New Moat ( cy, Y Mot) is a village,

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

and

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, t ...

Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; cy, Sir Benfro ) is a county in the south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and the rest by sea. The county is home to Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. The Park oc ...

, Wales. It extends from the southern edges of

Mynydd Preseli The Preseli Hills or, as they are known locally and historically, Preseli Mountains, (Welsh: ''Mynyddoedd y Preseli / Y Preselau'' , ) is a range of hills in western Wales, mostly within the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. The range stret ...

to the Pembrokeshire-

Carmarthenshire Carmarthenshire ( cy, Sir Gaerfyrddin; or informally ') is a county in the south-west of Wales. The three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford. Carmarthen is the county town and administrative centre. The county is known as ...

border.

Demographics

New Moat community includes the villages of New Moat,

Bletherston Bletherston ( cy, Trefelen) is a small settlement and parish in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is in the middle of eastern Pembrokeshire, north of Narberth and northeast of Haverfordwest. The parish includes the village of Penffordd. Together with ...

, Llys y Fran, and Penffordd, with a combined population recorded in the 2001 census of 426, increasing to 434 at the 2011 Census.

History

Historically in the

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to des ...

Dungleddy 200px, Ancient Dyfed showing Deugleddyf Cantref and its "commotes" 200px, Pembrokeshire showing Dungleddy Hundred The Hundred of Dungleddy was a hundred in the centre of Pembrokeshire, Wales. It had its origins in the pre-Norman cantref of Deugl ...

, the village takes its name from an ancient

motte and bailey A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy t ...

defence of which only the artificially built mound now survives. The Black Book of St Davids 1326 records state that the Lord of New Moat paid one penny a year to the Bishops of St Davids at Castle Morris. New Moat was once the seat of the Scourfield family, who are reported to have resided in the area since the reign of

Edward I Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vas ...

. The Scourfields provided the area of Pembrokeshire and

Haverfordwest Haverfordwest (, ; cy, Hwlffordd ) is the county town of Pembrokeshire, Wales, and the most populous urban area in Pembrokeshire with a population of 14,596 in 2011. It is also a community, being the second most populous community in the county, ...

with several sheriffs and mayors, as well as Members of Parliament, including

William Henry Scourfield William Henry Scourfield (1776 – 31 January 1843) was a Welsh landowner and Tory politician. Biography Scourfield was the son of Henry Scourfield and his wife Elizabeth (daughter of Rev John Ewer of Bangor), of the Scourfield family of New Mo ...

and Sir John Scourfield. The family resided at Mote and Robertson Hall until the 19th century when the family moved to Robeston Hall in the parish of Robeston West. Mote and Robertson Hall became ruinous and has since been demolished.

Church

At the centre of the village is St Nicholas's church, mainly rebuilt in the 1880s, which retains its medieval tower and 17th-century altar tomb and is a grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

References

{{authority control Villages in Pembrokeshire Communities in Pembrokeshire