Ep 69 – Milford Haven, Brunel and Pembroke Castle

So much history here that most people aren’t aware of.

Hello and welcome to the Great British Biking Adventures Coast Series. In this series we are travelling around the coast on our motorcycle, a Honda VFR1200X Crosstourer.

A lot of our viewers are bike enthusiasts but this series will appeal to a wider audience. Why? Because there’s so much more to the Coast series than motorcycles. There’s the challenges, the journey, geography, history and people. You get to travel the entire coast of England and Wales with us, see how we did it, share our ups and downs, experience English culture, the history and hear about the people that made Britain ‘Great’!

What’s also good about the coast series is it doesn’t matter when you start watching, it’s like one of those open top bus tours – you can get on at any point and just keep going until you arrive back where you started.

Who are we? We’re a husband & wife living in an unremarkable coastal town in England. We’ve been married 35 years and were brought together by motorcycles. One day, Esther’s Honda Melody broke down and she brought it to Jarrod’s motorcycle shop – the rest (as they say) is history.

One cold February day, we started riding along the seafront and just kept going. We wanted to record the experience to have something to watch in the future – the YouTube channel was an afterthought. Take a look at those first few episodes to see just how novice we were, cobbling together what little phone footage we had to try to make a story. To make up for our amateur recording and shyness we added information in the editing. This set the tone and style of our videos, we hope you like it. We like to think we’ve improved and hopefully you’ll agree, take a look, compare our earlier videos with the later ones and let us know in the comments.

There’s also the filming and production journey. When we started we knew nothing about filming, video and audio production, editing, YouTube and the like. We’ve learnt loads and spent loads in time and money along the way but it’s been almost as enjoyable as the journey itself. You’ll hopefully appreciate how far we’ve come.

But what’s with all those bible verses we hear you say. We know some of you don’t appreciate this aspect, one or two have told us in the comments! That’s fine – it really is. All are equally welcome here, believers and unbelievers. It would be a pity if you enjoyed everything else but just stopped watching because of the Christian references but we completely accept you’re free to do as you please.

Our faith has prompted us to include a bible verse in our videos and sometimes a Christian perspective on the things we talk about. The channel is not about Christianity but our faith cannot be separated from it. We hope and pray that it will make you think, inquire and even bring you into a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

