PEMBROKE-DOCK, or PATER or PATERCHURCH, a town, is situated on the southern shore of Milford Haven, about two miles
from the old town. It consists of several streets of neat and well-built houses, and is partially paved, but not lighted;
there are numerous good shops for the supply of the population, several of which are branches from the larger
establishments in the borough. A handsome inclosed market-place was erected some years ago; but it has hitherto been but
scantily supplied, and most of the inhabitants frequent the market at Pembroke. The dock-yard forms a spacious area
inclosed within a lofty wall of stone, and comprises a neat range of buildings for the transaction of the public business,
houses for the principal officers of the establishment, a well-built chapel fitted up with elegant simplicity for the use
of the persons employed in the yard, and a fort, recently completed, for the defence of the place, mounting twenty-three
long twenty-four pounders. There are twelve slips for ship-building, which is at present the only source of occupation in
the yard, though, from the low price of labour in this part of the country, and the facility of obtaining materials of all
kinds, it is in contemplation to introduce other branches of labour for the naval service. Besides the government
establishment there is a smallprivate dock, and the Irish packet establishment has been removed from. Milford to this
place, with a view to which alteration a very fine jetty has been constructed at Hobbs' Point, a few hundred yards to the
east of the dock-yard, from which new roads have been formed, connecting it with the main road from Carmarthen, in a new
line avoiding both Narberth and Haverfordwest, by which route the mail saves a distance of several miles. About a mile to
the east of the dock-yard is Pembroke ferry, belonging to the Crown, and held by Sir John Owen, Bart.; who underlets it at
an annual rent of £105; it forms the shortest and most usual line of communication between Haverfordwest and Pembroke, the
distance between which places by the ferry is only ten miles, but by Narberth twenty-five; the fares are a halfpenny for a
foot passenger, a penny for a man and horse, and a shilling per wheel for carriages. The entrance from Milford Haven to
the creek at the head of which the town of Pembroke is situated, at low water, is little more than a hundred yards wide,
and from nine to twelve feet deep; but proceeding upwards it immediately expands into a wide oozy reach, called Crow Pool,
containing an abundance of excellent oysters. The inhabitants of Pembroke received their first charter of INCORPORATION
from Gilbert Strongbow, Earl of Pembroke, in the time of Stephen; and in 1168, Henry II. confirmed to them all the
privileges which they had previously enjoyed; also granting that they should not answer in any plea out of their own town,
unless the same should concern the Crown; that they should be exempt from toll in Bristol, Gloucester, Winchester,
Devonshire, Cornwall, Rochelle, and Normandy; and that they should have an eight days' annual fair, beginning at the feast
of St. Peter and St. Paul. By a charter of John, the freedom from toll appears to have been extended, and a second fair of
two days granted, commencing on the Eve of John the Baptist; and all former charters were confirmed by Richard III., in
the 2nd year of his reign, by Henry VIII. in his 9th year, by Edward VI. in his 1st year, and lastly, by James I., in the
5th of his reign: in the grant of Richard it was declared, that "the town shall now become a corporate body, instead of
being, as hitherto, incorporate; and shall consist of a mayor, two bailiffs, and the burgesses of the said place." Until
the year 1835, when the Municipal Corporations' Act was passed, the title of the corporation was "the Mayor, Bailiffs, and
Burgesses of the town and borough of Pembroke," and the government was vested in a mayor, an indefinite number of common-
councilmen, a town-clerk, two bailiffs, two serjeants-at-mace, and an unlimited number of burgesses; the mayor and common-
council forming the controlling body. The mayor, who was a justice of the peace concurrently with the county magistrates,
a coroner, and a judge of the " Fortnight Court," was elected in July, by the burgesses, out of three members of the
common council proposed in council as candidates; the councilmen were appointed by a majority of the council and the
mayor, and those of them who had served the office of mayor were styled aldermen; one of the bailiffs was chosen by the
mayor, and the other by the council; and the serjeants-at-mace were elected in a similar manner. The corporation is now
styled the "Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses," and consists of a mayor, six aldermen, and eighteen councillors, forming the
council of the borough, which is divided into two wards, and of which the municipal and parliamentary boundaries are the
same. The council elect the mayor annually on November 9th out of the aldermen or councillors; and the aldermen
triennially from among the councillors, or persons qualified as such, one-ball going out of office every three years, but
re-eligible: the councillors are chosen by and out of the enrolled burgesses, on November 1st, one-third going out of
office every year. The aldermen and councillors must have each a property qualification amounting to £500, or be rated at
£15 annual value. The burgesses consist of the occupiers of houses and shops who have been rated for three years to the
