002.

Notable people

Besides

King Henry VII Henry VII (28 January 1457 – 21 April 1509) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizure of the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death in 1509. He was the first monarch of the House of Tudor. Henry's mother, Margaret Beaufort, ...

, notable natives of Pembroke include: Composer Daniel Jones, Actor

Mervyn Johns Mervyn Johns (born David Mervyn John; 18 February 18996 September 1992) was a Welsh stage, film and television character actor who became a star of British films during the Second World War. Johns was known for his "mostly mild-mannered, lugubri ...

Sport

Pembroke Rugby Club is on Upper Lamphey Road. The ground is called Crickmarren. The club plays in

WRU Division Five West The Welsh Rugby Union Division Five West (also called the SWALEC Division Five West for sponsorship reasons) is a rugby union league in Wales first implemented for the 1995/96 season. Competition format and sponsorship Competition There are 11 ...

. Pembroke's main game of the season is often the local derby with rivals the Pembroke Dock Harlequins. Pembroke produced

Ospreys The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...

and Welsh international

Jonathan Thomas Jonathan Thomas (born 27 December 1982, in Pembroke) is a Welsh rugby union coach and former player, he played mainly at flanker having also played at number eight and lock. He was previously head coach of Worcester Warriors. On January 17 ...

, Welsh international

Dominic Day Dominic Day (born 22 August 1985) is a Welsh rugby union player. Early life Born in Haverfordwest, Day grew up in Lamphey, two miles east of Pembroke. He attended Pembroke School, where he participated in track and field, competing for Wales S ...

and Scotland international Luke Hamilton. Other sporting clubs in the area include the

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

team Monkton Swifts. The town is home to Pembroke Cricket Club. The

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

club plays its home games at its Treleet ground on Upper Lamphey Road, opposite the rugby club. The club currently has a 1st and a 2nd team playing in divisions 2 and 4 of the Pembrokeshire league. The club colours are green and gold.

Broadband blackspot

, it was revealed that Pembroke was the UK's second-slowest broadband town. The average internet download speed in Pembroke was just over 1.6 Mbit/s (1600 kbit/s) compared to the UK average of 12.0 Mbit/s (12000 kbit/s) at the time. BT's telephone exchange, which serves Pembroke and Pembroke Dock, was upgraded in 2014 under the Superfast Cymru programme and new cabinets were built to provide

FTTC Fiber to the ''x'' (FTTX; also spelled "fibre") or fiber in the loop is a generic term for any broadband network architecture using optical fiber to provide all or part of the local loop used for last mile telecommunications. As fiber optic ...

technology. Additional exchanges across Pembrokeshire are also being upgraded under the programme, with a goal of bringing superfast broadband to 96% of Wales by spring 2016.

References

External links

* *
Historical information and sources on GENUKI1935 historic film 30:00 to 31:00
{{Authority control Towns in Pembrokeshire Former county towns in Wales eo:Pembroke