Lawrenny is a village and

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 ...

in the

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 ...

and

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...

of Martletwy in the county of

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. It is on a peninsula of the

River Cleddau The River Cleddau () consists of the Eastern and Western Cleddau rivers in Pembrokeshire, west Wales. They unite to form the Daugleddau estuary and the harbour of Milford Haven Waterway. The name of the combined estuary – the Daugleddau � ...

estuary upriver from

Milford Haven Milford Haven ( ) is a town and community (Wales), community in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is on the north side of the Milford Haven Waterway, an estuary forming a natural harbour that has been used as a port since the Middle Ages. The town was ...

where it branches off towards the Cresswell and Carew Rivers and 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 ...

Description

The village extends down to the Estuary to Lawrenny Quay half a mile from the centre, where there is a busy yacht station and caravan park. It provides most of the central rural facilities for the Martletwy ward, mobile post office, cricket and football clubs, village hall and church. The community owns and operates the Millennium Youth Hostel and the village shop which operates what is possibly a world first: an automated service that allows members to access 24 hours to buy essentials. The system was featured on ITV Wales news in 2016. The ''Lawrenny Arms'' and the Quayside Tearooms have recently become popular destinations in the area for both boaters and walkers. The village has its own community-run broadband service which provides Internet access across the village as well as to communities on the other side of the Cleddau Estuary. The village was featured in series 3 of ''Penelope Keith's Hidden Villages'' which aired on the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

in 2016.

History

Lawrenny developed around fishing, boat building and as a staging point for quarried limestone extracted from quarries upriver. In the 1830s there were 422 inhabitants and there was a ferry over the Cresswell River. Racing stables in the village provided Wales' first and only Grand National winner, Kirkland, at Aintree in 1905. Lawrenny played a role in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

as a base for

Supermarine Walrus The Supermarine Walrus is a British single-engine Amphibious aircraft, amphibious biplane designed by Supermarine's R. J. Mitchell. Primarily used as a maritime patrol aircraft, it was the first British Squadron (aviation), squadron-service ai ...

seaplanes and a training centre, known as RNAS Lawrenny Ferry (HMS Daedalus II), operated by the

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 ...

. Lawrenny was voted best village in Wales in 2007 (a competition run by Calor). The gardens of the demolished Lawrenny House are listed at Grade II on the

Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales The Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales is a heritage register of significant historic parks and gardens in Wales. It is maintained by Cadw, the historic environment service of the Welsh Government and ...

Church

The parish church of Saint Caradoc 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 ...

founded in the 12th century and altered considerably since, principally in the 19th century. The tower was added in the 15th century.

References

External links

Lawrenny village website
{{authority control Villages in Pembrokeshire Registered historic parks and gardens in Pembrokeshire Martletwy