The first scheduled steam packet service between West Wales and Ireland can be traced to back the year 1824. It was in that year that the Post Office replaced its sailing packets on the Milford Haven to Waterford run with steamships. The…

The European stronghold of the Greenland white-fronted goose is Ireland, especially the Wexford Slobs. This is Europe’s rarest goose and the Slobs are its most important winter haunts. Today, Wexford Wildfowl Reserve hosts about two-thirds of…

In Pembrokeshire, fairies are commonly known as Plant Rhys Ddwfn, the ‘children of Rhys the Deep’, ‘deep’ here referring to depth of character. This particular tribe or type of fairies are of diminutive size like that of a 5- or 6-year old child.…

We are Dan and Bethan Jones and we are the owners of Bragdy Cybi, a micro-brewery in Holyhead. We moved to Holyhead in 2006 when Dan was relocated by his employer. Dan losing his job in 2019 was the catalyst for us to become self-employed and…

In the 1950s, Rosslare Harbour was a quiet village with the ferry port, the railways, farming and fishing being the main areas of employment. Following the great loss of Rosslare Fort in 1924/25, a lifeboat station was permanently transferred to…

Pembroke Dock (Doc Penfro) and adjacent Milford Haven (Aberdaugleddau) both developed in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries from small village settlements, Paterstown and Hubberstown, on the banks of the Cleddau river. The vast natural harbour…

Fishguard is a coastal town in north Pembrokeshire, overlooking Cardigan Bay. Its name in Welsh, Abergwaun, reflects its position at the mouth of the Gwaun river; its name in English derives from the Old Norse Fiskigarðr – ‘fish-catching enclosure’…

Holyhead is the largest town on Holy Island, Anglesey. It is a major seaport, boasting a ferry link with Ireland over 200 years old. Although Holyhead remained a comparatively small fishing village until around 1800, the area was settled as far back…

Rosslare Harbour, or Cuan Ros Láir in Irish, meaning ‘harbour of the middle peninsula’, sits on the south-east corner of Ireland: a fine location for marine connections with Wales and Europe. The history of Rosslare Port begins relatively recently,…

The modern history of Dublin Port begins in the early 1700s, when a bank was constructed to protect the south side of the channel at the mouth of the harbour, enabling ships to reach the city even in high winds. This was replaced by the South Bull…