Spittal is a village,

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 ...

and

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 ...

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

. It is situated on the A40 trunk road, approximately halfway between

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 ...

and

Fishguard Fishguard (, meaning "Mouth of the River Gwaun") is a coastal town in Pembrokeshire, Wales, with a population of 3,400 (rounded to the nearest 100) as of the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census. Modern Fishguard consists of two parts, Lowe ...

. It had a population of 494 as of the 2011 census.

Name

The village's name is a corruption of the word 'hospital' (), which is also the root of place names such as

Spitalfields Spitalfields () is an area in London, England and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in East London and situated in the East End of London, East End. Spitalfields is formed around Commercial Street, London, Commercial Stre ...

, London, Spital, Merseyside and

Spital-in-the-Street Spital-in-the-Street is a small hamlet in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated on the A15 road (Roman Ermine Street), north from Lincoln, east from Gainsborough, and north from the A15 and A631 crossroad at ...

, Lincolnshire. The village possessed a hospitium (place of accommodation for pilgrims) belonging to the Cathedral of

St Davids St Davids or St David's (, , "David's house”) is a cathedral city in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It lies on the River Alun and is part of the community of St Davids and the Cathedral Close. It is the resting place of Saint David, Wales's ...

. No trace of this remains.

History

The parish was in the

Hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...

Dungleddy image:LDDeugleddyfCymydau.png, 200px, Ancient Kingdom of Dyfed, Dyfed showing Deugleddyf Cantref and its "commotes" image:LDDungleddyHundred.png, 200px, Pembrokeshire showing Dungleddy Hundred The Hundred of Dungleddy was a hundred (country subd ...

, and in the early 19th century had a population of 452, including a number of smaller settlements. There are the remains of several ancient encampments in the parish.

Amenities

Amenities include a community hall, a village green and a pub, the Pump on the Green. The parish church of St Mary is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

of mediaeval origins, restored in the 19th century. The font is 12th or 13th century. In 2004 a new

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

was built in the village to educate approximately 150 pupils from the village and surrounding area.Spittal School website
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References

External links

Further historical information and sources on GENUKI
{{authority control Villages in Pembrokeshire Communities in Pembrokeshire