Ninety from Narbeth: Narberth (Arbeth to Welsh audio system) was till just lately a spot I had by no means hear of, a small city in Pembrokeshire with historic origins. I spent per week staying there with a small group of pals at first of September 2024, returning final Saturday.
Narbeth apparently grew up across the palace of a Welsh king and within the nice assortment of historic Welsh tales preserved by oral custom till first written down round 1350, the Mabinogion, is the chief palace of Pwyll, Prince of Dyfed. There have been historic camps close by and the Romans got here – and went.
But it surely was the Normans who, having invaded England in 1066, a couple of years later turned their consideration to Wales and left an important mark on the world, constructing greater than 50 large castles to invade and occupy the world. Thee wars right here have been a posh and altering state of affairs and different castles have been constructed by the Welsh to defend their land.
A citadel was first constructed at Narbeth by the Normans round 1116, however rebuilt in stone within the following century. It fashioned part of what’s now referred to as the Landsker Line, defending the territory they managed towards the Welsh. The citadel is now in ruins however open to the general public, although the buildings are fenced off for security causes.
The Landsker Line divided the largely English-speaking space of south Pembrokeshire, dominated by the Normans from Welsh-speaking Wales, and the world to the south of it was typically referred to as ‘Little England’.
Now solely round a fifth of the roughly 4 thousand residents of Narberth are Welsh-speaking. For a city of its dimension it has a outstanding variety of unbiased retailers and significantly at weekends the place is crowded. Ten years in the past The Guardian referred to as it “a gastronomic hub for West Wales” and named it as “one of many liveliest, most likeable little cities within the UK.“
I can’t touch upon the gastronomy, although I did assist to cook dinner some fascinating meals for our small group staying there, nevertheless it does have a really tremendous store making artisanal ice cream with some uncommon flavours. And I solely visited one among its many pubs, which was a really pleasant place, although I simply missed the reside music there.
In addition to extra conventional retailers, the city additionally has greater than its share of arty retailers and a few with a hippy or ‘New Age’ vibe. And its definitely a really pleasant place in comparison with suburban London and one among plenty of locals we met in a pub shook my hand once I revealed one among my Grandmothers had come from Wales. I’m not stunned that Narberth was “named top-of-the-line locations to reside in Wales in 2017“
It has a superb native museum and naturally plenty of church buildings and chapels, although some now in different makes use of. These are amongst its 70 listed buildings, most of which I feel are within the footage I took, although most of the extra fascinating are unlisted.
It isn’t far to drive to many different sights of the world – extra castles, mills, the rugged coastal path and extra sedate seaside resorts with some tremendous seashores. Associates took me to a few of these however there have been many extra.
Maybe essentially the most disappointing factor about Narberth is the railway station, round three-quarters of a mile from the centre of city. On the map the railway appears helpful, however in actuality there are too few trains to be of a lot use. The station constructing is now a joinery although Platform 1 (and solely) nonetheless stands, with an announcement telling us that this was a request cease, and we must always point out clearly to the motive force because the prepare approached that we needed to board. Happily it did cease once we started our journey residence.
All the photographs listed below are from Narberth city centre, and there are extra on Fb within the album ‘Ninety From Narbeth‘. I’ll make some later posts about a few of the locations within the space we have been capable of go to throughout our vacation.
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All pictures on this web page are copyright © Peter Marshall.
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Tags: Arberth, castel, chapel, homes, Narberth, Pembrokeshire, peter Marshall, retailers, city centre, Wales, struggle memorial
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