Brawdy () is a village,

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

and

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and otherwise by the sea. Haverfordwest is the largest town and ...

, Wales.

Etymology

The

Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic languages, Celtic language of the Brittonic languages, Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales by about 18% of the population, by some in England, and in (the Welsh c ...

name A name is a term used for identification by an external observer. They can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. The entity identified by a name is called its referent. A person ...

appears to be an archaic form of "Bridget" and the parish may originally have been Llanfreudeth. The English name is a corruption of the Welsh.

Location

Brawdy is situated at the northeast corner of

St Brides Bay St Brides Bay () is a bay in western Pembrokeshire, West Wales. Either Skomer Island or the mainland extremity of Wooltack Point at the western end of the Marloes Peninsula marks the southern limit of the bay whilst its northern limit is mar ...

. The southern half of the

is in the

Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Pembrokeshire Coast National Park () is a National Parks of England and Wales, national park along the Pembrokeshire coast in west Wales. It was established as a National Park in 1952. It is one of the three National parks of Wales, the others ...

. The parish has 4 km of coastline accessible throughout by the

Pembrokeshire Coast Path The Pembrokeshire Coast Path (), often called the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path, is a designated National Trail in Pembrokeshire, southwest Wales. Established in 1970, it is a long-distance walking route, mostly at cliff-top level, with a total ...

. The parish includes the villages of

Penycwm Penycwm ( Welsh for "Head of the valley") is a small settlement on the A487 road near Newgale, Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is part of the community (formerly civil parish) of Brawdy. At the other end of a valley to the coast is Penycwm beach, als ...

and

Newgale Newgale () is a village with an almost stretch of beach in the parish of Roch, Pembrokeshire, West Wales. The beach is situated in the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park and on the Pembrokeshire Coast Path and has rugged coastal scenery with the ...

() , and the hamlets of Eweston () , Tancredston () and Trefgarn Owen . The parish church of St David is a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. Together with the parishes of Llandeloy and Llanreithan, it constitutes the

of Brawdy, which had a census population of 611 in

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

, increasing to 1,012 at the 2011 census. With the community of

Solva Solva () is a village, community (Wales), community and wards and electoral divisions of the United Kingdom, electoral ward in Pembrokeshire, Wales. The village comprises principally Lower Solva and Upper Solva. The community also includes Mid ...

, it makes up the Pembrokeshire ward of

. There are 15 listed buildings in the community, including two churches. The parish had an area of 2240

Hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...

s. Its census populations were: 572 (1801): 753 (1851): 467 (1901): 425 (1951): 798 (1981, of which around 400 were military). The percentage of Welsh speakers was 88% (1891): 72% (1931): 36% (1971). The Pembrokeshire language frontier, known as the

Landsker Line The Landsker Line () is a term used for the language border in Wales between the largely Welsh-speaking and largely English-speaking areas in Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire. The English-speaking areas, south of the Landsker line and sometim ...

, corresponds roughly with the southern boundary of the parish, and it has historically been more Welsh-speaking (excluding military personnel from the

Royal Signals The Royal Corps of Signals (often simply known as the Royal Signals – abbreviated to R SIGNALS) is one of the combat support arms of the British Army. Signals units are among the first into action, providing the battlefield communications an ...

Regiment who are based in the former RN and RAF Station). This is less so today, the 2011 census showed 19.1% of the population could speak Welsh, a fall from 32.2% in 2001. During the second half of the 20th century, it was home to RAF Station Brawdy, then the large

Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is the naval aviation component of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy (RN). The FAA is one of five :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, RN fighting arms. it is a primarily helicopter force, though also operating the Lockhee ...

base then back to RNAS Brawdy, later RAF Station and

Army Barracks Barracks are buildings used to accommodate military personnel and quasi-military personnel such as police. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word 'soldier's tent', but today barracks ar ...

Climate

References

External links

Historical information and sources on GENUKIDetails of the men on the Brawdy War Memorial, inside St David's ChurchMilitary Burials at St David's Church, Brawdy
{{authority control Villages in Pembrokeshire Communities in Pembrokeshire