Crosses, coast and links
Penally
A linear coastal village above Tenby's South Beach, with an early church, two traditional pubs and paths towards Giltar Point.
- Best for
- Early-medieval carvings and coast walks
- Give it
- A church visit and a coast walk
- Don't miss
- The 10th-century Penally Cross
The Fox verdict
A small village with a long view
Penally brings together early Christian history, village pubs, links golf and the sand and cliffs west of Tenby.
The Church of St Nicholas and St Teilo holds the 10th-century Penally Cross and four early-medieval carved stones. Outdoors, paths from Penally station lead through dunes and the golf course towards Tenby South Beach and Giltar Point.
Where to go
Places in Penally
Every place below is checked against a published source, listed with what it is and how long to give it.
Local signatures
3 placesChurch of St Nicholas & St Teilo
A Grade II* church with a 13th-century core, a three-storey west tower, the 10th-century Penally Cross and four early-medieval carved stones.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 45 minutes
- Locality
- Penally
The Cross Inn
A traditional Grade II listed pub and restaurant serving home-cooked food made with local Welsh beef, with two real ales and a beer garden with sea views.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 75 minutes
- Locality
- in the heart of the village
- Access
- Well-behaved dogs are welcome in the bar and garden.
Penally Beach
The sandy Penally end of Tenby South Beach, part of a two-mile stretch of sand below the village.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 60 minutes
- Locality
- at the west end of Tenby South Beach
- Access
- Free station car park with toilets.
Food & drink
1 placeThe Paddock Inn
A traditional pub and restaurant in a late-17th-century former farmhouse, with an on-site bakery producing fresh bread and confectionery.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 75 minutes
- Locality
- Penally
- Access
- Dog friendly.
Walks & outdoors
1 placePenally to Giltar Point Coast Path
A coastal route through dunes and the golf course towards Giltar Point, where WWI practice trenches remain visible and views extend west to Lydstep Point and Skrinkle Haven.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 2 hours
- Locality
- Penally to Giltar Point
Things to do
2 placesTenby Golf Course
The oldest golf course in Wales, an 18-hole links backed by dunes below Penally with views over Carmarthen Bay.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 3 hours
- Locality
- in the dunes below the village
Penally Village Hall
A village hall in use since 1984 that hosts short-mat bowls, bridge and craft groups as well as fairs, quiz nights and open gardens.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 45 minutes
- Locality
- Penally
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Three ways to explore Penally
Signature outings
Meet the Penally Cross
Walk up to the 10th-century wheel-head Celtic cross and its knotwork and interlace inside the parish church.
Walk towards Giltar Point
Take the path from Penally station through dunes and the golf course towards the rocks and surviving WWI practice trenches at Giltar Point.
Try the pub and bakery
Stop at the former late-17th-century farmhouse for pub classics and the on-site bakery's fresh bread and confectionery.
The village story
Penally Village Guide
An early church, village pubs and a coastal landscape just southwest of Tenby.
The Cross and the Coast
Inside the Church of St Nicholas and St Teilo, propped where you can walk right up to it, is the Penally Cross — a 10th-century wheel-head Celtic cross carved with knotwork and interlace, alongside four early-medieval stones thought to be standing where they were first set. The church itself is Grade II*, C13 at the core, with a three-storey west tower added in the fifteenth or sixteenth century. In 1891 it became, reportedly, the first church in Pembrokeshire to have electric lighting installed, which for a building that had already stood six hundred years was a late upgrade.
Penally is a linear village strung along a former shoreline a mile southwest of Tenby, 848 people at the last count, sitting above the two miles of sand at the west end of Tenby's South Beach. From up here the view runs across Carmarthen Bay to Caldey Island, with the Gower Peninsula visible on the far side.
Two Village Pubs
There are two pubs. The Cross Inn is Grade II listed and, by local reckoning, a newcomer — it was only built in the 1840s. Its walls carry local pictures and the shields of regiments once stationed at the training camp up the hill. The kitchen uses local Welsh beef in house-made puff-pastry pies, slow-cooked Sunday roasts and fish and chips, with two real ales kept well enough for CAMRA to list them. The beer garden looks out to sea, and there are water bowls and dog treats behind the bar.
The Paddock Inn began life as a late-17th-century farmhouse and now runs an on-site bakery alongside the pub. The menu is hand-battered cod, wholetail scampi, homemade beef lasagne, and steaks up to a 16oz prime rump, roughly £8 to £20 a head. Arthur Williams owned the place in 1827; his monument is fixed to the west wall of the parish church, a few hundred yards away.
Sand, Links and Connections
Beyond the two pubs and a well-stocked village shop, the amenities are mostly outdoors. From the free car park at the station a path crosses the railway and threads through dunes and the golf course down to Tenby South Beach — Tenby is a 45-minute walk along the sand or a five-minute drive. Head west instead and the coast path climbs toward Giltar Point, where WWI practice trenches are still cut into the ground, with views on to Lydstep and Skrinkle Haven.
The golf is Tenby Golf Course, an 18-hole links in the dunes below the village and the oldest in Wales.
Pilgrims and a Lost Bird
Trains still stop at Penally, just, on the Pembroke Dock branch — request stops roughly every two hours to Tenby, Whitland, Carmarthen and Swansea. The A4139 runs through for anyone driving, and the 349 bus passes as well.
St Teilo, the sixth-century monk and cousin of St David, was born here around 500, and pilgrims from Brittany and Cornwall once came ashore at Penally on the route to St Davids. In March 2014 the arrivals were briefer: a great spotted cuckoo, unrecorded in the UK since 2009, turned up having aimed for Spain and missed. The birdwatchers came for that instead.
Stay around Pembrokeshire
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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.
Sources
Every place on this page is checked against a published source. Each entry links the record we used and names who publishes it.
- Church of St Nicholas & St Teilo — coflein.gov.uk statutory register or public authority
- The Cross Inn — crossinnpenally.co.uk operator, sector body or destination organisation
- The Paddock Inn — penallycommunity.com other published source
- Penally Beach — visitpembrokeshire.com operator, sector body or destination organisation
- Penally to Giltar Point Coast Path — pembrokeshirecoast.wales operator, sector body or destination organisation
- Tenby Golf Course — tenbygolf.co.uk operator, sector body or destination organisation
- Penally Village Hall — penallycommunity.com operator, sector body or destination organisation