Lecture Programme 2025 – 2026

Reviews The Stories Behind the Stones: The Churchyard of St Thomas a Becket Haverfordwest Pat Swales Barker Published by PASB.  ISBN 978-1-9160765-1-8 One might think that a description of graves and their occupants would be dreary and cheerless but Pat and her...

PAPERS FROM THE PAST By Mary John The Black Book of St David’s AN EXTENT OF ALL THE LANDS AND RENTS OF THE LORD BISHOP OF ST. DAVID’S, MADE BY MASTER DAVID FRANCEYS, CHANCELLOR OF ST. DAVID’S, IN THE TIME OF THE VENERABLE FATHER THE LORD DAVID MARTYN, BY THE GRACE OF...

Ambition and Schism: The Reverend Benjamin Chubb Evans at Neyland (1894-1919) By Simon Hancock The third chapel built by the Baptists at Neyland was a very large affair. Situated on the junction of Frederick Street and High Street, the huge edifice was opened in 1903...

Did the Baron Damage the Church of St Womar? By Mary John In 1861 Baron de Rutzen of Slebech found himself in trouble with the Bishop of St Davids. It was claimed that in 1844 he was responsible for the unauthorised destruction of the church of St Womar in Minwear, an...

High Tides and Low Politics: an Eclectic History of the Llangwm Ferry By Dai Stephens Milford Haven has long been recognised as one of the finest natural harbours on the planet. It has served naval and commercial purposes over many centuries. Most recently, the...

Female Friendly Societies in Pembrokeshire By Simon Hancock Friendly societies were voluntary organisations composed of people who came together to contribute to a common financial fund where the members received assistance during periods of sickness, infirmity and...

What Happened To Mr Ward? By Mary John On 16 July 1904 Mr Ward went missing. He was apparently visiting his brother, Admiral Thomas Le Hunte Ward, in Kensington, London, and was intending to make his way from Charing Cross Station to Cannon Street via Waterloo...

Pembrokeshire’s Crimean War Veterans By David Norris Recent years have seen considerable popular media interest in veterans of the two World Wars. This is not a new phenomenon as perusal of newspapers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century shows. However,...

Lewis Landry (1772-1857): The Voluntary Prisoner By Simon Hancock Early nineteenth-century prisons would have housed categories of prisoners other than convicted felons. The prison for the county of Pembroke located in the Cock House (situated between St Mary’s Street...

Llandudoch, St Dogmaels and St Thomas the Martyr  By Neil Ludlow  The monastic site at St Dogmaels has a rich and lengthy history.  It began as an early medieval cult site, within which a monastic community was founded for the Tironensian order of reformed...