Pembroke Dock
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Pembroke Dock Doc Penfro |
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| Population | 8,676 |
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| OS grid reference | |
| Principal area | Pembrokeshire |
| Ceremonial county | Dyfed |
| Constituent country | Wales |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | PEMBROKE DOCK |
| Postcode district | SA72 |
| Dial code | 01646 |
| Police | Dyfed-Powys |
| Fire | Mid and West Wales |
| Ambulance | Wales |
| UK Parliament | Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire |
| European Parliament | Wales |
| List of places: UK • Wales • Pembrokeshire | |
Contents |
[edit] Geography
Pembroke Dock (Welsh: Doc Penfro) is a town in South Pembrokeshire, Wales, lying north of Pembroke at the end of the Milford Haven.
[edit] History
The town was founded in 1814 when a naval dockyard was established. Moreover, five Royal yachts were built along with 263 other Naval vessels. With the closure of the Dockyard in 1926, unemployment was high until the arrival of the flying boats in 1938. For almost 20 years the RAF base at Pembroke Dock was home to the Sunderland Flying Boats and during 1943 it was the largest operational base for flying boats in the world.
Within the MOD Moorings Depot there is a defensive tower later Pater Church. The Depot will be up for redevelopment. All the buildings surrounding the tower have been demolished or burnt down, the building is exposed; entry can be granted by application to the MOD.
The Western Martello tower of dressed Portland stone is in private hands and is largely intact. The Dockyard Wall is substantially complete and has been recently repaired by experts with dressed stone and lime mortar. The two listed hangars built to house the Sunderland Flying boats used to guard the Western Approaches, are being rebuilt and have to find new uses. The Dockyard Church has been rebuilt using Objective One funding from the EU and has to find a new use. The dressed limestone buildings built to service the Dockyard, Coronation School a magnificent building which is used as a Community Centre among others are due for demolition for redevelopment by speculative housing.
[edit] Today
Today, much of Pembroke Dock's maritime industry has gone. The town continues to cope with high unemployment, limited public and private investment, and decaying buildings. The town briefly had a resurgence in the late 1990s and early 2000s with the arrival of large superstores such as Tesco and Asda and also the development of the Cleddau Business Park. Much of the green belt land set aside for development of the Cleddau Business Park remains unsold and undeveloped.
The town was badly affected by the collapse of ITV Digital in 2002, from which their main customer call centre was based.
Pembroke Dock is well-served by the A477 trunk road which runs from St. Clears through Pembroke Dock and over the Cleddau Bridge to Haverfordwest. It also has a ferry terminal which sails twice-daily to Rosslare in Ireland. The service is operated by Irish Ferries.
Attractions in Pembroke Dock include the 1851 Martello Tower, now a local museum. The Cleddau Bridge leads north from the town, over the Daugleddau estuary.
[edit] External links
