Milford Haven Waterway
Milford Haven Waterway (
History
Early history
From the 790s until the
A Benedictine priory (
In his play,
... how far it is to this same blessed Milford: and by the way tell me how Wales was made so happy as to inherit such a haven ...[10]
By 1590, two forts had been constructed to defend the entrance to the haven.[11] George Owen of Henllys, in his Description of Penbrokshire, claimed in 1603 that Milford Haven was the most famous port of Christendom.[12] The area however was a source of anxiety for the Tudor monarchy. Its location meant that it is exposed to attacks from Ireland]; a convenient base from which England could be invaded via Wales.[13] In 1405, the French landed in force having left Brest in July with more than twenty-eight hundred knights and men-at-arms led by Jean II de Rieux, the Marshal of France, to support Owain Glyndŵr's rebellion.
In April 1603, Martin Pring used the Haven as his departure point for his exploratory voyage to Virginia.[14] The land comprising the site of Milford, the Manor of Hubberston and Pill, was acquired by the Barlow family following the dissolution of the monasteries in the mid-16th century. It acquired an additional strategic importance in the 17th century as a Royalist military base. Charles I ordered a fort to be built at Pill by Royalist forces and completed in 1643 to prevent Parliamentarian forces from landing at Pembroke Castle and to protect Royalist forces landing from Ireland. On 23 February 1644, a Parliamentarian force led by Rowland Laugharne crossed the Haven and landed at Pill. The fort was gunned from both land and water, and a garrison was placed in Steynton church to prevent a Royalist attack from the garrison at Haverfordwest. The fort was eventually surrendered, and quickly taken,[15] along with St Thomas a Becket chapel. Just five years later in 1649 Milford Haven was again the site of Parliamentarian interest when it was chosen as the disembarkation site for Oliver Cromwell's Invasion of Ireland. Cromwell arrived in the Haven on 4 August, meeting George Monck,[16] before Cromwell and over a hundred crafts left for Dublin on 15 August.[17]
By the late 18th century, the two creeks which would delimit the future town of Milford's boundaries to the east and west, namely Hakin and Castle Pill, were being used as ports for ships to load and unload coal, corn and limestone.,[18] A ferry service to Ireland operated from Hakin around the start of the 19th century, although this ceased in the early 19th century.[3] Although surrounding settlements at Steynton, Thornton, Priory, Liddeston and Hubberston/Hakin were established, they were little more than hamlets. The only man-made structures on the future site of Milford were the medieval chapel, and Summer Hill Farm, and its accompanying cottages.[3]
Landscape and history
Parts of the Haven are within the
The
Around the start of the 19th century, two new towns were constructed: Milford in 1790 by Sir William Hamilton, and Pembroke Dock in 1802 as the site for a new Royal Naval Dockyard. Both towns have regular planned layouts, both have experienced a history of boom and slump in shipbuilding, fishing and as railheads and ocean terminals.[1] These two towns, which could handle the larger vessels then entering service, concentrated trade that had previously been dispersed at quays, jetties and landing places and small settlements such as Pennar, Lawrenny, Landshipping and Cosheston further up river.[1] These small ports served the coal mines of the Pembrokeshire Coalfield located on both shores of the Daugleddau, and also the large limestone quarries at West Williamston. The Daugleddau ports flourished in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, but continued to work through the 19th century by changing to using barges to tranship cargoes down river to bigger vessels at the mid-Haven ports.[1]
In the late 19th century, concerns about the potential threat posed by the French Navy prompted the construction of a number of
Port
Milford Haven is the largest port in Wales, and the third-largest port in the United Kingdom.