hello and welcome back to our circumnavigation of the English and Welsh Coastline by motorcycle as you’ve probably gathered from the episode number at this point we’re a long way into it you have four options one switch off now okay that’s got rid of a few of you number two watch this episode and decide it’s not for you in which case thanks for at least watching one episode three go back and catch up that’s a lot of binge watching but we know many of you have option four watch from here and when we get all the way around pick up episode one and keep going oh I nearly forgot our regular viewers we might not be able to see you but we always look forward to hearing from you so don’t be shy and leave us a comment so how far have we got you join us at Milford Haven in the southwest corner of Wales we started in Western super mayare and went round anticlockwise which means we’ve done 99% of England and about 2/3 of Wales can’t see any oil ships in but I can see a tug out there wow is that people swimming not sure I’d swim where the oil tank has come in [Music] do we have to turn around yeah [Music] we take quite a lot of dead Ends don’t we we do yeah curiosity yeah I hope that they might go yeah but this one didn’t sometimes they just stop like that don’t they sometimes they go sometimes they end in disaster I don’t want to get wet feet oh we got a good look didn’t we at the um I think it’s really the main thing which is the big PIR the tank is coming I yeah three tankers out there just gone out shot and the big peers oh and some sort of for on the hill there look just in front of us oh yeah oh oh yeah should be a bit nosy I I think it Peters out it literally Peters out just here yeah yeah yeah I think was a bad move that was a bad mve Jazzy yeah that’s a big tug wow that’s a big tug not until you see them a bit closer you realize just how enormous they are they got to be aren’t they should pull up tankers it’s a packed Marina isn’t it certainly is oh there you go we could land the Drone there on the Big H that was a big fairy coming in too where are we again Milford Haven oh yeah so that would be oh that must be Irish yeah yeah yeah so that so up there is pem dog this is Milford Haven which is more of a commercial place but the fairies go from pemr do which is just like that right yeah quite right that’s off to Ireland in the UK there are quite a few Coastal Place names that end with the word Haven today the word is used figuratively to describe a place of Refuge this hints at its Origins it derives from both the Old English and Old Norse meaning port or Harbor it predates man-made Harbors so more often than not it refers to a coastline that naturally provides a safe refuge for ships and boats most of small sheltered Coes or inlets but that’s not the case with Milford Haven the entrance to Milford Haven is situated where the Irish sea Bristol Channel and Atlantic Ocean merge once inside its protective arms shipping could weigh anchor or even more up in any number of places without fear of being wrecked it was used like this for hundreds if not thousands of years Vikings are known to have sheltered and even settled here in the 1700s the commercial and strategic benefits were becoming more apparent and the development of the dockyards at Milford and Penbrook began the Royal Navy had a significant presence here firstly at Milford before moving to Pembrook in 1814 where 263 vessels were built including the first British battle ships without masts despite the naval dockyards move to Pembrook Milford continued as a commercial port in the 1920s 200 trollers operated from here but by 1972 there were only 12 left just along from Milford lies naand a sleepy place of fewer than 200 inhabitants until Tuesday the 15th of April 1856 when isombard Kingdom brunell’s Great Western Railway Terminus was completed this made it possible to take the train from London Paddington get on a boat and head for farflung lands like America in practice it was the connection to Ireland that really saw nand Prosper nand was a true Railway Boomtown and Brunell is regarded as its Founder The Golden period lasted for 50 years but ended as abruptly as it began when in August August 1906 the Irish traffic was transferred from naand to fishguard the 1960s heralded oil imports and refineries today both sides of Milford Haven are dominated by the oil and gas industry unfortunately relatively few people are employed the area has been through tough economic Cycles but just like the boats that take refuge in Milford Haven the people have also weathered the storms this was our ambition it was we’ve actually well our ambition is nland we’ve done n we got we’re going to get across the bridge going to be in P we’re going to be well set up yeah for for a bit of Tomorrow well Southern pire basically we’ done Norther pire today yeah brilliant yeah we done incredibly well I think we’ve done 8 hours but it’s been a nice Pace we’ve St captured a few nice shots shoved the Drone up a couple times yeah so we’ve done really well hav we is this still nailand yeah and then we cross the bridge and it’s pemr dock well P yeah yeah and then we go a little two miles and then it’s pen on the EST isn’t it yeah yeah I remember a [Music] w [Music] he [Music] get a nice glimpse of the castle oh yeah there we go Pembrook Castle is one of my favorite ones pemr Castle stands on a site that has been occupied at least since the Roman period Roger de Montgomery who was a good friend of the Norman King William conqueror founded a castle here in the 11th century it was made from Earth and wood and resisted several Welsh attacks and sieges over the next 30 Years fast forward to the next generation