Pembroke town walls

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Pembroke town walls
Pembroke, Pembrokeshire
The gazebo tower, Pembroke town walls (geograph 3464332).jpg
The Gazebo Tower before the recent restoration
Wales location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Pembroke town walls
Coordinates 51°40′24″N4°54′39″W / 51.6733°N 4.9107°W / 51.6733; -4.9107 Coordinates: 51°40′24″N4°54′39″W / 51.6733°N 4.9107°W / 51.6733; -4.9107
Grid reference grid reference SM9859501400
Type Town wall
Site information
Open to
the public
Yes
Site history
MaterialsRubble stone
Listed Building – Grade II*

Pembroke's town walls are a Grade II*-listed medieval defensive structure around the town of Pembroke, Pembrokeshire, Wales. They were probably built beginning in the late 13th century by the Earls of Pembroke, although it is uncertain when they were finished. Most of the walls have not survived, but there are visible sections and two bastions exist, one with a restored late 18th-century gazebo atop it.

Pembroke, Pembrokeshire community and former county town of Pembrokeshire in West Wales

Pembroke was the establishing county town of Pembrokeshire in Wales. Pembroke still features a number of historic buildings, town walls and complexes. It is a community and one of the larger towns in the county with a population of 7,552.

Wales Country in northwest Europe, part of the United Kingdom

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in 2011 of 3,063,456 and has a total area of 20,779 km2 (8,023 sq mi). Wales has over 1,680 miles (2,700 km) of coastline and is largely mountainous, with its higher peaks in the north and central areas, including Snowdon, its highest summit. The country lies within the north temperate zone and has a changeable, maritime climate.

Bastion structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification

A bastion or bulwark is a structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification, most commonly angular in shape and positioned at the corners. The fully developed bastion consists of two faces and two flanks with fire from the flanks being able to protect the curtain wall and also the adjacent bastions. It is one element in the style of fortification dominant from the mid 16th to mid 19th centuries. Bastion fortifications offered a greater degree of passive resistance and more scope for ranged defense in the age of gunpowder artillery compared with the medieval fortifications they replaced.

Contents

History

The construction of the town walls by William de Valence, 1st Earl of Pembroke, probably began after the outer ward of Pembroke Castle was completed about 1280 as they tie into the castle's wall. They probably replaced a timber palisade and/or earthen rampart that protected the town, most likely at the narrowest point of the peninsula upon which the town is built. Construction was likely continued by his son Aymer (1296–1324), but the walls may not have been completed as there is a 1377 commission that the constable of the castle was charged to 'survey, repair, and fortify the castle and town of Pembroke'. [1]

William de Valence, 1st Earl of Pembroke Anglo-Norman noble, allied with Henry III

William de Valence, born Guillaume de Lusignan, was a French nobleman and knight who became important in English politics due to his relationship to King Henry III of England. He was heavily involved in the Second Barons' War, supporting the King and Prince Edward against the rebels led by Simon de Montfort. He took the name de Valence after his birthplace, Valence, near Lusignan.

Pembroke Castle Grade I listed building in Pembroke. Castle

Pembroke Castle is a medieval castle in Pembroke, Pembrokeshire, Wales. The castle was the original family seat of the Earldom of Pembroke. A Grade I listed building since 1951, it underwent major restoration during the early 20th century.

Palisade defensive structure; typically a fence or wall made from wooden stakes

A palisade—sometimes called a stakewall or a paling—is typically a fence or wall made from iron or wooden stakes, or tree trunks and used as a defensive structure or enclosure.

A century later, money was allocated for 'making a stone wall on the south side of the town of Pembroke' in 1479–80, but this may be interpreted as a repair or rebuild of the existing wall, completion of a missing section of wall or the strengthening of the wall, as was done with the Tenby town walls at about the same time by Jasper Tudor, Duke of Bedford. [2]

Tenby town walls Grade I listed building in Pembrokeshire.

The Tenby town walls are Grade I-listed medieval defensive structures around the town of Tenby in Pembrokeshire. They are assessed as one of the most important surviving medieval city walls in Britain. The walls were built in the 13th century by the Earls of Pembroke and improved in the 1450s. They were last known to have been repaired in 1588 and have declined thereafter. Most of the town's gates were demolished beginning in the 18th century and only one survives.

Description

The town walls, built of limestone rubble, had three gates, of which only fragments survive of the West Gate. [3] The surviving portion of the walls is on the south side of town and extends some 225 metres (246 yd) from No. 5 Common Road to Rock Terrace. Much of the town wall has been incorporated or rebuilt into more recent structures. [4]

See also

Notes

  1. Pembroke Design and Cambria Archaeology, pp. 11–15
  2. Pembroke Design and Cambria Archaeology, pp. 15–16
  3. Edwards, p. 19
  4. "Pembroke Town Walls". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 14 April 2016.

Bibliography

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