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BOSHERSTON
![BOSHERSTON](images/bosherton1.jpg)
GRID REFERENCE: SR198194
AREA IN HECTARES: 170
Historic Background
A small area of modern Pembrokeshire lying within the
parish of Bosherston. During the medieval period, Bosherston was a manor
comprising 1 knight’s fee held of the Lordship and Earldom of Pembroke,
a heavily Anglicised region that was brought under Anglo-Norman control
before 1100, re-organised along English manorial lines and never retaken
by the Welsh. Until the 16th century the manor was known as Stackpole
Bosher. The Stackpole element may be of Scandinavian origin, derived from
‘stack’ or rock, indicating that the area was known –
and perhaps even settled – by Norse seafarers during the later early
medieval period. The nameis shared with neighbouring Stackpole Elidor.
The ‘Bosher’ suffix derived from the family name of the lords
of the manor, and was first recorded in 1247 when Philip Bosher held the
manor. The present settlement appears to have been an agricultural vill
established around the church. It is a very loose nucleation and exhibits
no evidence of planning. The church has a circular churchyard, later extended,
which in this area of early Anglo-Norman settlement suggests that it may
be a pre-Conquest foundation. The shape of the surrounding enclosures
suggests that they represent later enclosure of medieval open fields.
However, it has been suggested that the extensive system of north-south,
narrow fields in the Castlemartin peninsula, to the west of the character
area, has its origins as a bronze age co-axial field system. It may be
that this system extended into the Bosherston character area and has been
variously adapted and altered during the medieval an later periods. Farmsteads
had been established at Buckspool and Trevallen by c.1600, indicating
that the process of enclosure had begun by this date. The manor was still
in Bosher hands in the late 16th century, but was acquired by the Lorts
of Stackpole Court during the 17th century and passed to the Campbells
of Cawdor in c.1700. Estate maps of the late 18th century, and the tithe
map of 1839, show a landscape very like that of today. Thornston farm
had been established by 1793, but there has been little subsequent development,
even within Bosherston village. The southern edge of the character area
is represented by the boundary with Castlemartin Range, acquired by the
MoD in 1939 and established as an artillery range.
![BOSHERSTON](images/bosherton2.jpg)
Description and essential historic landscape
components
The small but nevertheless distinct historic landscape
character area of Bosherston lies on a plateau at about 40m above sea
level to the west of the parkland of Stackpole Court, and close to the
coast. It is essentially an agricultural landscape (although now with
a strong tourist element) with a small village and dispersed farms. Land-use
is a mixture of improved pasture and arable. It is a windswept landscape,
exposed to the prevailing westerly winds from the Atlantic and consequently
there are few trees and little woodland apart that from close to the village
and in sheltered hollows, although the steep valley sides of the neighbouring
area of Stackpole Court are heavily cloaked in deciduous woodland. Hedges
where present are low and windswept. Fields are relatively small and irregular;
with the strip-shape of some indicating that they have evolved from a
former open field system. Stone-faced banks and earth banks are present
(sometimes with hedges), but mortared limestone walls, both in the village
and fields, are characteristic of this landscape. The use of local limestone
is also a characteristic component of the buildings from the medieval
church to 19th century farm buildings. Bosherston village comprises a
loose cluster of buildings with the imposing medieval church of St Michael
and All Angels’ at its core. Secular buildings in the village mainly
date to the late 18th century and early 19th century and are in the formal
Georgian style, such as the Old Rectory and Schoolroom Wing, or exhibit
estate influenced architecture, such as a pair of cottages, now a café.
An estate architectural signature is strong in Bosherston, and it would
seem that most of the older buildings were built, or rebuilt, by the Stackpole
Estate in the 18th century and 19th century. Some modern houses and bungalows
in a variety of styles and materials are intermixed with the older dwellings.
Outside the village some houses are in the vernacular tradition, with
possible pre-18th century elements. Farm buildings are substantial, of
several ranges, stone built and probably 19th century. A good deal of
tourist traffic passes through the area on the way to car parks at Broad
Haven and St Govan’s Chapel and low-level tourist facilities such
as a car park, a café and toilets are provided for visitors. Recorded
archaeology includes the sites of several abandoned cottages and farmsteads.
This is a distinct and well-defined historic landscape
character area. It has quite clear hard-edged boundaries as it is bordered
by a military firing range to the south and west, by a tract of wind-blown
sand to the east and by Stackpole Court Park and Gardens to the north.
Sources: Bosherston Parish tithe map 1839; Charles
1992; Murphy 1993; Owen 1918; NLW Vol 87 1782; Walker 1950
Base map reproduced from the OS map with the permission
of Ordnance Survey on behalf of The Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery
Office, © Crown Copyright 2001.
All rights reserved. Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown Copyright
and may lead to prosecution or civil proceedings. Licence Number: GD272221 |