Pembroke
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 Aerial view ofPembroke Castle and Main Street | |
  Pembroke Location withinPembrokeshire | |
| Population | 7,552 (2011 census)[1] |
| OS grid reference | SM985015 |
| Community |
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| Principal area | |
| Preserved county | |
| Country | Wales |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | PEMBROKE |
| Postcode district | SA71 |
| Dialling code | 01646 |
| Police | Dyfed-Powys |
| Fire | Mid and West Wales |
| Ambulance | Welsh |
| UK Parliament | |
| Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament | |
51°40′34″N4°54′57″W / 51.67604°N 4.9158°W /51.67604; -4.9158  Map of the community | |
Pembroke (/ˈpɛmbrʊk/PEM-bruuk;Welsh:Penfro[ˈpɛnvrɔ][3]) is a town andcommunity inPembrokeshire, Wales, with a population of 7,552. The names of both the town and the county (of which thecounty town isHaverfordwest) have a common origin; both are derived from theCantref of Penfro:Pen, 'head' or 'end', andbro, 'region', 'country', 'land', which has been interpreted to mean either 'Land's End'[4] or 'headland'.[5]
Pembroke features a number of historic buildings, town walls, complexes andPembroke Castle which was the birthplace of Henry Tudor, who becameHenry VII of England.
Pembroke Castle, the substantial remains of a stonemedievalfortress founded by the Normans in 1093, stands at the western tip of a peninsula surrounded by water on three sides. The castle was the seat of the powerful Earls of Pembroke and the birthplace of KingHenry VII of England.Gerald de Windsor was the first recorded Constable of Pembroke. Pembroke town and castle and its surroundings are linked with the early Christian church. Following the final extension of the castle about 1254 the town was extended and defensive perimeter walls erected around the edge of the town. The walls survive on their medieval foundations, although much rebuilt over the centuries. A great many of the town's original medievalburgage plots survive and are divided by early stone walls that are of significant national importance.
Monkton Priory, sited on a hill across the river from the castle, founded in 1098 byArnulf de Montgomery and granted by him to the Benedictine order, has very early foundations and retains much of the Norman walls of the nave. The choir and sanctuary were renovated in the nineteenth century.Monkton Hall, close by the Priory church, is regarded as the oldest domestic building in Pembrokeshire and possibly Wales and is thought to have been the guesthouse for visitors to the Priory.
The first stone building in the town was a defensive tower, now known as the Medieval Chapel, at 69a Main Street and built on a cliff edge. There are the remains of agreat hall to the north and recently filled-in arched cellars. The building was thought to have been later used as an early church as the layout is the same asSt. Govan's Chapel and was used byJohn Wesley in 1764 to preachMethodism. In 1866 it became the brewery for the York Tavern which was brieflyOliver Cromwell's headquarters at the end of theSiege of Pembroke during theEnglish Civil War.
The town's main bridge across the River Pembroke, which also acts as a dam, crosses and constrains themillpond. The first bridge was constructed to house atide mill, originally granted to the Knight's Templar in 1199.[6] The last mill building was destroyed by fire in 1956.
On both banks of thePembroke River to the west of the castle are many remains of early activities. The North Shore Quarries are relatively complete as are the remains of medieval andElizabethan slipways where wooden vessels were built before the industrial dockyard and admiralty town was built on the grid pattern ofPembroke Dock. There is a very early complete graving dock in what was Hancock's Yard.
During the English Civil War, the strategic maritime shire was primarily in the control of the parliamentary forces which aspired to prevent communication to Ireland.[7]
At Pennar Flats there was an early submarine base used for experiments in submarine warfare. Three of the houses on the then foreshore, part of the shipyard before the Admiralty Dock Yard was built, are still standing but are heavily altered.[citation needed]
Theferryport ofPembroke Dock is 3 miles (4.8 km) to the northwest of Pembroke. It was established in 1814.
Pembroke town stands on the South Pembrokeshire limestonepeninsula by theestuary of theRiver Cleddau, flanked on all sides by woodland and arable farmland. The town is 8 miles (13 km) south of the county town ofHaverfordwest.
The town is centred on Main Street, which is the only street that is inside the originalPembroke town walls. Outside the walls, residential estates have been built to the north towardsPembroke Dock, to the east towardsLamphey, and to the south. To the west of the town lies the village ofMonkton, which is included as part of thecommunity of Pembroke. At the2001 census, the community had a population of 7,214.[8]
The conurbation of Pembroke Dock and Pembroke has a combined population of 15,890 and as such is one of the major population centres ofWest Wales.
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There are two tiers of local government covering Pembroke, atcommunity (town) andcounty level: Pembroke Town Council andPembrokeshire County Council. Pembroke Town Council is based atPembroke Town Hall.[9] Thecommunity of Pembroke covers an area of 4.58 square miles (1,190 ha)[10] and includes thePembroke St Mary North,St Mary South, St Michael and Monktonwards.[10]
For representation on the county council, the four wards comprising Pembroke community each elect one councillor.[11]
Pembroke is part of theCarmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire Senedd constituency and theMid and South Pembrokeshire UK Parliamentary constituency.
