Pembroke Dock

Before the arrival of the Royal Naval Dockyard on the southern bank of the Cleddau estuary, the site of present-day Pembroke Dock was an isolated farming community called Paterchurch.

The only surviving remains of Paterchurch are of a tower from the medieval manor which is thought to date from the 1300s to 1400s.

The town of Pembroke Dock was established in 1814 with the start of the Royal Navy Dockyard.
As the Royal Navy Dockyard began to be established, construction immediately started, and in February 1816 the first ships to be built there were launched.

Over its 112 years of active service, the Dockyard saw the construction of five Royal Yachts and 263 other Royal Naval vessels. The last ship built there was launched in April 1922.

In 1930, four years after the Dockyard’s closure, the Royal Air Force began establishing a flying boat base – this continued for 29 years. Here in the 1930s several flying boats were introduced into service, including the Sunderland in 1938.