Site of Special Scientific Interest | |
Location | Pembrokeshire |
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Coordinates | 51°40′49″N5°05′52″W / 51.68022°N 5.09766°W |
Area | 133.5 hectares (1.335 km2) |
Notification | 1 January 1953/16 October 2003 |
The Angle Peninsula Coast on the southern side of the entrance to the Milford Haven Waterway in Pembrokeshire, Wales, is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. [1] There is a wide range of wildlife and a former Royal Air Force station.
The peninsula is rich in Second World War defences and the site of the former air base RAF Angle. The hollows in the banks around it were used to house machine guns in the Second World War and there was a searchlight battery here. Inland from East Picket bay are the remnants of the E-Pens used to house fighter aircraft if they were needed. In a field close to the World War I memorial there are the remains of an anti-aircraft post. On a section of the coastal path just past the RNLI lifeboat house there are visible remains of an anti-aircraft post. This site was later changed and used to house a 40 mm Rolls-Royce cannon. At the north hill, there are remains of a Laing hut that was used as housing for a searchlight. On a rocky patch of ground at west pill is a brick mine watcher hut. This was used specifically to watch out for the enemy who may be laying mines in Milford Haven.
RAF Angle was an airfield during World War II. It opened in 1941 after Luftwaffe attacks against Pembroke Dock. The airfield, which began as a station for No. 10 Group, Fighter Command, housed several squadrons during the war such as No. 312 (Czechoslovak) Squadron RAF and the Canadian 412 Transport Squadron. Planes included Supermarine Spitfires, Westland Whirlwinds and Hawker Hurricanes. In 1943 operational control passed on to the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy. During this time a Sunderland flying boat landed at Angle airfield after receiving hull damage during a rescue. It returned to the RAF and became home to the Coastal command unit who tested weapons that could be used against German U-boats. After the war was over the buildings were no longer used and many were removed in the 1980s; however, some still stand in remote locations.
On 15 February 1996, the oil tanker Sea Empress grounded at the Milford Haven Waterway entrance, spilling 72,000 tonnes of crude oil. The coastline around Angle was severely damaged. The effect of the oil spill lasted several years and cost £60 million. [2]
Pembrey Sands Air Weapons Range is a Ministry of Defence air weapons range located near the village of Pembrey, Carmarthenshire, 3 miles (4.8 km) northwest of Burry Port and 10.3 miles (16.6 km) south of Carmarthen, Wales. Adjacent to the weapons range site is a former Royal Air Force station known as Royal Air Force Pembrey, or more simply RAF Pembrey, which closed in 1957 and of which part is now in civilian use as Pembrey Airport.
Dale is both a small village and a community in Pembrokeshire, Wales, located on the peninsula which forms the northern side of the entrance to the Milford Haven Waterway. The village has 205 inhabitants according to the 2001 census, increasing to 225 at the 2011 Census.
The MV Sea Empress was a single-hull Suezmax oil tanker that ran aground at the entrance to the Milford Haven harbour on the southwest coast of Wales in February 1996. The ensuing oil spill, Britain's third largest oil spillage and the 12th largest in the world at the time, devastated a considerable area of local coastline and killed many birds, and continued to affect the Pembrokeshire coast for years afterwards.
Haverfordwest Airport, also known as Withybush Airport, is a minor airport located 2 NM north of Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire. It is on the site of the former RAF Haverfordwest, which was operational between 1943 and 1945. Pembrokeshire County Council bought the site in the 1950s, and it has been a civil airfield since, with a number of other organisations also using it.
Milford Haven Waterway is a natural harbour in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is a ria or drowned valley which was flooded at the end of the last ice age. The Daugleddau estuary winds west to the sea. As one of the deepest natural harbours in the world, it is a busy shipping channel, trafficked by ferries from Pembroke Dock to Ireland, oil tankers and pleasure craft. Admiral Horatio Nelson, visiting the haven with the Hamiltons, described it as the next best natural harbour to Trincomalee in Ceylon and "the finest port in Christendom". Much of the coastline of the Waterway is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, listed as Milford Haven Waterway SSSI.