Petrochemical industry
Milford Haven's association with the
In 1978 the tanker
Liquefied natural gas
In light of the dwindling supplies of North Sea gas, Milford Haven has become home to two new LNG terminals which eventually could provide 25% of the UK's gas requirement. Under construction from 2006, South Hook is based on the former Esso refinery facility, while the Dragon LNG terminal is based on a brownfield site of the Gulf oil refinery, now also housing SEMLogistics chemicals. The regasified natural gas is fed through National Grid plc's South Wales Gas Pipeline to the distribution point at Tirley, Gloucestershire. The first vessel, the Q-Flex-class Tembek from Qatar, docked at South Hook on 20 March 2009. The first gas to the Dragon facility was delivered 14 July 2009.[24][25]
Cruise terminal
The port authority started promoting Pembrokeshire as a cruise destination in 2003 and passenger numbers have steadily increased since then. In July 2008, the first
Town
The town of Milford Haven was founded as a whaling center in the 18th century, and today the town's port is the fourth largest in the United Kingdom in terms of tonnage[27] and plays an important role in the United Kingdom's energy sector with several oil refineries and one of the biggest LNG terminals in the world. Milford Haven is the second largest settlement in Pembrokeshire, with a population of 13,100;[28] though its community boundaries make it the most populous in the county, with 13,096 people.[29] As a community, Milford Haven takes in the town of Milford Haven itself and the villages of Hakin, Hubberston, Liddeston, Steynton and Thornton.
Power generation
As a first stage of a wave power plant, there will be some testing at West Dale Bay.[30]
Contaminants
Organic and heavy metal chemical pollutants accumulating in variety of species including
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Milford Haven Waterway". Countryside Council for Wales. Archived from the original on 5 April 2010. Retrieved 15 January 2010.
- ^ "Milford Haven Waterway". Countryside Council for Wales. Archived from the original on 9 June 2011. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-9515212-0-5
- ^ Milford Haven Town Council website History, Chronology of Events Archived 13 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 17 January 2010
- ^ Medieval Works Found At LNG Site BBC News Article, 5 April 2005 Retrieved 17 January 2010
- ^ A History – The 12th Century: Pill Priory – Tironian House, Retrieved 17 January 2010
- ^ A Topographical Dictionary of Wales, Lewis, Samuel (1849) pp. 374–384 Retrieved 17 January 2010
- ISBN 1-4367-1986-0
- ISBN 978-0-7524-1589-5
- ^ BBC: Milford Haven Slideshow Tour Retrieved 19 January 2010
- ^ Genealogy World – FORT HUBBERSTONE Mason, Graham, Retrieved 20 May 2011
- ISBN 978-1-85902-120-0
- ISBN 0-7083-1039-7
- ISBN 0-548-25343-9
- ^ "1643–4: Civil War in Pembrokeshire". Retrieved 18 January 2010
- ^ 4 August 1649 "Timeline: British Civil wars" Retrieved 19 January 2010
- ^ "A Short History of Ireland: 'The righteous judgement of God': Cromwell". BBC. Retrieved 19 January 2010
- ^ George, Barbara J; Pembrokeshire Sea Trading Before 1900 Archived 15 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine Field Studies Journal, pp. 5–6; Retrieved 19 January 2010
- ^ "Sandy Haven to Milford Haven coastal walk". Walk through time. BBC. Retrieved 15 January 2009.
- ^ 'Energy industry zones for Snowdonia and Haven Waterway BBC News Article: 17 May 2012
- ^ 'AM praises 'huge benefits' enterprise zone will bring Milford Mercury Article: 26 May 2012
- ^ Jones, Tim (17 October 1978). "Gales forecast as salvage team battles against time to save stricken tanker". The Times. No. 60434. London. col D, p. 1.
- ^ British Tanker's Blasts Kill Three Sarasota Herald Tribune, 16.06.84
- BBC Wales. 20 March 2009. Retrieved 20 March 2009.
- ^ "Fast facts". Archived from the original on 25 June 2014. Retrieved 13 June 2014.
- ^ "Ship cruises in for record visit". BBC News. 24 July 2008. Retrieved 15 January 2009.
- ^ One Wales: Connecting the Nation – The Wales Transport Strategy Welsh Assembly Government, April 2008, page 29 Retrieved 17 January 2010
- ^ KS01 Usual Resident Population: Census 2001 'Key Statistics for Urban Areas', Office For National Statistics D8271.xls (PDF) line 2540 Archived 20 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 17 January 2010
- ^ Settlement Populations, Pembrokeshire County Council 2001 Census Retrieved 17 January 2010
- ^ "Wave power plan for Welsh coast". BBC News. 15 December 2005. Retrieved 15 January 2009.
- S2CID 19881327.
Further reading
- Oil pollution in a major oil port, Capt. G. Dudley, in Ecological Effects of Oil Pollution (ed. E.B.Cowell), Inst. Petroleum, London, 1971.