The National School
Now the ANTIQUES EMPORIUM, this building was once the National School, founded in 1861 by the National Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor in the Principle of the established Church. It was later used as the St Mary’s Church schoolroom.
Pembroke’s other surviving Victorian school building is the EAST END SCHOOL, founded in 1873 following the passing of the landmark Education Act of 1870 which made the State responsible for Education and laid down that schools be provided for all children. (It is located at Point 16 of the Trail)
Look across the road
ELM TREE SQUARE marks the boundary of the Parish of St Mary’s to the west, and St Michael’s Parish to the east.
A depression in the road is said to mark the end of the earliest town defences; the extension of the town to the east was a later phase. Elm Tree Square was once a popular meeting place but the elm which gave it its name was destroyed by Dutch elm disease in the late 1970s.
This was also reputedly the site of the town gallows and stocks.
Make your way to Point 8 – OLD CROSS SAWS INN
You will pass some interesting Georgian houses; several of the larger properties were the town houses of the local gentry. You will also pass the TABERNACLE, an example of grandiose Victorian chapel building, one of four impressive chapels in Pembroke. It holds Sunday services and opens for meetings, events and exhibitions.