Royal Air Force Station Nuthampstead or more simply RAF Nuthampstead is a former Royal Air Force station in England. The airfield is located mostly in Hertfordshire between the villages of Nuthampstead and Anstey and the hamlet of Morrice Green in Hertfordshire and Langley, Lower Green and Clavering Park Wood in Essex. The eastern part of the airfield including part of the East-West Runway, the Fuel Store, the dispersal areas of 600 and 601 Squadrons and the northeastern perimeter track were all in Essex. RAF Nuthampstead is located four miles to the east of the A10 Hertford to Royston road.
Royal Air Force Hethel or more simply RAF Hethel is a former Royal Air Force station which was used by both the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) and the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War. The airfield is located 7 miles (11 km) south west of Norwich, Norfolk, England and is now owned by Lotus Cars.
Angle is a village, parish and community on the southern side of the entrance to the Milford Haven Waterway in Pembrokeshire, Wales. The village school has closed, as have one of the two pubs, the village shop and St Mary's church. There is a bus link to Pembroke railway station.
Royal Air Force Angle, or more simply RAF Angle, is a former Royal Air Force station located on the Angle Peninsula Coast, 8 miles (13 km) west of Pembroke, Pembrokeshire, Wales. It was operational from 1 June 1941 to 11 July 1946, having been used by both the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy.
Royal Air Force Talbenny, or more simply RAF Talbenny, is a former Royal Air Force station located 5.6 miles (9.0 km) north west of Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire and 7.9 miles (12.7 km) south west of Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, Wales.
Royal Air Force Carew Cheriton, or more simply RAF Carew Cheriton, is a former Royal Air Force station located near Carew, Pembrokeshire. It was situated 4.7 miles (7.6 km) north west of Tenby.
Royal Naval Air Station Dale is a former Royal Naval Air Station, located 10 miles (16 km) South West of Haverfordwest in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It was operational between 1942 and 1948, being used by both the Royal Air Force (1942–1943) and the Royal Navy (1943–1948).
Royal Air Force Templeton, or more simply RAF Templeton, is a former Royal Air Force station located 9.75 miles (15.69 km) south east of Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire and 10 miles (16 km) north east of Pembroke Dock, Pembrokeshire, Wales.
The town of Milford Haven was founded in 1793 by Sir William Hamilton, who initially invited Quaker whalers from Nantucket to live in his town, and then, in 1797, the Navy Board to create a dockyard for building warships.
The Sea Empress oil spill occurred at the entrance to the Milford Haven Waterway in Pembrokeshire, Wales on 16 February 1996. The Sea Empress was en route to the Texaco oil refinery near Pembroke when she became grounded on mid-channel rocks at St. Ann's Head. Over the course of a week, she spilt 72,000 tons of crude oil into the sea. The spill occurred within the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park – one of Europe's most important and sensitive wildlife and marine conservation areas. It was Britain's third largest oil spillage and the twelfth largest in the world at the time.
Cawdor Barracks is a British Army installation located 6.3 miles (10.1 km) east of St Davids, Pembrokeshire and 9.8 miles (15.8 km) south west of Fishguard, Pembrokeshire, Wales.
Royal Air Force St Davids, or more simply RAF St Davids, is a former Royal Air Force station, near the city of St Davids, Pembrokeshire, Wales, in the community of Solva.
West Blockhouse Fort is a mid-19th century coastal artillery fort at West Blockhouse Point, a rocky headland near Dale, Pembrokeshire, to the west of Milford Haven in Wales.
Royal Air Force Pembroke Dock, or more simply RAF Pembroke Dock, was a Royal Air Force Seaplane and Flying boat station located at Pembroke Dock, Pembrokeshire, Wales. The Royal Navy contingent left in 1926 with the Royal Air Force occupying the site from 1 January 1930. During the initial stages of World War II, it became the home of two Dutch flying boats and their squadron personnel as well as hosting RAF, Fleet Air Arm, Royal Canadian Air Force, Royal Australian Air Force and United States naval aircrews.
HMS Harrier was a shore establishment of the Royal Navy, located at Kete, Pembrokeshire. It was commissioned on the 1 February 1948 and was the home of the RN School of Aircraft Direction from the end of the Second World War, opened on the 1 January 1945, until 1961, when the Aircraft Direction Officer Training returned to RNAS Yeovilton. The site at Kete was ideal for air interception exercises, with the centre located 1 mile South of RNAS Dale, from where the live interception flights were provided from, and it had a wide sector over the sea.