October 5th - Before the Camera: an artists view of Pembrokeshire

Last Saturday we recommenced our monthly Local History Coffee Mornings at Monkton Priory Church Hall.  Unfortunately our programme met with a hiccup when Rosalie Lilwall, of Dyfed Family History Society, was unable to speak to us as originally advertised.  She will come next month instead on Saturday November 2^nd.   Hunting around for an alternative, I came up with the idea of an exhibition and talk on the subject of old prints of Pembroke.  

Pembroke has an amazing heritage.  The history of our nation can be told here – the Norman Conquest, the mighty Earls of Pembroke (including William Marshall, regent of England), the birthplace of the Tudor dynasty, the Civil War and much more.  On top of all that, we have a great artistic heritage.  Whilst in the distant past men came here to fight, in more recent times they came to paint inspired by the once mighty castle which had been left in a ruinous state following the 17^th Century Civil War.  Most of the great topographical artists came here to paint providing us with our first glimpses of what Pembroke was like in the 17th and 18th century.