Marloes
Encyclopedia
Pembrokeshire
Pembrokeshire is a county in the south west of Wales. It borders Carmarthenshire to the east and Ceredigion to the north east. The county town is Haverfordwest where Pembrokeshire County Council is headquartered....
, West Wales
West Wales
West Wales is the western area of Wales.Some definitions of West Wales include only Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire, an area which historically comprised the Welsh principality of Deheubarth., an area called "South West Wales" in the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics....
. It is situated on the Marloes Peninsula 7 miles (11 km) west of the port
Port
A port is a location on a coast or shore containing one or more harbors where ships can dock and transfer people or cargo to or from land....
of Milford Haven
Milford Haven
Milford Haven is a town and community in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is situated on the north side of the Milford Haven Waterway, a natural harbour used as a port since the Middle Ages. The town was founded in 1790 on the north side of the Waterway, from which it takes its name...
and forms the westernmost tip of the southern shore of St Brides Bay. It is within part of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park
Pembrokeshire Coast National Park
Pembrokeshire Coast National Park is a national park along the Pembrokeshire coast in West Wales.It was established as a National Park in 1952, and is the only one in the United Kingdom to have been designated primarily because of its spectacular coastline...
. The parish has 6 miles (10 km) of mainland coastline accessible throughout by the Pembrokeshire Coast Path
Pembrokeshire Coast Path
The Pembrokeshire Coast Path is a National Trail in southwest Wales. It was established in 1970, and is 186 miles long, mostly at cliff-top level, with 35,000 feet of ascent and descent. The northern end is at Poppit Sands, near St...
.
It also includes the island of Skomer
Skomer
Skomer is a 2.92 km² island off the coast of southwest Wales, one of a chain lying within a kilometre off the Pembrokeshire coast and separated from the mainland by the treacherous waters of Jack Sound....
, accessible from Martin's Haven
Martin's Haven
Martin’s Haven is a small bay in Pembrokeshire, Wales, UK. It is located on the Dale Peninsula, with views across St Bride's Bay towards St David's. Its tiny pebble and shingle beach has a stone slipway which acts as an embarkation point for the ferry which visits the nearby island of Skomer, a...
at the tip of the peninsula
Peninsula
A peninsula is a piece of land that is bordered by water on three sides but connected to mainland. In many Germanic and Celtic languages and also in Baltic, Slavic and Hungarian, peninsulas are called "half-islands"....
, and the small islands of Grassholm
Grassholm
Grassholm is a small uninhabited island situated off the southwestern Pembrokeshire coast in Wales, lying west of Skomer. It is the westernmost point in Wales and is known for its huge colony of gannets...
and Gateholm
Gateholm
Gateholm is a small tidal island off south west Pembrokeshire in Wales.It is best known for its Romano-British remains, including hut circles and a round barrow...
. The parish, together with St Brides, constitutes the community
Community (Wales)
A community is a division of land in Wales that forms the lowest-tier of local government in Wales. Welsh communities are analogous to civil parishes in England....
of Marloes and St Brides (population 323 in 2001).
The name appears to derive from Old Welsh
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
mail "bare" and ros "moor" or "promontory", identical to Melrose in Scotland. It is locally pronounced "Marlas". Part of Little England beyond Wales
Little England beyond Wales
Little England beyond Wales is a name applied to an area of southern Pembrokeshire and southwestern Carmarthenshire in Wales, which has been English in language and culture for many centuries despite its remoteness from the English border...
, it has been essentially English-speaking for 900 years.
The beach (on Marloes Bay south of the village) is rated as one of the best beaches in Britain but involves a fairly long walk to reach it. There is excellent car parking that is free to National Trust
National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty
The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
Members. The National Trust owns the western half of the peninsula, including the open-access deer park on its western tip, which is a favourite area for picnicking and viewing the wildlife of Skomer Sound
Skomer Marine Nature Reserve
Skomer Marine Nature Reserve is one of only two such sites in Britain. It is located off the coast of Pembrokeshire.The reserve completely surrounds the islands of Skomer and Middleholm and encompasses the mainland coastline around the end of the Marloes peninsula, including the small bay of...
, including seals
Earless seal
The true seals or earless seals are one of the three main groups of mammals within the seal superfamily, Pinnipedia. All true seals are members of the family Phocidae . They are sometimes called crawling seals to distinguish them from the fur seals and sea lions of the family Otariidae...
, chough
Chough
The Red-billed Chough or Chough , Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax, is a bird in the crow family; it is one of only two species in the genus Pyrrhocorax...
s and puffin
Puffin
Puffins are any of three small species of auk in the bird genus Fratercula with a brightly coloured beak during the breeding season. These are pelagic seabirds that feed primarily by diving in the water. They breed in large colonies on coastal cliffs or offshore islands, nesting in crevices among...
s. The deer park was originally part of the Kensington estate of St Brides.
Every place in Wales was described by Samuel Lewis in his 1833 book A Topographical Dictionary of Wales. His description of Marloes is as follows:
MARLAIS (MARLOES), a parish in the hundred of RHÔS, county of PEMBROKE, SOUTH WALES, 11 miles (W.S.W.) from HaverfordwestHaverfordwestHaverfordwest is the county town of Pembrokeshire, Wales and serves as the County's principal commercial and administrative centre. Haverfordwest is the most populous urban area in Pembrokeshire, with a population of 13,367 in 2001; though its community boundaries make it the second most populous...
, containing 427 inhabitants. This parish is situated on the southern shore of Muggleswick bay . . . It comprises a considerable tract of arable and pasture land, which, with the exception of a comparatively small portion, is enclosed and in a good state of cultivation. The village is principally inhabited by fishermen, who obtain a livelihood in the lobsterLobsterClawed lobsters comprise a family of large marine crustaceans. Highly prized as seafood, lobsters are economically important, and are often one of the most profitable commodities in coastal areas they populate.Though several groups of crustaceans are known as lobsters, the clawed lobsters are most...
and crabCrabTrue crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" , or where the reduced abdomen is entirely hidden under the thorax...
fisheries, which are carried on here to a considerable extent, and by the sale of leeches, which are found in great numbers in a sheet of water covering from sixty to seventy acres, called Marlais Mere, and which, during the summer months, when it is dry, affords excellent pasturage for cattle. . . The church, dedicated to St. Peter, is a small edifice, not possessing any architectural details of importance. A former structure, which was dedicated to St. Mary, and situated near the beach, was destroyed by an encroachment of the sea . . .