relief of the poor, if resident householders within seven miles; and a valid title to be a burgess is acquirable by
descent, marriage, marriage-settlement, devise, or promotion to any benefice or office, in which case the occupancy and
payment of rates by the predecessor may be reckoned. Two assessors for each ward, and two auditors, are elected annually
on March 1st by and out of the burgesses; and the council appoint a town-clerk, treasurer, and other officers on November
9th: the total number of borough magistrates is seven. Pembroke, with the contributory boroughs of Tenby, Wiston, and
Milford, which last was added by the act passed in 1832, for "Amending the Representation," sends a member to parliament:
the right of election was formerly vested in the mayor, bailiffs, and burgesses, but is now, by the act, confined to such
of these as are resident, and extended to every male person of full age occupying, either as owner or as tenant under the
same landlord, a house or other premises of the annual value of not less than ten pounds, provided he be capable of
registering as the act directs; and the number of tenements of this value, within the limits of the borough, which are
minutely detailed in the Appendix, is three hundred, including those in the parish of Monkton, which for electoral
purposes has been included within the borough: the mayor is the returning officer. The revenue of the corporation amounts
to about £100, arising out of the tolls of the markets and fairs. Pembroke has been constituted a polling-place in the
election of a .knight for the shire. The town-hall is a plain modern building in the centre of the south side of the
principal street, and underneath it is a commodious area for the corn-market. The LIVINGS of the three parishes of St.
Marl/ St. Michael, and St. Nicholas, are consolidated into one discharged vicarage, rated in the king's books at £9, viz.,
f.4 for Michael's, and £5 for that of Monkton or Nicholas, Mary's not being in charge; present net income, f439, with a
glebe-house; patron and impropriator, Sir John Owen, Bait The tithes of St. Mary's parish have been commuted for a rent-
charge of £350, of which £187. 10. are payable to the impropriator, and £162. 10. to the vicar, subject to rates,
averaging £22. 10.; the tithes of St. Michael's have been exchanged for a charge of £325, of which £162. 10. are payable
to the impropriator, and a similar sum to the vicar, the latter subject to rates, which average £22. 10.; and the tithes
of Monkton have been commuted for a charge of £475, of which £300 belong to the impropriator, and £175 to the vicar, the
latter subject to rates, amounting to £20. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is an ancient and venerable structure, in
the Norman style, situated near the centre of the town, and composed of a nave, chancel, and north aisle, with a small
chapel on the southern side: in the north aisle and in the chancel are doorways, now closed up, which formerly
communicated with additional buildings no longer standing. That dedicated to St. Michael was rebuilt almost from the
ground, about ten years since, in the later style of English architecture, the expense having been defrayed by a parochial
rate; it will accommodate about 1000 persons, and the number of free sittings is 400. Each of these churches had anciently
chapels of ease, situated a little distance without the walls of the town; and on the summit of an eminence, about three
quarters of a mile to the south, still stands an ancient ecclesiastical edifice, dedicated to St. Daniel, with a lofty
spire rising from a low tower, now private property. The chapel within the dock-yard is not consecrated, and is in the
patronage of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. There are places of worship for Baptists, and Calvinistic and
Wesleyan Methodists. A Grammar school founded here in 1690 has an endowment of £11. 3. 4. per annum, arising from various
bequests of rent-charges, by Sir Hugh Owen, Bait, Morgan Davies, and Griffith Dawes, and a sum in lieu of the corn-toll
granted to the master by the corporation at an early period; but no school is now kept, as the Shire Hall, in which it
was formerly held, was pulled down in 1820; although a master is still appointed by the mayor and council. There are 18
day schools, in which the children are paid for by their parents; two boarding-schools contain about 30 girls; and a
National day and Sunday school is attended by about 100 boys and 60 girls, and supported by subscription; it has a
lending library attached. There are also six Sunday schools, appertaining to dissenters, and containing about 600 males
and females; five are conducted by gratuitous teachers, in the other the instruction is paid for by the parents: fourteen
children are taught in an infants' school. Dr. I. Jones, of Carmarthen, in 1698, bequeathed his estates, real and
personal, to be appropriated to the apprenticing of children and the relief of the poor of Lawrenny, St. David's,
Cosheston, and Lampeter-Velvrey, with a discretionary power to his brother, the Rev. William Jones, to add such other
parishes as he should think proper to the four named by the testator; and Mr. W. Jones accordingly, by deed, in 1703,
vested in three trustees the several sums of £300, £100, and £44, to be laid out in the purchase of land, which was
effected shortly after in the parishes of LlandysilioGogo, and Llanllwchaiarn, and the rents to be appropriated to the
apprenticing of children and the relief of the poor of Pembroke, to which purposes the income, now £143. 13., is applied.
