In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Maenorbyr like this:
MANORBIER, or MANORBEAR, a village and a bar ish in the district and county of Pembroke. The village stands on the coast, adjacent to the Pembroke and Tenby railway, 5 miles ESE of Pembroke; and has a station on the railway, and a post office under Tenby. The parish contains also the hamlets of Jameston and Newton. ...
Acres, 3,493. Real property, £5,169; of which £125 are in quarries. Pop., 715. Houses, 151. The property is divided among a few. Manorbier Castle was built in the time of Henry I., by William de Barri, ancestor of Giraldus Cambrensis; passed, through the Windsors and others, to Phillips of Picton; belongs now to Lord Milford; appears to have been constructed in the manner more of a convenient mansion than of a feudal fortress; is now an extensive ruin, little altered from its original condition, except by the erosions of time; includes moat, entrance-gateway, parts of surrounding ramparts, and a lofty loop-holed embattled wall; and stands on a commanding site, overlooking a reach of coast. Giraldus Cambrensis was born here; and has left, in his Itinerary, a glowing description of the fish-ponds, the vineyards, the hazel-groves, and other attractions of his native place, all now quite or nearly extinct. The coast, however, is picturesque; and shows, among other features, a cromlech on cliffs at a cave, and two or three curious fissures, about 100 feet deep, in old red sandstone rock. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of St. David's. Value, £125. Patron, Christ's College, Cambridge. The church is a wildly irregular ancient structure; has a N tower, in the angle of transept and chancel; comprises remarkably formed S aisle, transept, and nave-vaults; shows very curious interior arches, rising from square piers without capital o r impost; contains a monument of the De Barris; and was recently restored.
Maenorbyr through time
Maenorbyr is now part of Pembrokeshire district. Click here for graphs and data of how Pembrokeshire has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Maenorbyr itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Maenorbyr in Pembrokeshire | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/6733
Date accessed: 16th April 2024
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