Pembroke Dock.
The "Dock" as it's known was once a major centre in the area for employment and development. Its history is based around shipbuilding - it once had the worlds largest dockyard - and in 1918 the dockyard had a workforce approaching 4,000. The shipbuilders constructed 263 vessels for the Royal Navy here, ranging from gunboats to battleships, and four Royal Yachts were designed and built here. In World War I Pembroke Dock was a substantial garrison town and the Dockyard remained in production throughout the war years. Later, however, demand for shipbuilding went elsewhere, the docks closed any many people left Pembroke Docks and southern Wales.
Image courtesy of British Airways MuseumThe Dock's history and its roles in wartime was not yet over though for in 1930 the sheltered waters around the Haven became the home of the flying boat Squadron No. 210. It hosted the largest operational flying-boat base in the world with over 100 aircaft and in World War II Sunderland & Catalina flying boats went to seek out German submarines off the UK shores.
As cyclists we are fortunate in our mostly peaceful times in the UK to have the freedom to cycle and learn the history of the places we go through. It needs little imagination to picture the scenes of years gone by in many of the villages, towns and cities along the cycle routes but those times belonged to a different world as past generations are long gone leaving their own history behind and the next generations to change and develop the latest chapters of Pembroke Dock and other places.