The localMember of Parliament (MP) isHenry Tufnell, a member of theLabour Party.[12]
Pembroke was anancient borough, with evidence of borough charters dating back to at least 1168. The borough covered the two parishes of Pembroke St Mary and Pembroke St Michael plus part of the parish ofMonkton (also known as Pembroke St Nicholas). The borough was reformed to become amunicipal borough in 1836.[13] The borough included a sizeable rural area within its boundaries as well as the built up area of Pembroke itself. The town ofPembroke Dock, which developed from the early nineteenth century as a separate urban area was nevertheless within the borough boundaries of Pembroke, falling within the parish of Pembroke St Mary. The part of the parish of Monkton outside the borough boundaries became a separate parish calledHundleton in 1894.[14]
As Pembroke Dock grew through the nineteenth century it began to rival the old town of Pembroke for position as the main settlement within the borough. By 1895 Pembroke Borough Council had adopted the practice of holding its meetings alternately atPembroke Town Hall and at Pembroke Dock, where the council had established its main administrative offices at 37 Bush Street (renumbered 71 Bush Street in 1906).[15] The council remained based at 71 Bush Street (and later also expanded into neighbouring 73 Bush Street) until the early 1970s when it acquired Llanion Park, part of the Llanion Barracks at Pembroke Dock, to serve as its headquarters.[16]
Pembroke Borough Council was abolished under theLocal Government Act 1972, with the area becoming part of the new district ofSouth Pembrokeshire within the county ofDyfed on 1 April 1974. A community was established to cover the area of the former borough, with its council taking the name Pembroke Town Council.[17][18] South Pembrokeshire District Council took over Llanion Park at Pembroke Dock to serve as its headquarters.[19]
On 1 April 1986 the community of Pembroke was split into a Pembroke Dock community and a reduced Pembroke community, with Pembroke Town Council thereafter just covering the old town of Pembroke itself.[20]
South Pembrokeshire was abolished in 1996, with the area becoming part of a re-established Pembrokeshire.
Primary and pre-school (ages 3–11) education in Pembroke is served by three state schools. In Pembroke town, Golden Grove CP School is an English-medium school established in 2002 as adual stream school following the amalgamation of Golden Manor Infants School and Grove Junior School.[21] Since 2024, Welsh-medium primary education has been provided by Ysgol Bro Penfro.[22] In Monkton, pupils can attend Monkton Priory CP School.
Secondary education is provided byHenry Tudor School (in Welsh:Ysgol Harri Tudur), a mixed 11–18comprehensive school of 1,600 pupils with asixth form of about 200. The school was formed in 1972 as a result of the amalgamation of the formergrammar school andsecondary modern school. Previously known as Pembroke School, it adopted its current name in September 2018 following the construction of new buildings on the same site and the demolition of the original buildings. The school takes pupils from the Pembroke family of schools, which as well as Golden Grove and Monkton Priory includes community primary schools in Lamphey, Orielton, Pennar and Pembroke Dock, voluntary controlled primary schools in Angle, Cosheston and Stackpole, and St. Mary's Catholic Primary School in Pembroke Dock.[23]
Pembroke 21Ccommunity association was founded in 2004, and is based out of the Foundry House building on the Commons, which they operate as acommunity centre. Activities carried out by 21C include organising the annual Pembroke Festival, running the town's fortnightlyfarmers' market and producing a quarterly newsletter which is distributed to all households in the town. Pembroke Rugby Club organises the town's annual carnival, which is usually held in June. Pembroke Library shares a building with the Tourist Information Centre on Commons Road and offers a full lending service and internet access.
Pembroke has beentwinned with the towns ofBergen, Lower Saxony, Germany, since 1977[24] andPembroke, Malta, since 2002.
Pembroke Rugby Club is on Upper Lamphey Road. The ground is called Crickmarren. The club plays inWRU Division Five West. Pembroke's main game of the season is often the local derby with rivals thePembroke Dock Harlequins. Pembroke producedOspreys and Welsh internationalJonathan Thomas, Welsh internationalDominic Day and Scotland internationalLuke Hamilton.
Other sporting clubs in the area include thefootball team Monkton Swifts.
The town is home to Pembroke Cricket Club. Thecricket club plays its home games at its Treleet ground on Upper Lamphey Road, opposite the rugby club. The club currently has a 1st and a 2nd team playing in divisions 2 and 4 of the Pembrokeshire league. The club colours are green and gold.
In February 2012[update], it was revealed that Pembroke was the UK's second-slowest broadband town.[31] The average internet download speed in Pembroke was just over 1.6 Mbit/s (1600 kbit/s) compared to the UK average of 12.0 Mbit/s (12000 kbit/s) at the time.
BT's telephone exchange, which serves Pembroke and Pembroke Dock, was upgraded in 2014 under the Superfast Cymru programme and new cabinets were built to providefiber-to-the-cabinet technology. Additional exchanges across Pembrokeshire are also being upgraded under the programme, with a goal of bringing superfast broadband to 96% of Wales by spring 2016.[32] In 2022,alternative network provider Ogi announced plans to rolloutfiber-to-the-premises technology in Pembroke allowing households access to broadbands speeds up to 1 Gbit/s (1000 Mbit/s).[33]
The Corporation meets at Pembroke & Pembroke Dock alternately...
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)...at the offices of South Pembrokeshire District Council, Llanion Park, Pembroke Dock.
Pembroke travel guide from Wikivoyage| International | |
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