Penally: Walking Trails, Cliffs and History

Penally offers several specific considerations when choosing a destination: limestone cliffs with birdlife, named walking trails, and traces of military and church history. If you’re looking for a hotel in Penally, you can weigh up whether you’d like to focus your stay more on the landscape, walking or historical heritage. The different trails and sights give each of these themes a tangible connection to the area.

Limestone Cliffs and Birdlife

Penally’s limestone cliffs provide a habitat for fulmars, razorbills and gulls, mainly herring gulls. The cliffs are therefore both a landscape feature and a habitat for specifically named bird species. If, alongside trails and culture, you also take nature into account when choosing an area, this combination is one of Penally’s distinctive features.

Walking Trails and Their Conditions

The Penally Nature Trail is approximately 4.3 km long. It starts at the village pump and leads to the parish church of St Nicholas and St Teilo. Along the route, there are five cattle grids, four gates and a footbridge. Together, the length, start and end points, and these trail features provide a clear picture of the route. As trails may change due to maintenance or weather, check the current conditions before setting out.

The cliff path near Penally is closed during firing times. Check the current notices at the firing range before setting out. The Penally Range Practice Trenches can be seen from the alternative footpath when the firing range is closed. These details relate to different routes and conditions: for the cliff path, firing times determine when it is closed; seeing the trenches is subject to the stated condition that the firing range is closed.

Penally railway station is on the Wales Coast Path route; this route is used during high tide or when the MoD firing range is in use. The station itself is a request stop. So, if you’re planning your journey on foot and by train, take both these route conditions and the station’s request-stop status into account.

Military History and Church Heritage

The Penally Range Practice Trenches were used to train troops before they were sent to war in France. They are considered the only fully preserved example of their kind in the United Kingdom. Their history therefore encompasses both their use for military training and their particularly notable status among surviving examples of this type.

The Penally Cross is intricately carved with a wheel cross on both sides and combines Celtic and Northumbrian styles. The church of St Nicholas and St Teilo is also part of Penally’s history: it was first mentioned in the Llandaff Charters dating from around 675 AD. The cross and the church offer different points of interest for visitors interested in culture—the cross for its carvings on both sides and stylistic influences, and the church for its early mention in the Charters.

Choosing Penally as a Destination

These themes can help guide your hotel choice: the cliffs and birdlife appeal to travellers who take nature into account when choosing an area; the Nature Trail offers a named route with an approximate length and specific trail features; and the trenches, cross and church each add their own historical dimension. If your main interest is walking, factor firing times and current trail notices into your plans. If you’re more interested in heritage, the military history of the trenches and the art-historical features of the cross are quite distinct.

Discover more destinations: Clarbeston Road, Begelly, St David's, St Florence, Llanfyrnach, Letterston, Llandeloy, Lydstep.

For the wider travel guide: Pembrokeshire.