Wood You Believe it?

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: Pictured is Archivist Nikki Bosworth at the Pembrokeshire Records Office in Haverfordwest with an 1848 map of the Bush Estate.; Image by: PCC

by Pembrokeshire County Council

September 24, 2006

The Pembrokeshire Record Office might not immediately spring to mind as a source of information when researching changes to rural Pembrokeshire, but the archives do include many documents that trace the development of the countryside.

The most obvious source can be found in the maps. In particular, the 25-inch to one mile Ordnance Survey maps delineated the landscape with great accuracy, with ten different symbols used to identify categories of woodland, copses and rough pasture. For Pembrokeshire, O.S. maps on this scale are available from 1860 onwards.

Hand-drawn estate maps were commissioned by landowners and produced by professional surveyors. These maps were usually of a sufficiently large scale to differentiate woodland from fields and gardens. The earliest estate maps in the care of the Pembrokeshire Record Office date from the mid 18th century.

One of the best known local surveyors was Henry (or Harry) Phelps Goode (born in Llandissilio circa 1797 and buried at St Mary's Church, Haverfordwest, in 1874). On the 1841 census, he was living at number 4 Castle Terrace in Haverfordwest. Nothing is known about his training as a surveyor, but living with him in 1841 were his mother Martha, James Goode (age 25), an auctioneer, and John Goode (age 15), a land agent. By 1851, Henry had married Mary (from Cowbridge, Glamorganshire) and the couple had three daughters, Mary (who died two days after her baptism), Louisa and Jane

: A map dating from 1848 of the Bush Estate, one of many maps which can be found in the archives of the Pembrokeshire Record Office.; Image by: PCC

The papers of another Haverfordwest surveyor Thomas Tamlyn are to be found at the record office under the reference DB/13.

Between 1780 and 1890, much common land was enclosed and divided up between neighbouring landowners. Although this was often achieved by private agreement, it sometimes had to be enforced by an Act of Parliament, which had to include provision for the drawing-up of a detailed map. There are only 10 such acts for Pembrokeshire - Narberth Forest, Templeton Mountain, Molleston Mountain and Robeston Grove; Castlemartin Corse; Llanfyrnach; Marloes; Maenclochog, Llandeilo and Llangolman; Manorowen; Portfield; Llanteague; Letterston and St. Davids.

Similarly, after the Tithe Act of 1836, large-scale maps were created, along with apportionments [lists of fields and buildings with names of owners and occupiers]. Almost every parish in Pembrokeshire was mapped in this way, but the quality of the maps vary from parish to parish depending on the individual surveyor responsible.

Records from the Quarter Sessions courts often cover crimes relating to the woodlands of Pembrokeshire. In 1780, Griffith Morris of Llanddewi Velfrey was charged with the theft of young ash and sycamore from the hedge belonging to Evan Davies. The theft of two holly trees in September 1782 brought James Thomas of Begelly and John Griffiths of Gumfreston before the magistrates at the Michaelmas sessions.

: A map dating from 1848 of the Bush Estate, one of many maps which can be found in the archives of the Pembrokeshire Record Office.; Image by: PCC

Estate papers are another source of information about woodlands in the county. In 1843, the Picton Castle estate was selling oak trees grown at Broadway Farm, Llawhaden, whilst in 1878 the Milford Haven Estate kept a ledger relating to its woods and plantations. An account of the wages paid for tree planting on the Harcourt Powell estate survives for 1908-1909.

Major Jack Roch of Pembroke was responsible for valuing many of the county's plantations and woods in the first half of the twentieth century, usually in preparation for their sale or their inclusion in a probate inventory. Major Roch's notebooks survive at the Pembrokeshire Record Office under the reference D/ROC.

In December 1941, the Trustees of the Cresselly Estate wrote to the 'Home Grown Timber Department' of the Ministry of Supply, based in Bristol, about trees at Greenway Park and Croft Woods, Carew. This letter can also be seen at the record office amongst the Allen papers.

The Pembrokeshire Record Office, based in the old gaol at Haverfordwest Castle, is open to the public from:

Monday to Thursday 9.00 am to 4.45 pm.
Fridays from 9.00 am to 4.15 pm (last documents issued 15 minutes before closing time).

The office is also open on the first Saturday morning in the month (unless a Bank Holiday weekend) from 9.30 am to 12.30 pm, but does not open until 10.00 am on the first Monday in the month.

Further details are available from the record office on: