Pembroke Dock, Pembrokeshire. Open Daily. Free Admission.
Details
Accessibility:
To discuss your requirements for your venue of interest please contact the Tourism Department, Pembrokeshire County Council, County Hall, Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, SA61 1TP.
Brief description:
Port Town in South West Wales 3 miles northwest of Pembroke on the banks of the River Cleddau.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pembroke_Dock
"Pembroke Dock (Welsh: Doc Penfro) is a town and a community in Pembrokeshire, South West Wales, 3 miles (4.8 km) northwest of Pembroke on the banks of the River Cleddau. Originally Paterchurch, a small fishing village, Pembroke Dock town expanded rapidly following the construction of the Royal Navy Dockyard in 1814. The Cleddau Bridge links Pembroke Dock with Neyland.
After Haverfordwest and Milford Haven, Pembroke Dock is the third-largest town in Pembrokeshire being more populous than neighbouring Pembroke.
Dockyard development began on the north bank of the waterway. By the late 18th century, much of the village and the lands around Hubberston were owned by diplomat and politician Sir William Hamilton. Together with his nephew, the Hon. Charles Grenville, he proposed a scheme of development under the title "Milford", in reference to the 1758 report.[3] They began by building a shipyard, and leased it to a Messrs. Harry and Joseph Jacob, though after receiving an order in 1796 to build a frigate and later a 74-gun ship-of-the-line, Jacobs went bankrupt. The Navy took over the shipyard lease.[3]
In 1809, a naval commission recommended purchase of the Milford Haven facility and formal establishment of a Royal Navy dockyard.[3] After the end of the Napoleonic Wars, and the merging of the two sides of the Royal Navy under the Admiralty Board, a School of Naval Architecture was opened in Portsmouth in 1810 and, effectively then, Millford was to be set up as a model dockyard under French management (possibly to develop the manoeuvrability of British ships) from which lessons could be learnt for implementation in other dockyards.[3]
New town of Pembroke Dock:
After failing to agree a purchase price for the existing Millford shipyard with Fulke Greville, Charles Greville's heir, the Admiralty agreed purchase of land 5 miles (8.0 km) across the haven from Milford, near the town of Pembroke in a district called Pater (village) or Paterchurch. This was one of the few sites in the haven suitable for building a dock for constructing decent sized ships, as its shoreline was flat but led quickly into deep harbour. Secondly, the Board of Ordnance had purchased 50 acres (20 ha) in preparation from the 1758 report to strengthen the haven's defences,[7] which was added to by the purchase of an adjoining 20 acres (8.1 ha) for £5,500 from the Meyrick family.[3]
The town of Pembroke Dock was founded in 1814 when Pembroke Dockyard was established, initially called Pater Dockyard. Construction started immediately, with the former frigate HMS Lapwing driven ashore as a temporary accommodation hulk. Orders were placed for the construction of 74 gun battleship, and four frigates. However, after the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815, although the scheme still seemed ill placed in what would be a smaller Royal Navy, the final plans were given the go ahead on 31 October 1815. The Naval Dockyards Society published a historical review in 2004.[8]
Although active warships were not based in Pembroke Dock after the 1940s, and formal dockyard work ceased in 1926, the base remained an official Naval Dockyard, and retained a Queen's Harbour Master, until 2008 (one of the last 5 QHMs in the UK,together with those at the currently (2010) extant bases at Devonport, Portsmouth, Rosyth and Clyde). The Royal Maritime Auxiliary Service (RMAS) was based in Pembroke Dock until disestablishment in 2008,[11] and the Ministry of Defence sold the freehold of the site to the Milford Haven Port Authority (MHPA)[12] in 2007. For most of the last 20 years of MOD usage, the principal RMAS assets seen in the base were the MOD Salvage & Marine Team[13] (formerly CSALMO) vessels located there, the majority of which were relocated to the Serco base in Burntisland on the River Forth upon the activation of the £1bn Future Provision of Marine Services (FPMS) contract in May 2008.[14]
Pembroke Dock is served by the A477 trunk road which runs from the A40 at St. Clears. At Waterloo the A477 road crosses the Daugleddau estuary on the Cleddau Bridge and continues towards Haverfordwest. It has a ferry terminal from which ferries sail twice-daily to Rosslare in Ireland. The service is operated by Irish Ferries. There is also a deep water cargo port (Pembroke Port) adjacent to the ferry terminal which is operated by the Port of Milford Haven. Pembroke Dock railway station connects with Carmarthen via Tenby.
The two Martello towers remain: one was a local museum but is for sale by auction in July 2019, while the other is in private hands and has been converted for residential use and is largely intact. The dockyard wall is substantially complete and has been recently repaired by experts with dressed stone and lime mortar. The dry dock also remains, along with two out of ten building slips. The two listed hangars built to house the Sunderland flying boats used to guard the Western Approaches have been rebuilt and are now used for other purposes. Among several surviving Georgian and Victorian buildings on the site is the Terrace, a row of houses for the Dockyard officers.[21] The Dockyard Chapel at the end of the Terrace has been rebuilt using Objective One funding from the European Union and now serves as the Pembroke Dock Heritage Centre run by Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust.
Address:
Pembroke Dock, Pembrokeshire SA72 6BX
Email:
N/A
Phone:
N/A
Website:
http://http://www.visitpembrokeshire.com/explore-pembrokeshire/towns-and-villages/pembroke-dock
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pembroke_Dock
Directions:
The Town is located at the end of the A477 London Road.
OS SM969035
Opening Times:
Open Daily.
Transport:
The Town has a Train Station and bus services to Pembroke, Tenby and Haverfordwest.
For Travel Information go to http://www.traveline.info or call 0800 46 40 000
The Port services a twice daily Ferry service to Rosslare in Southern Ireland, operated by Irish Ferries.
Amenities:
Hotels
Pubs
Restaurants
Public Toilets
Cafes
Supermarkets
Train Station
Travel Information
For further travel information in Wales please see: www.traveline.cymru/travel-info
Or call Traveline Cymru on 0800 464 0000
Location
Nearest Venues
*Distances are calculated in a straight line from the current venue, please allow extra time/distance based on available paths or roads.