Pre 1814 - Pembroke Ferry

Pembroke ferry, c. 1820. The new dockyard is to the west of the old road from Pembroke to the Passage.

Pembroke Ferry provided the quickest crossing between the Medieval strong points of Pembroke and Haverfordwest. "The Passage" of Pembroke's first charter (c 1180?) is by 1324 named "Penebroke Fferre". The wooden ferryboats could carry substantial payloads. In 1500, the ferrymen had to agree to pay for damage if they failed to provide straw protecting the boat's planking against heavy loads of timber and stones. In 1897 the boat could hold two men (rowers) and 19 Llangwm women, complete with their goods for sale in the market.  Lord Cawdor and the Castlemartin Yeomanry crossed here in February 1797, hastening to repulse the French invaders at Fishguard. That August, the Yeomanry stood guard while 200 captives were rowed out to their prison ships. As the escort watched from Pembroke Ferry, a grateful French soldier "whose life Lord Cawdor had saved from a Welshman's blow, pulling off his hat, made two or three bows". In 1834, rates at Pembroke Ferry were "one halfpenny for a foot passenger, one penny for a man and horse, and one shilling per wheel for carriages". By that time, rival ferries were carrying traders and workers to the new dockyard town. Mr Huzzey of Pembroke Ferry lost a complicated law case to protect his business, and his opponents at Neyland celebrated with bonfires and fireworks. Rowboat ferries now landed at Front Street and Hobbs Point, where steam ferries also began running.

Pembroke Ferry operators sometimes took a relaxed attitude to their duties. In 1772, John Wesley noted "The watermen were not in haste to fetch us over". He sat on a stone and read while waiting. As late as 1903, ferrymen were not inclined  to rush their leisurely lunch at the Ferry House Inn for the sake of a solitary passenger. Today, travellers cross near the old route - but by car, and using the Haven Bridge high above the original boat's course. Some 19th shipbuilding took place in the Pembroke Ferry area where, in 1855, the coaster Pilot was launched at Mr William Allen's yard. Nearby Kingswood and Bangeston appear in Medieval farm accounts. "Kingswood" may come from a time when the Earldom of Pembroke was in the hands of the Crown, while Bangeston derives its name from its early occupants, the Benger family.

(Sources: Charles 722-3, 729; Owen 83, 115, 176; Mason 90-91, Lewis 1834.; PDG 23 Jul 1897; Salmon 194; Williams, Wesley, 87; Johnson, Ferryboat ahoy; HMT 30 May 1855)
Picture by courtesy of  Pembrokeshire Record Office