PUNCHESTON, a parish, in the union of HAVERFORDWEST, hundred of KEMMES, county of PEMBROKE, SOUTH WALES, 12 miles (N. N.)
from Haverfordwest; containing '255 inhabitants. This parish is also called " Castell Mael," probably from an ancient
encampment, of which there are still some vestiges, comprises a considerable tract of arable and pasture land, the greater
portion inclosed and in a good state of cultivation. The surface is boldly undulated, in some parts rising into
mountainous elevations; and the soil is various, but in the low grounds fertile and productive: of the rateable annual
value the return made amounts to £858. 1. 9. The living is a discharged rectory, rated in the king's books at £5. 6. 8.;
present net income, £101, with a glebe-house; patron, Rev. James Williams James. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is not
remarkable for any architectural details. There are meeting-houses for Baptists and Calvinistic Methodists; and the
Society of Friends had formerly a .place of interment. Two Sunday schools, containing about 200 males and females, are
gratuitously conducted by dissenters; books are furnished sometimes by the Sunday School Society, and sometimes by
collections. In this parish was Martel, the ancient seat of the family of Symmons, before their removal to Llanatinan, of
which nothing now exists but the site. The remains of the encampment above noticed occupy the summit of a rocky eminence,
inaccessible on one side by the precipitous steepness of the acclivity, and defended on the other sides by a deep
intrenchment. The Rev. Mr. Gambold, father of the bishop of that name, and the compiler of a Welsh, Latin, and English
Dictionary, was for some years rector.