Local History
4,160 years ago…
The Bluestone in the Preseli Mountains is the same stone used to
build Stonehenge. It is a hard granite containing quartz crystals
and is believed to hold magical qualities. Around 2150 BC 82
bluestones were transported from Pembrokeshire to Stonehenge. The
stones, some weighing as much as 4 tonnes, were dragged on rollers
and sledges to the headwaters on Milford Haven and then loaded onto
rafts. They began their arduous journey skirting the south coast of
Wales up the rivers Avon and Frome, before being dragged overland
again to Wiltshire. The final stage of the journey was by water,
down the river Wylye to Salisbury, then the Salisbury Avon to west
Amesbury. This astonishing journey covered nearly 240 miles. Phew!
Or you could believe the Arthurian legend’s version that says
Merlin the wizard directed its removal from Ireland, where Giants,
who brought the stones from Africa, had constructed it on Mount
Killaraus. Mmm?
2,000 years ago…
Dating back over 2000 years, we have what we believe to be the
remains of an Iron Age Settlement located in Minwear woods that
border Bluestone. The settlement enclosure would have housed two or
three families in stone, and wattle & daub houses with thatched
roofs protected by a ditch and bund, topped by a wooden palisade
fence. At night, the family would bring their cattle into the
enclosure to protect against naughty raiding tribes. Warfare
consisted of short raids - a kind of smash and grab of cattle and
other valuables.
For an authentic Iron Age experience, Castell Henllys is a
Scheduled Ancient Monument and one of many prehistoric promontory
forts in Pembrokeshire National Park dating to around 600BC, and it
was here that the BBC filmed it's amazing TV series ‘Surviving
the Iron Age’.
Around 1,500 yrs ago…
Pembrokeshire was ruled by a royal dynasty originating from
Ireland. The Normans also started to inhabit the area, gradually
moving in from France. Only the Crème de la crème of course.
Around 800 years ago…
The Knights of St John of Jerusalem provided a safe passage for
pilgrims to St David's Cathedral in the middle ages (1154 – 1484).
Pilgrims had to obtain permission from the local bishop to be able
to venture on a Pilgrimage and they believed that they would spend
less time in purgatory if they made this religious crusade.
Pilgrimage was big business back in the middle ages as pilgrims
made donations to the church with money, gold, objects or candles,
depending on their wealth. At local Minwear Church, the glass
window carries the distinctive cross of the Knights of St John of
Jerusalem. Robert FitzLomer, Lord of the Manor, sometime prior to
1231, granted the parish church to the Knights Hospitaller at
Slebech.