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RHOSCROWTHER
GRID REFERENCE: SM 901014
AREA IN HECTARES: 2017
Historic Background
This large character area lies on the south side of the Milford Haven
waterway. It lies within the parishes of Angle, Hundleton, Pwllcrochan
and Rhoscrowther. The landscape features a large number of prehistoric
elements. The present B4320 is traditionally thought to follow the line
of a prehistoric trackway, known as ‘The Ridgeway’, that runs
along the main east-west ridge across south Pembrokeshire. The amount
of prehistoric archaeology surviving within the immediate environs lends
credence to the tradition of this being a ancient trackway. Neighbouring
this area Kilpaison Burrows dune slacks overlie a well-known complex of
bronze age round barrows, and a neolithic burial chamber, the ‘Devil’s
Quoit’. Further groups of prominent barrows lie just south of Wallaston
Farm, and at the Dry Burrows near Hundleton, while Corston Beacon round
barrow is still a prominent landmark. Straight, north-south field boundaries
that characterise much of south Pembrokeshire are co-axial upon the east-west
Ridgeway and are possibly prehistoric in origin. The Ridgeway remains
a prominent landscape feature and appears to have formed the boundary
between the early medieval commotes, of Manorbier – within which
this area lay - and Coedrath, both in Cantref Penfro. An ecclesiastical
centre lay at Rhoscrowther itself, which was the site of a ‘Bishop
house’, a quasi-collegiate foundation of St Davids. Much of the
area lay within the later medieval Manor of Castlemartin which was the
demesne manor of the Lordship of Pembroke, and a castle-guard fee. Rhoscrowther
and Pwllcrochan appear to have been more loosely tied to the manor and
by the later medieval period a separate gentry-house had been established
in Rhoscrowther parish at Eastington. Hundleton parish was created out
of part of Monkton parish in the 1840s and lay within the borough liberty
of Pembroke. Angle, comprising 2 knight’s fees, was held as a mesne
lordship of Pembroke. Many of the farms in the area began as vills mentioned
in accounts of the 13th century to the 15th century. Orielton and Kilpaison
represented one knight’s fee held of Pembroke by Richard Wyryot
in 1353, Moreston represented ½ knights’s fee held of Pembroke,
Rhoscrowther, with the parish church and glebe were also held of Pembroke,
and Corston, Neath and Wallaston, were members of the Manor of Castlemartin
from the 13th century onwards. Pwllcrochan parish church was a possession
of the Benedictines of Monkton Priory, Pembroke. However, there is little
evidence for open-field farming within the area, but strips were still
held collectively within the fields of Newton Farm in 1824, and are shown
on a map of that year. Windmills appear to have formed a prominent feature
of the landscape and at least three appear to have occupied the area during
the medieval or early post-medieval period. The Herbert Earls of Pembroke
held Castlemartin manor from 1551 until 1598 when it was sold to the Lorts
of Stackpole. In 1698, Alexander Campbell acquired it through marriage.
Many of the farms, and major houses such as Bangeston – possibly
the site of a moated medieval manor - were in direct Campbell ownership.
Rhoscrowther and Pwllcrochan had become a holding distinct from the Castlemartin
estate, the ‘Rosecrowther and Pulcrogan Estate’ which comprises
most of the central part of this area. In 1824 the estate was sold to
Sir John Owen of Orielton, an estate that included the easternmost part
of this area, and the Mirehouses of Angle eventually acquired much of
it. The present system of large, irregular fields and dispersed settlement,
is apparent by 1787, when it is shown on an estate map of that year, as
are the villages of Rhoscrowther and the hamlet of Pwllcrochan. Both these
settlements were abandoned as a result of the construction of an oil refinery
and power station in neighbouring areas in the 1960s. There are also limestone
quarries in this area.
Base map reproduced from the OS map with the permission
of Ordnance Survey on behalf of The Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery
Office, © Crown Copyright 2001.
All rights reserved. Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown Copyright
and may lead to prosecution or civil proceedings. Licence Number: GD272221
Description and essential historic landscape components
Rhoscrowther is a large historic landscape area that stretches along the
southern banks of the Milford Haven waterway from Hundleton in the east
to the far west of the Castlemartin Peninsula. Although it includes the
mud, marsh and rocks along the foreshore of the waterway, the main bulk
of this area comprises an agricultural landscape lying across gently undulating
hills that rise to 60m to 70m above sea level. Apart from the loosely
clustered and now abandoned hamlet of Rhoscrowther and the former cluster
of dwellings at Pwllcrochan there are no villages, and the settlement
pattern comprises dispersed farms and other dwellings. Rhoscrowther and
Pwllcrochan were abandoned during or after the construction of the Texaco
oil refinery and Pembroke Power Station. There are a large number of listed
buildings most of them farm buildings. Farms tend towards the large size.
Stone is the main building material, with houses usually cement rendered
and outbuildings left bare, and slate the roofing material. Farmhouses
date in the main to the 19th century, but there is great variety in this
area, with more examples in the polite Georgian style than in the vernacular
tradition. Although the latter tradition is apparent in some of the smaller
examples, such as the 17th century or 18th century house at Hilton with
its massive chimney, and the remains of 18th century Bangeston House.
Other older examples include the late medieval tower house at Eastington
with its neighbouring 18th century house, and an old 16th or 17th century
mansion at Henllan now used as a barn. Modern housing is not a strong
component of the landscape, but new single dwellings constructed close
to farms are present. Most farms have substantial ranges of 19th century
outbuildings, often set in a formal arrangement around a yard, and large
collections of modern steel, concrete and asbestos agricultural structures.
Included in this area are two medieval churches, each with a substantial
tower, St Decumanus at Rhoscrowther and St Mary’s at Pwllcrochan.
Land-use is a mixture of improved pasture and arable. There is very little
rough pasture or under-used farmland apart from pockets of marsh close
to the coast. Deciduous woodland is common on the steeper valley sides
and on the coastal slopes – indeed in the latter location it is
very prominent – but across the more gently sloping farmland it
does not constitute a major landscape component. Fields are large. Hedges
on banks are by far the most common type of boundary, but towards the
western part of the area mortared walls form a small but significant element.
Hedges are generally well maintained. Mortared stone cylindrical gateposts
are a feature of the landscape, particularly towards the area’s
western end. Non-agricultural landscape components are not numerous, but
included small reservoirs, sites of dismantled oil storage tanks and telecommunication
masts. There are numerous archaeological sites within this area, but they
are not prominent landscape features and therefore do not form major components
of the historic landscape. Nevertheless they include: several bronze age
burial mounds, bronze age standing stones, bronze age burnt mounds, many
prehistoric flintworking sites, sites of medieval settlements, old cottages
and sites of houses at Pwllcrochan, limekilns and quarries, and 20th century
defensive structures.
Definition of this area to the north where it borders the waterway or
an oil refinery and power station is very good. To the east and west definition
is less clear, and to the south where the character area has yet to be
delineated boundary definition is poor, with no hard-edged border but
rather a wide zone of change.
Sources: Angle parish tithe map 1842; Hundleton Parish tithe map 1841;
Jones 1987; Kissock 1993: Lockley 1977; Ludlow 1993; Ludlow 1998; Nash
1986; NLW VOL. 1; NMR Cawdor Map Book, 1787; Owen 1918; PRO D/EE/7/338;
PRO D/LLC/674; PRO D/ANGLE/5; PRO D/ANGLE/92; PRO HDX/198/2; PRO D/BUSH/6142
& 144; Pwllcrochan Parish tithe map 1840; Ramsey 1999; Rhoscrowther
Parish tithe map; Walker 1950
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