May 14th 2025

An Interpretive Walk with Dr Simon Hancock, MBE 

The group gathered close to the Old Priory, at the lower end of Union Hill.  After the usual introductions, Simon led us on a fascinating and very detailed tour alongside the Cleddau river, explaining the history of the port which is fundamental to an understanding of the location of the town and how it evolved over the centuries.

The port was on the W bank of the river until the 19^th Century – there were no bridges until then.  In the Middle Ages the wine trade was very important with wine being shipped in from France and Iberia.  

Wool was the backbone of the trade, because of the Flemings.  (cf. surnames like Dyer and Fuller).  Flemish migrants came here because of the flooding of their lands. They were already in England and Wales and were encouraged to come here. Trading through the port was mainly in wine and wool, but there was also trade in spices and sugar, possibly in slaves? Bristol was the key partner trading port.

Originally, there more warehouses along the W bank of the river but these were demolished in the 1950s. Also, the river was previously a lot wider with marshy land on the E bank.

Haverfordwest was already the largest town in Wales. Wales was very sparsely populated and the port of Haverfordwest was the lifeblood of the town

There were already 3 parish churches – St Mary’s, St Martin’s and St Thomas’, reflecting the importance of Haverfordwest – it was on the pilgrim route to St Davids. Haverfordwest was very prosperous and cosmopolitan – the river brought people here as it was the main artery for transport – roads were very poorly maintained and often impassable in winter conditions.  There were Jewish money lenders – Thomas the Welshman was unusual – as it was essentially an English town at the time.

The priory was founded in c.1200 by Tancred, and suppressed by Henry VIII in 1536

The Union Workhouse (on Union Hill) was established in 1839

In 1479, Prince Edward granted Haverfordwest a charter, which gave the town the status of a county.  Hence in 1536 it was recorded as the county town of 2 counties – of itself and of Pembrokeshire.  In 1889 Pembrokeshire County Council came into being. 

In 1405, Owain Glyndwr had sacked the town, but not the castle.

Quay St was the rough part of town, known as Ship St in the Middle Ages.  The town was culturally diverse.  There was a tannery in Quay St and six pubs.  The Bristol Trader dates from 1748.  A Tudor Merchant’s House which formerly stood close by was painstakingly dismantled many years ago and taken to the museum at St Fagans near Cardiff, where it can now be seen, fully restored.

(Walking past the Bristol Trader.)

The Wool Market building near the modern-day Job Centre dates from 1748 and it was restored in 1777. Onion men (from Brittany) used to stay in the warehouses and walk all over Pembrokeshire, selling their wares.

The former Crown Post Office building dates from 1936 and now houses the very successful and thriving Haverhub community centre.

County Hall, seen across the river, opened in 1998.  The North Wing, retained from the former Preseli District Council offices, sits on the site of the old County Theatre.

A wooden swing bridge was established by Charles Norris in 1825.  Previously, the local militia stood on this bridge and it collapsed.

In the early 19^th Century, the town was imbued with a strong spirit of improvement – the stone bridge was built in 1833, along with a Grand Avenue and Castle Square.  William Owen was the architect who also funded the new bridge.  Tolls were levied to cover the ongoing maintenance.  Tolls were lifted in 1878, thereafter only being levied on one day per year with the proceeds going to war charities.  William Owen was a workaholic, involved in the design of Scolton Manor, Avallenau and the Shire Hall.  Ideally, he should be commemorated with a statue or a decent memorial, not merely the name of a Wetherspoons!

(Crossing the road, next to the New Bridge on Victoria Place.)

Skinners’ Quay (on L.) once housed a leather works.  It was here that Samuel Frolic fought a famous duel.  The building of the New Bridge inevitably sealed off the upper reaches of the river to tall craft and hence reduced the extent of the port warehousing on the W bank.  However, it opened up potential for more activity on the E bank. 

(Walking on to the former Ocky White site, now Waldo Lounge.)

When excavations took place on the Ocky White site, commencing in 2022, a huge archaeological discovery was unearthed, exposing the remains of a Dominican Priory dating from 1245.  (The Black Friars owned the whole of the riverbank as far as the Old Bridge.) Thirty-nine friars were there originally, but by 1538, when the Priory was forced to close down at the Reformation, only 8 friars remained.  The dig revealed some 307 skeletons which are still undergoing detailed analysis, but initial DNA results show many genetic links to continental Europe.

Solomon Marychurch set up a major Iron Foundry, which made wrought iron goods, including railings and milestones (still extant in many parts of the county.)  He was a benevolent employer who took his workers for a day’s paid holiday to Broad Haven each year.  The foundry closed in 1901 after a major explosion.

(Walking on to the Old Bridge.)   

The site now occupied by the Old Bridge was the original fording point where livestock could cross the river.  In 1485, Henry Tudor crossed here, having landed at Mill Haven, en route to Bosworth Field where he was to be victorious against Richard III and to become Henry VII.

Formerly there was a wooden bridge on this site which was destroyed in a catastrophic flood in 1725, when a number of people were drowned in their own beds.  In 1726, Sir John Philipps of Picton Castle paid for the stone bridge as a replacement.