About £18 are annually expended in apprenticing six children, and the residue, after the payment of some incidental
charges, is distributed among the poor. Matthew Warren bequeathed a rent-charge of £2. 12., Dr. Powell one of 10s., and
George Evans another of 14s., for bread to twelve widows; and Richard Howell bequeathed £100; Margaret Mears, £30, of
which £10 have been lost; Sir Hugh Owen, Bart, £20; and Sir Martin Beckman, £5, for the poor: there are also some other
small charitable donations and bequests, and a few have been lost. The poor law union, of which this town is the head, was
formed January 6th, 1837, and comprises the following twenty-nine parishes and townships; namely, St. Mary, and St.
Michael (Pembroke), Carew, Lamphey, Gumfreston, Stackpool-Elidur, PwlIcrochon, Llanstadwell, Burton, Rho'smarket,
Bosherston, Nash, Upton, Lawrenny, St. Mary Tenby (In Liberty and Out Liberty), St. Nicholas or Monkton, Redbarth, St.
Florence, Penalley, Castlemartin, Hodgeston, St. Petrox, Angle, Cosheston, Rhoscrowther, Manorbeer, St. Twinnel's, and
Whrren. It is under the superintendence of 35 guardians, and contains a population of 19,671. The different parishes of
Pembroke, thon0 ecclesiastically united, continue separate for all civil purposes. The majestic and venerable remains of
the ancient CASTLE occupy the western extremity of the elevated ridge on which the town is built, and are justly regarded
as among the most picturesque and magnificent ruins in the country. The entire fortress was surrounded by a lofty
embattled wall, defended by numerous bastions, and having only one entrance from the land, through a grand gateway
defended by two circular towers of prodigious strength, and a barbican. On this side it had -likewise a dry moat, and the
inclosed area was divided into an inner and an outer ward, the former of which comprised the state apartments, and the
latter the inferior buildings and the offices for the use of the garrison. The principal remains consist of this grand
entrance, the state apartments occupying the northern side, aced the keep, which last is in the inner court, a massive and
lofty round tower, seventy-five feet high, and one huqdred and sixty-three feet in circumference at the base, and
gradually diminishing in diameter towards the top, which is covered with a vaulted roof. This tower is divided into five
stages, and the walls are seventeen feet in thickness at the base, and fourteen feet thick at the summit, from which is
obtained a most extensive and delightful prospect, comprehending the greater part of Pembrokeshire, from the Pencelly
mountains, on the north, to the sea, and from the Carmarthenshire hills, on the east, to St. George's Channel, presenting
a fine open champaign country, intersected by the numerous estuaries that unite to form the noble haven of Milford, and
richly diversified and enlivened with cheerful villages and gentlemen's seats, among which those of Cresselly, Clareston,
Orielton, and others, the grounds whereof are richly wooded, form a striking and beautiful contrast to the general
appearance of the surrounding country, which is elsewhere almost destitute of timber. In the inner court, besides the
keep, is a suite of apartments, apparently of later date than the rest of the castle, extending over the cavern called the
Wogan, or Hogan, by corruption of the Welsh word Ogov, signifying " a cave:" this subterraneous chamber is seventy-five
feet in length and fifty-nine feet wide, and communicates with the upper part of the castle by a staircase, and with the
harbour below by a sally-port. The rock on which the castle is built is forty feet high, and is almost insulated by the
two branches of the estuary into which it projects, and which is navigable to the town; under the southeastern bastion is
a natural opening in it, of unknown extent. The great solidity of the walls, and its commanding situation, must have
rendered this fortress impregnable against any hostile attempt: its ponderous towers, with  the northern suite of state
apartments rising above the embattled walls, and part of the platform and parapet, which are still remaining, give its
present ruins an air of venerable grandeur; and the ivy and other parasitical plants with which they are overspread
contribute to heighten the picturesque beauty of their appearance. Leland says, he was shown an apartment in one of the
gateway towers, in which, he was informed, Henry VII. was born; but other writers refer that circumstance to a room in
the inner court of the castle. Pembroke Castle is now the property of the Crown, and is held under lease granted in the
reign of James II.  This place gives the title of earl to the noble family of Herbert.