and in 1093 Rogers youngest son arnolf of Montgomery made Pembrook his home by this time William II was King but when he died arnolf joined the Rebellion against his successor Henry I it was a bad move and Arnold was kicked out King Henry I was succeeded by King Steven who gave the castle to Gilbert declair who used it as an important base in the Norman invasion of Ireland King Richard I also known as Richard the lionhart arranged the marriage of dea’s granddaughter to William Marshall who received both the castle and the title Earl of Pembrook he soon became Lord Marshal of England and set about turning the Earth and wood Fort into an impressive Stone Castle Marshall was succeeded in turn by each of his five sons all of whom died childless in 1247 the castle was inherited by William Dev valence King Henry III’s half brother who had become Earl of Pembrook through his marriage to Joan de manchen William Marshall’s granddaughter the next king was Edward I if you’ve watched previous episodes you’ll know all about Edward I conquest of Wales while he was busy doing that in the north the de Valance family were helping him out by fighting the Welsh here at Pembrook on the death of William Deal’s son Amer devallance the castle passed through marriage to the Hastings family in 1389 17-year-old John Hastings died in a jousting accident ending a line of inheritance stretching back 250 years pem Castle then reverted to the crown under King Richard II during this time Pembrook escaped attacked by Owen glind DA’s Rebellion because the Castle’s Constable Francis aort paid off Glinda in Gold pin your ears back because this is the significant bit the wars of the Roses was a period between 1455 and 1487 basically it was a civil war between the Royal houses of York and Lancaster way too complex to get into here but very relevant to the story in 1452 pemr castle and erom were given to Jasper chuda by his half brother King Henry VI 6 Jasper’s natural brother was Edmund Juda who had died of the plague while imprisoned by the Yorks just a year beforehand Edwin had married Margaret bort and she was now pregnant Jasper took care of his widowed sister-in-law at pemr Castle where in 1457 she gave birth to her only child named Henry she was just 13 years old but she and Jasper were already hopeful the child could one day become king as a result of battles power struggles secret marriages and a complicated family tree Henry made a claim to the throne and on the 22nd of August 1485 aged 28 he defeated King Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth field Henry became the first Monarch of the House of chudah both his Detachment and associations with the houses of Lancaster and York allowed him to reunify the English Monarchy and bring the Civil War to an end it’s an intriguing story but it doesn’t end here there’s an ironical twist the house of chuda originates from anguli arguably the heart of Welsh resistance against the English Henry’s Noble and aristocratic family were the enemies of England but he seems to have been a galvanizing figure and his Reign is regarded as one of the best periods of Britain’s history in the 15th and 16th centuries the castle was a place of peace until the outbreak of the English Civil War although most of South Wales sided with the King Pembrook declared for Parliament it was besieged by royalist troops but was saved after parliamentary reinforcements arrived by sea in 1648 Pembrook decided to switch sides and Commander Colonel John puer led a royalist Uprising Oliver Cromwell came to pemr on the 24th of May 1648 and took the castle after a 7we Siege Cromwell ordered the castle to be destroyed Town’s people were even encouraged to take the stone for their purposes I can just imagine the extensions and patios that were built the castle was then abandoned and allowed to Decay it remained in Ruins until 1880 when a 3-year restoration project was undertaken nothing further was done until 1928 when May Major General Sir Iva Phillips acquired the castle and began an extensive restoration today the castle is jointly managed by the Philips family and Pembrook Town Council you [Music] see I think bed and breakfast there there we go then perfect oh yeah it says there Woodby and bed and breakfast that’s the one [Music] the [Music] that [Music] thank you Andrea [Music] that was lovely wasn’t it absolutely and it was the Woodbine bed and breakfast at Pembrook that we can 100% recommend full of character and Charming lovely hosts but yet again we’ve completely neglected to film anything from last night usual story it’s the end of the day and we don’t feel like recording anymore but last night we walked along the main streets and had a delicious Curry [Music] [Music] today we’re leaving pemr and North pmri behind to explore Southern pmri the differences are subtle but distinct if that’s not too much of a contradiction I love both but I think the safe just about takes it for me what about you s oh I love it all but I think probably the South yeah but before we leave penri I just wanted to recommend this little big T especially if you haven’t been before my advice would be to read up about the history a little bit in particular the castle you’ll get an even bigger appreciation for the fascinating stories that make this town what it is one of the stories that sticks in my mind is the man who was imprisoned in a deep pit at the castle where he survived for 7 years wow there’s also the cave under the castle where people lived thousands of years before any Castle was there anyway we visited numerous times and no doubt will be returning at some stage I’m probably staying at the wood bind B&B again I look forward to it