AMBLESTON, a parish, in the hundred of DUNGLEDDY, county of PEMBROKE, SOUTH WALES, 8 miles (N. N. W.) from Haverfordwest,
containing 574 inhabitants. This place has, within the last thirty years, been identified as the site of the long sought
for Roman station Ad Vigesimum, noticed in the Itineraries, as the first from Maridunum, or Carmarthen, from which the
distance corresponds exactly with that mentioned in the Itinerary. This discovery, which, from a variety of concurrent
testimony, appears to be founded in truth, was made in the year 1805, by Mr. Fenton, author of the " Historical Tour
through Pembrokeshire," accompanied by Sir Richard Colt Hoare, Bart., while collecting materials for that work. The form
of the station, which is situated about a mile to the north-east of the church, is nearly a perfect square, having the
angles rounded off, and comprehends an area two hundred and sixty feet in dimensions: the agger by which it was
enclosed, though nearly effaced by tillage, may still be accurately traced; and the Via Julia, leading from Maridunum to
Menapia, passes through the centre of the area. The camp is called by the inhabitants Castel Flemish, from having been
subsequently occupied by the Flemings, who first settled in this part of the principality, in order to assist in
subjugating the natives; and another Roman road, more to the north, and afterwards uniting with the Via Julia near St.
David's, is from the same source designated Via Flandrica, or "the Flemish way." Within the area of the station have been
found Roman bricks and cement, part of a stuccoed floor, a large flagstone bearing an inscription, now lost, and other
Roman relics. At a short distance to the west, near the village of Ford, are the remains of a smaller camp, evidently of
Roman construction, and probably the Campus 2Estivus of the station; and in the same neighbourhood were discovered, in
1806, the remains of a Roman hypocaust, six feet in depth, and eight feet long, lined on each side with stone and cement,
from which two flues of one foot four inches in the aperture, and widening towards the upper extremity, rose in an angular
direction to the surface; they were formed of fluted Roman bricks. The lands in this parish are, with a very trifling
exception, all enclosed, and the soil is in general fertile. The living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry and
diocese of St. David's, rated in the king's books at £3.19.44., endowed with £ 600 royal bounty, and £ 200 parliamentary
grant, and in the patronage of the King, as Prince of Wales. The church is dedicated to St. Mary. There is a chapel of
ease in this parish, called Rinaston chapel. The Calvinistic Methodists have a place of worship here. The average annual
assessment for the support of the poor is £163. 9.