Haverfordwest

9 Aug

Pembrokeshire was one of my favourite places that I visited this summer. Fishguard was beautiful and with the first stone circle being so interesting it was definitely worth the hour drive from where I was staying at Newgale beach in the van. Newgale is very near to Haverfordwest, and there was a stone circle in a fairly awkward place, although I managed to find it in the end. There wasn’t a car park dedicated to the site and so I had to park in the Morrisons supermarket car park and walk across the street to the park. The stone circle is just off a roundabout and is placed next to the river. This is something I have noticed as well as I have traveled around Wales, that most of the stone circles are located next to (or very near) to a body of water such as a river, lake or stream. Walking into the enclosure where the stone circle was I saw two teenage girls sitting using two of the stones as backrests whilst having some food and chatting. The stone circle itself was relatively unremarkable in comparison to others and as the enclosure it was located in was so small I found it difficult to take a full picture of it.

Something that was significant about this site though was the presence of an informative sign, letting the visitor know that the stone circle was created for the 1972 Eisteddfod, and that it was ‘re sitted under the direction of Mr Dillwyn Miles’, who was formerly the Herald Bard. This is the first time I had seen information about the movement of these stone circles to a new location, something I didn't know happened and was very surprised to find out about. 

It wouldn’t be right of me to not mention some other very significant visits and experiences I had whilst in Pembrokeshire that were not necessarily relating to Gorsedd stone circles themselves, but do have a very strong impact on the experience of Welsh heritage. Firstly, I would like to mention a fantastic interaction I had down next to Newgale beach. A lovely man approached me and my friend Rhiannon while we were sat outside of the Duke of Edinburgh Inn enjoying a pint, asking if we would like to buy a small flag off of him for a pound to support the hospital in Milford Haven from being shut down. Of course we agreed and he offered us the Pembrokeshire flag, something I didn’t know existed until then. 

This is the Pembrokeshire flag, and this gentleman began to describe to us what all the aspects of the flag meant. I would not do it justice if I tried to explain it in full, but the blue on the top two squares stands for the bright blue skies Pembrokeshire has, and the bottom two squares represent the beautifully blue clear waters of the sea and rivers, and the green pentagon around the rose represents the green fields and clifftops of Pembrokeshire. The yellow cross is based off of the flag of St Davids, and the rose is a Tudor rose which is in reference to Henry VII who was of English and Welsh descent, being born in Pembroke castle. Of course I enjoyed this description immensely and was very impressed with how much this man knew about the flag! He then asked us about ourselves and, after we had paid him two pounds for a Pembrokeshire flag each, he told us to look up the Pembrokeshire flag on google. I did just that and he asked me to read out who had created the flag. I read out the wikipedia page and it stated that the flag was created by councillors ‘Peter Stock, Dewi Pritchard, Jim Brock and Marjorie Jacobs in the 1970s’. He then went on to say to the first name I had read out that ‘you’ve met him recently’. This initially confused me, but as he chuckled and walked away, I realised he meant it was himself! After laughing for a while at this fantastic introduction, I followed him and asked if I could take a picture of him. Here is Peter Stock, one of the creators of the Pembrokeshire flag. 

This brilliant introduction to Pembrokeshire and its heritage was only the beginning. Even though Gorsedd stone circles are the focus of this website, there were also some other fascinating sites to be explored in Pembrokeshire. After driving up in an attempt to meet my best friend in northern Pembrokeshire, I ended up losing signal on my way to find Tycanol, an ancient woodland where I was supposed to be meeting her and one of her friends. This would have been a problem, but after driving past where I thought the entrance would have been, I came across a layby where a few other cars were parked. I decided to get out of the van and have a look at what the fuss was about. Turns out, I had ended up finding an ancient burial chamber completely by accident! Luckily there was a sign post on the entrance to the path that leads to the site and so I followed the path and came across this incredible structure. 

