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Pre 1814 - Pennar
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Pennar |
Llanion
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Pembroke Ferry
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Paterchurch
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Farms
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Paterchurch Dock Yard, 1819. The O.S. map shows the older
settlements of Pennar, Lanion, Pembroke Ferry, Hill and Imble. |
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Before 1815, the site of modern Pembroke Dock and its nearby settlements was
mostly farmland. A small hoard of Roman coins found at Pennar suggests local
farmers trading with Romanised Carmarthen. In 1595, shellfish from the
oyster beds at Pennar Mouth were known to be particularly "bigg and sweet".
"The choicest oysters" were still being fished there in 1897. The name
Pennar ("headland") is Welsh. Like Llanreath and Llanion, it dates from
before the Norman invasion of 1093.
Some early shipwrights, rowing back and fore from Milford, would land at
Pennar Point then walk via Llanreath to the Dockyard. One of this route's
attractions was the Dolphin at Llanreath Point. Publican Mr David Price
lived to be 96, remembered marking out the Dockyard site in 1813, and sold
beer "wisely diluted" - thereby avoiding fights on his premises.
(Sources:
Hughes, Pennar 1-2, 5; ; PT 22 Jul 1897; Charles 723; Mason 16, 33-4)
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Picture by courtesy of Pembrokeshire County Libraries.
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