Step 4 - The Castle
- Location : Pembroke
- Length : 2 miles
- Parking : Next to Pembroke Castle
- Picnics spots : There are benches and scenic views throughout the walk
- Accessibility : Generally quite a flat gentle stroll with one relatively steep incline
- Description of this walk : A circular walk around the town of Pembroke
More information
Retrace your steps down Church Terrace (downhill now) and across Monkton Bridge. Take time to stop and gaze across the stream towards the undoubted gem of Pembroke Castle - and, indeed, of Pembroke itself - the superb Round Keep, built by Earl William Marshall in about 1200. It is one of the finest examples of a round keep in Britain, reaching up 100 feet into the air and remaining, almost to the end of its military life, virtually impregnable to attack or siege.
Small wonder Edmund, Earl of Richmond, chose Pembroke as a sanctuary for his young wife, Margaret Beaufort, during the Wars of the Roses. She may have been only 15 years old but in 1456 Margaret gave birth to a son, , later King Henry VII, in a tower room in Pembroke Castle.
The foot of Westgate Hill is the site of the town's old West Gate. The remains of the gate can be seen in the wall of one of the houses on your right. There is a short, sharp climb, past the castle Gate House - a car park on the right, called Long Entry, was originally the location of one of the town's two preaching and market crosses. The other stood outside the Old Cross Saws public house in the eastern part of the town.
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Phil Carradice
Presenter and writer Phil Carradice is a regular blogger on the Wales History site.