St Davids and Dewisland Historical Society

07/04/2026

03/04/2026

who were the teachers

03/04/2026

looking for names and a date

03/04/2026

are you here?

03/04/2026

more Kids

03/04/2026

Are you in this photo?

03/04/2026

On 13th April we welcome back Fran Murphy who will share the information gained from the recent Iron Age fort excavation at Castlemartin. Fran is Deputy Head of Archaeology and Senior Project manager for South and Southwest Wales at Heneb. She will be speaking on the recent exploratory work at Buckspool Down Iron Age promontory fort within the Castlemartin ranges. Some interesting and unexpected discoveries were made during this two week excavation and further work is planned for this year. The dig was funded by the MoD and was carried out by ex-military and serving military personnel under supervision of Heneb staff and the MoD’s archaeologist Richard Osgood. As this fort is suffering coastal erosion any information gained is very important.
Usual time and venue: City Hall, St Davids, 7.00 pm for 7.30 pm. Admission for guests is £3.00.

In March over 50 members and guests enjoyed an informative and entertaining talk by Alan Davies of Solva and if you were unable to attend you’ll enjoy reading Andrew Westman’s summary attached to this mailing.

06/02/2026

Our next meeting is on the 9th February when the Rev. Richard Davies will tell us the story of Black Bart, one of the most famous, or infamous, Pembrokeshire men. Born in Casnewydd Bach (Little Newcastle) and christened John Roberts in 1682 it’s believed he went to sea aged 13 and served on various ships, mainly merchant vessels. While off the Gold Coast (Ghana), second mate on the slave ship, Princess, he was captured by pirates led by Welsh captain Howell Davis and forced to become a pirate himself. Later he took to the life and within 6 weeks, after Davis had been shot in an ambush, he was elected captain, probably because of his skill as a navigator. Operating off the coasts of West Africa, Brazil, Newfoundland, and in the Caribbean he took 400 ships between 1719 and 1722, the largest number by any pirate captain, although most of these were fishing boats. He introduced a ‘pirates code’ of behaviour and was known as ‘The Great Pyrate’. Although he had taken the name ‘Bartholomew’ on becoming a pirate it was only after his death that he was called Barti Ddu.