Sights in Pembrokeshire Coast National Park
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St David's Cathedral
Hidden in a hollow and behind high walls, St David's Cathedral is intentionally unassuming. The valley site was chosen in the vain hope that the church would be overlooked by Viking raiders, but it was ransacked at least seven times. Yet once you pass through the gatehouse that separates it from the town and its stone walls come into view, it's as imposing as any of its contemporaries.
Built on the site of a 6th-century chapel, the building dates mainly from the 12th to the 14th centuries. Extensive works were carried out in the 19th century by Sir George Gilbert Scott (architect of the Albert Memorial and St Pancras in London) to stabilise the building. The distinctive we…
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Tenby & Caldey Island
Charming Tenby is the epicentre of Pembrokeshire coast holiday culture. The image of its sheltered harbour and lifeboat slipway, overlooked by pastel Georgian townhouses, is a Pembrokeshire badge. Tenby's top trip is the 20-minute boat ride to Caldey Island, the home of a community of Cistercian monks, as well as grey seals and Wales' largest cormorant colony.
Located on a rocky promontory surrounded at low tide by golden sands, Tenby's old town features attractive architecture, steep streets and curious nooks, plus a 500m section of town wall. The place is popular with well-heeled weekend tourists and sore-heeled coast path walkers.
The castle on the promontory above the…
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Skomer, Skokholm & Grassholm Islands
Lying off Wales' best beaches in St Brides Bay, the islands are a marine nature reserve populated by immense sea-bird colonies, grey seals and dolphins. Skomer is home to over 500,000 breeding sea birds and about 150 grey seal pups are born here annually. Skokholm is the habitat for 35,000 Manx shearwaters and puffins and Grassholm has 33,000 gannet pairs.
Skomer is the largest and easiest island to reach. Its breeding bird colonies include puffins, guillemots, razorbills, fulmars, cormorants, shags, and the burrow-breeding Manx shearwater. Together Skomer and Skokholm have the largest colony in the world: 160,000 strong.
To visit Skomer, the Dale Princess cruiser offers …
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St David's Cathedral
This is Wales' holiest place, receiving a stream of pilgrims year round. The main granite building was constructed in the 12th century on a site where a church had existed for 600 years. Welsh patron saint Dewi Sant established the first monastic community here in the 6th century. His shrine is in the northern choir aisle; his relics are behind the altar.
The atmosphere inside the cathedral is one of great antiquity.
The floor slopes sharply and the pillars keel drunkenly following a 1248 earthquake. The Norman nave's superb Irish oak ceiling was carved in the 16th century. The equally richly carved choir in the centre of the cross is illuminated from the tower above.
Try…
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Bishop's Palace
Across the river from the cathedral, this atmospheric ruined palace was begun at the same time as the cathedral, but its final, imposing form owes most to Henry de Gower, bishop from 1327 to 1347.
Its most distinctive feature is the arcaded parapet that runs around the courtyard, decorated with a chequerboard pattern of purple and yellow stone blocks. The corbels that support the arches are richly adorned with a menagerie of carved figures – lions, monkeys, dogs and birds, as well as grotesque mythical creatures and human heads.
The palace courtyard provides a spectacular setting for open-air plays in summer.
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Caldey Island
Boat trips run from Tenby harbour to Caldey Island, home to lots of grey seals and seabirds, and a red-topped, whitewashed monastery that houses a community of around 15 Cistercian monks. There are guided tours of the monastery and great walks around the island, with good views from the lighthouse.
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Holy Trinity Chapel
In a recess in the Holy Trinity Chapel at the east end of the cathedral is the object of all those religious pilgrimages - a simple oak casket that contains the bones of St David and St Justinian. The chapel ceiling is distinguished by superb fan vaulting dating from the early 16th century.
Lord Rhys ap Gruffydd, the greatest of the princes of South Wales, and his son Rhys Gryg are known to be buried in the cathedral, although their effigies in the south choir aisle date only from the 14th century. Gerald of Wales (Giraldus Cambrensis), an early rector of the cathedral, is said to be buried here; there is a gravestone, but scholars suggest he is buried at Lincolnshire Cat…
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St Mary's Church
The graceful arched roof of this 13th-century church is studded with fascinating wooden bosses, mainly dating from the 15th century and carved into flowers, cheeky faces, mythical beasts, fish and even a mermaid holding a comb and mirror. There's a memorial here to Robert Recorde, the 16th-century writer and mathematician who invented the 'equals' sign, along with a confronting cadaver-topped tomb, intended to remind the viewer of their own mortality.
