The Priory Church

The Priory Church of St Nicholas and St John is open to the public every day during daylight hours and is well worth a visit.  Pembroke’s oldest church, it was originally part of the Benedictine Priory granted to the Abbey of Seez in Normandy in 1098. It was founded on the site of a much earlier Christian settlement.

The Priory was abandoned in 1536 following Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries. Its buildings fell into disrepair; a process helped by Cromwell, who set up his canons in the churchyard during the siege of the town in 1648.

The church was restored in the 1880s by Canon David Bowen and was visited in 1902 by Edward VII.  The magnificent East Window commemorates this.  An information guide and display can be found within the Church.

Some free standing arches and a gable wall are the only remains of the original Priory buildings other than what was incorporated into the Priory Church.  Aerial photographs and ground forms indicate that extensive foundations remain.

The nearby farmhouse is in the form of a 14^th or 15^th century manor or tower house, although with later additions, and is thought to have been the former Prior’s Mansion.  In the fields to the west of the farmhouse is a medieval dovecote which would have been important in providing fresh meat to the Priory during the winter months.