MANORBEER (MAENOR-BER), a parish, in the hundred of CASTLEMARTIN, union of PEMBROKE and county of PEMBROKE, SOUTH WALES,
4+ miles (W. S. W.) from Tenby; containing 691 inhabitants. The name of this place is of very doubtful etymology: Giraldus
Cambrensis, who was born here, calls it, in his Itine-  rary, Maenor Pyrr, which he interprets " the mansion of Pyrrus,"
who, he says, also possessed the island of Caldey. According to Sir Richard Colt Hoare, the name literally signifies " the
manor of the lords," and appears to be derived from its occupation by the lords of Dyved, who were also proprietors of the
neighbouring island of Caldey. By whom the castle was originally built has not been ascertained with any degree of
accuracy: it probably owed its foundation to William de Barri, one of the Norman lords that accompanied Arnulph de
Montgomery into Britain, and who married the grand-daughter of Rh's ab Tewdwr, Prince of South Wales. The castle and manor
remained in the possession of that family till the 1st of Henry IV., when they were bestowed upon John de Windsor, but
afterwards reverting to the crown, they were, in consideration of a large sum of money, granted by letters patent to
Thomas ab Owain of Trellwyn, from whose family they passed by marriage into that of Philipps, the present owners.
Giraldus, in his notices of this place, quaintly says, Demetia is the most beautiful, as well as the most powerful,
district in Wales; Pembroke, that is the present hundred of Castlemartin, the finest province in Demetia, and the place I
have described (Maenorbeer) the most delightful part of Pembroke." The parish is situated on the small bay to which it
gives name in the Bristol Channel, and within two miles to the south of the turnpike-road leading from Tenby to Pembroke;
the sea bounds it on the south, and in other directions it is surrounded by the parishes of Penalley, St. Florence, and
Hodgeston. By admeasurement it contains 3464 acres, of which 2855 are meadow and pasture, 450 amble, and the remainder,
common and waste. A great portion of the parish lies on the side of the hill, along which, the main road from Tenby to
Pembroke winds, and being so immediately on the coast it is almost entirely destitute of timber, but the situation of the
village is singularly picturesque, and in consequence of its contiguity to the sea and the ancient ruins of the castle, by
which it is adorned, is much frequented by miters. There are excellent limestone quarries in Lydstep bay, where a very
considerable number of hands are employed, the stone being shipped during the summer months in great quantities by vessels
belonging to other parts of Wales, and to North Devon: at Lydstep vessels of one hundred and thirty tons' burthen can ride
in security. Some indications of coal have been observed, but the attempts to work it have not been attended with success.
The sands on this part of the coast are fine, especially at Lydstep haven, where they are well adapted for sea- bathing;
and the beauty of its situation, and its convenient distance from l'enby, render this a favourite excursion from that
watering-place. Within the limits of the parish, of which the rateable annual value returned is £3122, are two small
villages, called Jamestown and Manorbeer Newton. The living is a discharged vicarage, rated in the king's books at £8,
endowed with £600 royal bounty, and-£1400 parliamentary grant, and in the patronage of the Master and Fellows of Christ's
College, Cambridge, who are proprietors of the great tithes. The church, dedicated to St. James, is an ancient structure,
in the early style of English architecture, consisting of a nave and two aisles, the length being about 100 feet, and the
extreme breadth 45, with a lofty square embattled tower: the accommodation has been recently increased by the erection of
a gallery, containing 90 additional sittings, the cost of which was in part defrayed by the Incorporated Society; the
chancel too has undergone considerable repair at the expense of the patrons: the whole contains about 260 sittings, of
which 90 are free. Close to it, on the south side, is a large edifice, which was in all probability connected with it, but
its history is unknown; it may have been a chantry or grange, or even some distinct religious house: it has recently been
converted into a convenient school-room, capable of containing from 80 to 90 children, having been. presented for that
purpose by the patrons, and the school is rapidly improving, chiefly through the exertions of the Rev. Henry Hughes. There
are places of worship for Calvinistic and Primitive Methodists. Manobeer Castle, distinguished as the birthplace, and for
some time the residence, of the celebrated Giraldus de Barri, better known as Giraldus Cambrensis, is still an object of
interest and attraction. The remains occupy an elevated site above the small bay of Manorbeer, of which the castle had
full command; they consist principally of portions of the state apartments, the windows of which faced a spacious court,
the whole being inclosed with lofty embattled walls, whereof the platforms are in some places still entire; the grand
entrance, through a gateway flanked with two bastions, of which that on the north side has fallen down; two portcullises,
and the moat, which may be distinctly traced. On Old-castle Point, to the east of Manorbeer bay, are the remains of an
ancient encampment of small dimensions, probably of Danish origin. Silvester Giraldus de Barri, commonly called Giraldus
Cambrensis, was born about the year 1146, and was educated under his uncle, then Bishop of St. David's, who sent him to
France for the completion of his studies. On his return to England he embraced holy orders, and rose rapidly to
distinction in the church; he held successively the offices of legate in Wales to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and
Archdeacon of St. David's, of which see he was afterwards chosen Bishop; but the king, fearing to raise to that dignity, a
man of such talent and influence in the principality, and one so nearly allied to the native princes, his mother having
been granddaughter of Rhys ab Tewdwr, Prince of South Wales, refused to confirm his election. He attended Baldwin,
Archbishop of Canterbury, on his mission to preach the crusades throu,ghout Wales, and, during the absence of Richard I.
in the Holy Land, was one of the members of the regency. Being again denied the bishopric of St. David's, to which he had
been a second time elected, and in the hope of which he had successively refused various other sees, and the archbishopric
of Cashel, in Ireland, he retired from public office to the principality, where he spent the last seventeen years of his
life, devoted entirely to literary pursuits; he died at St. David's, at the age of seventy- four, and was interred in the
cathedral church of that place, where his monument still remains. His writings are numerous, and many of them are still
extant; his Itinerary, by which he is best known, has been lately reprinted in quarto by Sir Richard Colt Hoare, Bart.,
with an elegant English version, accompanied by notes and a catalogue of his writings, with a reference to the several
works in which they are preserved.