Pembroke Dock: maritime heritage by the water

Pembroke Dock is a suitable destination if you would like to include maritime history, boats and historic buildings in your choice of place to visit. The town originally developed around the Royal Naval Dockyard. Its attractions include collections about boats and navigation, military buildings and views of ferry traffic.

Ferry connection and waterside views

There is a ferry service from Pembroke Dock to Rosslare in the Republic of Ireland and back twice daily. If you are planning a crossing, check the timetable before travelling. At the end of Pier Road is the Hobbs Point viewpoint, where you can watch boats and see the Irish ferry. The ferry service and viewpoint appeal to different travel interests: Rosslare is the destination of the ferry service, while Hobbs Point offers views of boat traffic. This distinguishes a specific onward journey from a place to watch activity on the water.

Maritime collections

The West Wales Maritime Heritage Society is based in historic Hancock's Yard in Pembroke Dock. The West Wales Maritime Heritage Museum displays smaller boats, nautical curiosities, historic navigation instruments, working models, tools, photographs, and model boats and ships. The collection offers different perspectives on seafaring: smaller boats and models show it at different scales, while navigation instruments and tools touch on the practical side of maritime work. Photographs add another visual form to the physical objects. If you are particularly interested in navigation, the instruments provide a specific point of interest; if you are interested in watercraft, boats and model ships take centre stage.

Military architecture

West Martello Tower is a 50-foot-high stone structure built in 1851. Defensible Barracks, an octagonal stone fort surrounded by a deep moat, stand on Barrack Hill. The differences are clear: the Tower is defined by its height and tower form, while the Barracks are distinguished by their octagonal structure and the moat around them. Pembroke Dock thus offers two distinct forms of military architecture as points of interest for travellers interested in architecture.

Heritage Centre and exhibition

Pembroke Dock Heritage Centre is housed in the United Kingdom's only surviving Georgian military chapel. The HMS Erebus exhibition includes a reconstruction of the cabin of a 19th-century ship, a polar diorama and digital interactive elements. At the Centre, visitors can also experience a pilot's perspective from the cockpit of an iconic Sunderland flying boat. A reconstructed interior, diorama, digital elements and cockpit perspective thus sit alongside one another as different forms of presentation. When choosing according to your interests, the distinction is clear: the museum focuses on collection objects and models, while the Heritage Centre combines its distinctive chapel with a reconstructed interior, diorama, digital elements and a cockpit experience.

Discover more destinations: Manorbier, Haverfordwest, Ludchurch, Moylegrove, Roch, Treffgarne, Llandissilio, Abercych

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