Pembrokeshire hilltop village
Mathry
A compact medieval village overlooking the coast and Preseli Hills, with a traditional pub, ancient church, nearby cove and working woollen mill.
- Best for
- Coastal walking, village history and Welsh weaving
- Give it
- A village stop with time for the nearby coast or mill
- Don't miss
- The phone-box library and Carreg Samson's capstone
Photo: Chris Andrews · CC BY-SA 2.0 · cropped
The Fox verdict
A hilltop base for coast, history and craft
Mathry brings a traditional Welsh pub and an ancient church together with walks around Abercastle and a working mill at Castlemorris.
The community phone-box library gives the village a distinctive first stop. From there, the Church of the Holy Martyrs, Farmers Arms, Abercastle, Carreg Samson and Melin Tregwynt support a visit built around local history, coastal landscape, food and weaving.
Where to go
Places in Mathry
Every place below is checked against a published source, listed with what it is and how long to give it.
Local signatures
3 placesThe Farmers Arms
A family-run traditional Welsh pub with beamed ceilings, a log fire and conservatory garden room, serving pub classics, children's meals and vegan and vegetarian options.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow around 90 minutes
- Locality
- Mathry, just up the road from Abercastle
- Access
- Dog friendly and wheelchair accessible.
Church of the Holy Martyrs
The fifth church on this ancient site, rebuilt in 1865-68, with a fifth- or sixth-century Ogham stone in the porch and two ninth-century inscribed stones in the west churchyard wall.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow around 45 minutes
- Locality
- On the hilltop in Mathry
Melin Tregwynt
A working Welsh woollen mill at Castlemorris with a shop and café; the shop sells woven blankets, throws and other textiles.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow around 90 minutes
- Locality
- Castlemorris, within Mathry's community
Walks & outdoors
1 placeAbercastle
A natural sheltered fishing cove used by kayakers, with the Pembrokeshire Coast Path running through it.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow around 60 minutes
- Locality
- Abercastle, down the hill from Mathry
History & heritage
2 placesMathry Phone Box Library
A red K6 phone box that now houses a community library, giving Mathry a distinctive village landmark.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow around 20 minutes
- Locality
- Mathry
- Access
- A community library in the village's Grade II-listed red K6 phone box.
Carreg Samson
A 5,000-year-old Neolithic burial chamber with a massive capstone, reached by a 1.2-mile (1.9-kilometre) circular walk from Abercastle.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow around 60 minutes
- Locality
- On the coast below Mathry near Abercastle
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Three ways to explore Mathry
Signature outings
A community library in a phone box
Mathry's red K6 phone box houses a community library.
Five thousand years of history
Carreg Samson is a Neolithic burial chamber whose capstone legend credits St Samson's little finger.
Weaving in the valley
Melin Tregwynt is a working woollen mill with a shop and café where visitors can browse blankets, throws and textiles.
The village story
Mathry Village Guide
Explore Mathry's community phone-box library, hilltop church and traditional pub, then follow the coast towards Abercastle or visit the woollen mill at Castlemorris.
The General Stores and Hilltop Village
Mathry's red K6 telephone box now houses a community library, a small landmark on the village street.
Mathry is a compact medieval village on a hilltop, high enough to see both the coast and the Preseli Hills. It sits just off the A487 between Fishguard and St Davids, about six miles from Fishguard, and as one local writer put it, "all roads seem to converge there."
The Farmers Arms and Coastal Walking
The Farmers Arms is a family-run pub with beamed ceilings, a log fire and a conservatory garden room. The menu leans traditional Welsh, with signature beer-battered cod, pub classics, vegan and vegetarian options, and children's meals. The food is locally sourced and real ales are offered. The pub is dog friendly and wheelchair accessible, and is just up the road from the harbour for Coast Path walkers. Live music, family quizzes, dart tournaments, karaoke, and rugby and football screenings are also part of the offer.
Down the hill from Mathry, Abercastle is a sheltered fishing cove popular with kayakers, and the Pembrokeshire Coast Path runs through it. West of the harbour stands Carreg Samson, a Neolithic burial chamber with a capstone that legend says St Samson set in place with his little finger. Circular walks from the cove cover 1.2 and 2.5 miles, with the shorter taking in the chamber. At Castlemorris, Melin Tregwynt is a working woollen mill with a shop and café where you can browse blankets and throws.
Church of the Holy Martyrs
The Church of the Holy Martyrs stands on the hilltop with panoramic coastal views. The present building went up in 1865–68 and is the fifth church on the site, retaining nothing of the earlier ones. Historian Richard Fenton recorded that the original steeple "was blown down in a storm." In the porch there's a fifth- or sixth-century Ogham stone reading "Mac Cudicel son of Caticuus lies here," and two ninth-century stones sit in the west churchyard wall.
Seven Saints and Jemima Nicholas
The name means "martyr," and the martyrs are seven baby boys the Book of Llandaff says St Teilo rescued from a river, baptised, fed on fish, and sent here to live out their lives as saints. Jemima Nicholas, who took on the French at the 1797 Battle of Fishguard, was baptised in the parish in 1755.
A Churchyard Story
Buried in the churchyard is John Hearne, remembered locally as the "gentleman of the road."
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A guide with a point of view
Written from research. Edited for real journeys.
Use the Official site links for live practical details, then use this guide for context, ideas and room to explore.
Photography credits & licences
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- File:Carreg Samson - geograph.org.uk - 2444969.jpg — photograph by Chris Andrews; Carreg Samson by Chris Andrews. Source record on Wikimedia Commons. Declared source image. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0. File changes: Downloaded from Wikimedia Commons, resized to a maximum 1920px edge and encoded as an optimised JPEG. Display changes: Displayed with responsive CSS cropping.
Sources
Every place on this page is checked against a published source. Each entry links the record we used and names who publishes it.
- The Farmers Arms — thefarmersarmsmathry.co.uk operator, sector body or destination organisation
- Mathry Phone Box Library — nation.cymru other published source
- Church of the Holy Martyrs — coflein.gov.uk statutory register or public authority
- Abercastle — coflein.gov.uk statutory register or public authority
- Carreg Samson — cadwpublic-api.azurewebsites.net other published source
- Melin Tregwynt — melintregwynt.co.uk operator, sector body or destination organisation