We are pleased to announce the publication of its latest book ‘Monkton – a Hidden History’.
Written by Linda Asman and Keith Johnson with contributions from many local people, the book brings to light the rich heritage of Monkton, much neglected by historians. We are very thankful to the Heritage Lottery for funding its publication and the book will be launched at Pembroke Castle’s Christmas Market where the History Society will have a stall. The Market runs from Friday 25th to Sunday 27th November.
Overshadowed somewhat by historic Pembroke, Monkton too can boast an impressive history, a history which dates back to the Old Stone Age. It encompasses the rise and fall of Pembroke Priory, the Civil War when Cromwell located his cannons here, the building of the Victorian terraces of Priory Mains to house Dockyard workers and the restoration of the Priory Church. In the course of researching the book, lesser-known information emerged such as the surprising fact that Monkton was a centre of the Mormon religion in the 1850s, with one of only three Mormon chapels in Wales. And research into the village's maritime past has revealed that it once had a thriving shipbuilding yard and that timber from Canada was imported to Monkton quay.
Proudly independent of its larger neighbour, Pembroke, Monkton was virtually a self-contained community for over a century with shops and tradesmen of every kind, farms and quarries, schools and pubs and regular livestock fairs in the village street. Sadly, much of the character of the village was lost in the early 1960s when the local council decided to bulldoze most of the old terraces and replace them with a modern housing estate.
The late Pauline Waters was a leading member of our Society and we have dedicated the book to her memory and to all who shared her love of old Monkton.
