Ferries from Pembroke
Pembroke Pembroke is a town in the county of Pembrokeshire, west Wales - the name means Land’s End. The town dates back over 900 years and is famous for its Norman Castle, one of Britain’s finest. In later centuries it expanded around the Royal Naval Dockyard and produced 260 ships, including several royal yachts and men-of-war. During World War II Pembroke Dock was a famous Sunderland Flying Boat base; it closed in 1957. Nowadays the town is known as an Irish Sea Ferry port, with daily sailings to Rosslare, and the harbour offers excellent boating and water sport facilities. History The town of Pembroke is steeped in history, dating back to the 11th century when Arnulf of Mongomery raised an earth and timber fortification on the banks of the Pembroke River. Although something of an outpost, it was considered to be of sufficient strategic value to justify progressive strengthening over the next 150 years The first stone structure on the site dates to the middle of the 13th Century. William de Valence, Mayor of Pembroke, built the town with walls at about the same time. In the Middle Ages the town prospered through the wool trade, established by Flemish immigrants. Pembroke Castle was the birthplace of Henry VII, founder of a dynasty - the Tudors - that was to have a profound effect on the course of history far beyond the confines of Wales. Pembroke came into prominence during the Civil War when in 1648 John Poyer, Mayor of the town, sided with the King, in spite of strong local support for Parliament. Poyer and his party occupied the Castle, which was by this time a formidable stronghold, but eventually surrendered following a siege by Cromwell’s men which inflicted much damage. The railway network reached Pembroke in the form of a standard gauge line from Tenby in 1863, and a connection with one of the arteries of Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s broad gauge Great Western Railway at Whitland was made a few years later. What to See & Do in Pembroke
