Llangwm

Shell banks and village essentials

Old oyster shells can still be found in Llangwm gardens and beside footpaths leading down to the shore. They recall the village's shellfish trade. Llangwm grew around an inlet on the Cleddau estuary, where the water and foreshore remain central to the village landscape.

Llangwm has a primary school on Deerland Road and a pharmacy on Main Street. A village pub and medieval church add two places that carry the village's longer story.

The Cottage Inn and Blacktar Point

The Cottage Inn on Main Street is Llangwm's remaining pub, serving home-cooked food including Sunday roasts and vegetarian choices. The Three Horseshoes, named in nineteenth-century village records, has gone.

The Blacktar Point walk is a 1.4-mile easy route that can be muddy. Starting near the village bus stop, it crosses fields, drops by a stile and steps to the foreshore, and returns along a lane.

Oysters and the fisherwomen

Llangwm's oyster beds supported a major trade. In 1870, 38 boats were contracted to the Herne Bay Oyster Company. Twenty-six of the 38 fishermen signed the contract with a mark because they could not write their names. The weekly catch fell from 33,000 oysters to 3,000 by 1871.

Women carried Llangwm's catch on foot in heavy panniers to sell it. In 1866, Elizabeth Jenkins, an oyster woman from Llangwm, was fined for selling undersized oysters in Pembroke Dock.

St Jerome's Church

St Jerome's Church retains a medieval core despite substantial nineteenth-century restoration. The north aisle was rebuilt as a Roche family chapel around 1380, with decorated tomb recesses holding effigies of a knight and a woman. The Talking Tapestry tells episodes from Llangwm's medieval history through six images.

Getting here and festival time

Bus 308 links Haverfordwest, Llangwm and Burton on a circular route. Llangwm's literary festival has also brought writers, children's events and music to the village.