Another fantastic element of this site was the informative sign that was present. Unlike Gorsedd stone circle sites, this ancient burial site actually had information for visitors to read up on. I found out that this site is called Pentre Ifan and it was the first site to be granted legal protection in all of Wales by Augustus Pitt Rivers, the pioneer of modern archaeology. The sign also says that it is made up of the same local blue stone that was used to create stonehenge, a fact of which still baffles those who study it to this day. It is not known however what meaning these standing stones at Pentre Ifan have, or if they had a purpose and this will probably remain a mystery indefinitely. 

After taking in this wonderful site, I ended up getting some signal back at the van and so typed in ‘pub near me’ and headed to the Trevern Arms which was only a 10 minute drive away. This pub was absolutely gorgeous and I ended up asking if I could park my van in the car park overnight which they told me I could and offered for me to book in for dinner that evening too. I of course said yes as I felt like spending the rest of the evening there. This led to me having dinner and meeting a very lovely couple who were eating dinner next to me. Sandra and Niel own a BnB up near Welshpool at a fantastic place called Penyvoel Hall and I agreed to go up and see it in person very soon and suggest others do too! Here is the link to book if you would like to have a look and hopefully visit! We stayed up quite late chatting and eventually I went and got into my van to go to sleep. Sandra and Niel very generously offered for me to sneak up and have a shower in their room as they had stayed in the pub’s hotel that night and so they woke me up in the morning and I got to have a shower which was brilliant. 

Leaving the pub in the morning I set off to follow a map that Rhiannon’s friend Zoe had kindly made for me to be able to find the ancient woodland I had been looking for the previous day. Her map drawing skills were on point as I managed to find the ‘car park’ for the woodland that ended up being a dirt layby full of holes! I grabbed my water bottle and set off. This sign was at the entrance to the reservation and it was full of great information. 

As can be seen on the sign, Ty Canol is an ancient woodland that was old even when Pentre Ifan was built 5500 years ago and is one of the best places to see lichen anywhere in Britain or Ireland. Something that should be pointed out is that on the sign the length of the walk is highlighted by a red box surrounding the information, something that I may have accidentally underestimated the importance of as I started walking up the hill towards a stunning outcrop of rocks up on the hill.

The walk up the hill going towards the woods was fine and then the walk down into the woods was also fine, but the woods themselves were absolutely breathtaking. I have never seen anything like this place before. The gnarled woods and moss covered rocks are a sight to behold and I highly recommend going. You can feel the depth of age that this place has and the energy that emanates around you is indescribable. Here are some pictures of this wondrous place to inspire you to visit. 

It was amazing as I also got to stand there and watch a woodpecker up in a tree hammering away for a while, and even though I tried to get a video of it, unfortunately it came out quite blurry as it was a bit too far away. I didn’t do the full walk through the woods as I was a bit worried that it was heading a lot further down the hill and I knew I already had a fairly long walk back up the hill out in the sun and I only had limited water. I still spent about an hour walking slowly through the trees admiring the beauty of the place before I started to walk back up the hill.

Now, here is where reading the sign at the beginning carefully would have come in handy. I had not anticipated that the walk over the hill towards the woods was relatively easy as it was quite a gentle slope and I was facing away from the sun at the time, but on the way back up it was a lot steeper and I was facing directly into the sun. By this time it was about 11am, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and I had forgotten to put on my hat. This therefore meant I very much struggled up the hill in what must have been at least 30 degree heat with the sun roasting my face. I began to get worried about half way up but caught my breath under a singular tree that just so happened to be conveniently located just where I needed it. I thanked the tree and carried on. I just about made it back to the van with a tiny bit of water left in my water bottle, and luckily I had the means to refill it or else I would have definitely been in trouble as I was very dehydrated and in the middle of nowhere. As it was though, I made it back to Haverfordwest without much incident and relaxed for the hottest portion of the day before heading back to Swansea.