Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
SOUTH PEMBROKESHIRE
South Pembrokeshire boasts some of Wales' best sandy beaches and most spectacular lime-
stone formations and makes an impressive starting point for the Pembrokeshire Coast Path
(PCP). Once known as Little England Beyond Wales, it was divided from the north by the
Landsker Line - a physical and then a linguistic barrier roughly following the old Norman
frontier. The divide is less pronounced now, but there's a noticeable English feel to places
like Tenby, especially in summer, when the masses descend with their buckets and spades,
building miniature replicas of the castles their ancestors once used to keep the Welsh at
bay. Those sturdy fortifications are still visible in Tenby, Manorbier, Carew and Haverford-
west, reaching their apotheosis at Pembroke Castle.
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Tenby (Dinbych Y Pysgod)
POP 4700
Perched on a headland with sandy beaches either side, Tenby is a postcard-maker's dream.
Houses are painted from the pastel palette of a classic fishing village, interspersed with the
white elegance of Georgian mansions. The main part of town is still constrained by its
Norman-built walls, funnelling holidaymakers through medieval streets lined with pubs,
ice-cream parlours and gift shops. In the low season, without the tackiness of the
promenade-and-pier beach towns, it tastefully returns to being a sleepy little place. In sum-
mer it has a boisterous, boozy holiday-resort feel, with packed pubs seemingly all blasting
out Status Quo simultaneously.
Tenby flourished in the 15th century as a centre for the textile trade, exporting cloth in
exchange for salt and wine. Clothmaking declined in the 18th century, but the town soon
reinvented itself as a fashionable watering place. The arrival of the railway in the 19th cen-
tury sealed its future as a resort, and William Paxton (owner of the Middleton estate in Car-
marthenshire, now home to the National Botanic Garden of Wales) developed a saltwater
spa here. Anxiety over a possible French invasion of the Milford Haven waterway led to
the construction in 1869 of a fort on St Catherine's Island.
Among those who have taken inspiration or rest here are Horatio Nelson, Jane Austen,
George Eliot, JMW Turner, Beatrix Potter and Roald Dahl. The artist Augustus John was
born here, and he and his sister Gwen lived here during their early life.