The young Henry Tudor – later to become Henry VII – was hidden here before fleeing to Brittany. It's thought that he left by means of a tunnel into the cellars under Mayor Thomas White's house across the road (where Boots is …
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Carew Castle
Looming romantically over the glassy River Carew, 12th-century Carew Castle and its restored tidal mill exude historic atmosphere. The Elizabethan tidal mill has a causeway that once trapped the incoming tide in a pond, then released water through sluice gates to turn the millwheels. For 400 years until 1937, the mill ground corn for the castle community.
The 1.6km (1mi) circular walk around the castle, mill, causeway and bridge is recommended. A tall 11th-century Celtic cross stands by the road near the castle entrance.
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Cardigan Castle
The shored-up and overgrown walls of Cardigan Castle make for a sorry sight. Long neglected by its private owner - a private house was built within the walls in the 19th century - the crumbling castle was purchased by Ceredigion Council in 2003; plans are under way to restore it and open it to the public. It holds an important place in Welsh culture, having been the venue for the first competitive National Eisteddfod, held in 1176 under the aegis of Lord Rhys ap Gruffydd.
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Porth y Twr
Walking from the town centre into the cathedral precinct you pass through the 13th-century gatehouse of Porth y Twr, which houses an exhibition about St David and the cathedral. There are some interesting carved stones here, notably the 11th-century Abraham Stone, carved with Celtic interlace designs, which once marked the grave of Hedd and Isaac, sons of Bishop Abraham who was murdered by Viking invaders in 1080.
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Tenby Museum & Art Gallery
Housed within the ruins of a Norman castle, this museum covers local history and includes paintings by Augustus and Gwen John.
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Cardigan Heritage Centre
Just across Cardigan Bridge from the town centre, Cardigan Heritage Centre is housed in a restored 18th-century granary on what was once one of the busiest quays in the port. It explores Cardigan's history from pre-Norman times to the present day, with interactive displays for kids and a riverside café.
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St Catherine's Island
At low tide you can walk across the sand to St Catherine's Island, but it's a long, cold wait if you get trapped by the tide - check tide tables in Coast to Coast, at any newsagent or ask at the tourist office. The Victorian fort on the island is closed to the public.
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Ocean Lab
The Ocean Lab , on the waterfront near Goodwick, houses an exhibition on marine life and the environment. Aimed mainly at kids, it has various hands-on exhibits, as well as Oscar the mammoth skeleton, a soft play area and a café.
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Laston House
William Paxton built his saltwater baths above the harbour in what is now Laston House. The Greek writing on the pediment translates as the optimistic, 'The sea will wash away all the evils of man'.
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St Illtyd's Church
On Caldey Island, make sure you visit the old priory and St Illtyd's Church, with its oddly shaped steeple. Inside is a stone with inscriptions in ogham (an ancient Celtic script).
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St Margaret's Island
Little St Margaret's Island at the western tip of Caldey is a nature reserve (landings are prohibited), home to grey seals and also Wales' biggest colony of cormorants.
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Tudor Merchant's House
Visit the handsomely restored Tudor Merchant's House, the town house of a late-15th-century merchant, which boasts late-medieval frescoes.
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Norman Castle
On top of Castle Hill are the ruins of the Norman Castle, a memorial to Prince Albert, and a fine view over the coast.
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RNLI Lifeboat Stations
A path leads out above Tenby harbour past the old and new RNLI lifeboat stations and around the Castle Hill headland.
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Quay Hill
Tenby's oldest buildings are found on the Dickensian, steep-stepped Quay Hill.
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St Non's Bay
Immediately south of St Davids is this ruggedly beautiful spot, named after St David's mother and traditionally accepted as his birthplace. A path leads down to the 13th-century ruins of St Non's Chapel. Only the base of the walls remains, along with a stone marked with a cross within a circle, believed to date from the 7th century. Standing stones in the surrounding field suggest that the chapel may have been built within an ancient pagan stone circle.
On the approach to the ruins is a pretty little holy well. The spring is said to have emerged at the moment of the saint's birth and the water is believed to have curative powers.
Nearby, the Catholic Chapel of Our Lady and …
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Ramsey Island
Ramsey Island lies off the headland to the west of St Davids, ringed by dramatic sea cliffs and an offshore armada of rocky islets and reefs. The island is an RSPB reserve famous for its large breeding population of choughs – members of the crow family with glossy black feathers and distinctive red bills and legs – and for its grey seals.
You can reach the island by boat from the tiny harbour at St Justinian's, 2 miles west of St Davids. Longer boat trips run up to 20 miles offshore, to the edge of the Celtic Deep, to spot whales, porpoises and dolphins. What you'll see depends on the weather and the time of year: July to September are the best months. Porpoises are se…
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Oriel y Parc
Occupying a bold, semicircular, environmentally friendly building on the edge of town, Oriel y Parc (Landscape Gallery) is a winning collaboration between the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority and the National Museum Wales. Not only does it function as a tourist office and national park visitor centre, but it houses changing exhibitions from the museum's art collection.
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