THE presence of a large iron anchor on the front lawn of a farmhouse near St Ishmael’s has long puzzled locals and historians alike.

Over five metres in length, the anchor has been in its present resting place at Great Hoaten Farm for nearly 140 years, having been hauled there from St Bride’s Bay where it was presumably the last remnant of a wrecked ship. Whether that ship was part of the Spanish Armada, as some have believed, is one of several myths attached to it.

Several of those mysteries have now been resolved by Dr Julian Whitewright of St David’s, a maritime historian with the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales in Aberystwyth.

With the help of Coastlands History Group, he recently carried out a detailed photogrammetric survey of the anchor in order to create a 3D image. With the aid of this image, he was able to cross-refer to anchor diagrams in the National Maritime Museum, arriving at the conclusion that the Hoaten anchor came from a large British merchant ship of about 1800.

A full account of Dr Whitewright’s survey of the anchor and his conclusions can be found in the latest edition of the Pembrokeshire Historical Society Journal which has just been published.

As always, the Journal is packed with articles on a variety of subjects, from the early history of Pembrokeshire farming to the story of three Tenby stars of the Victorian stage, and from the history of Methodism in Neyland to an ill-fated flying-boat expedition from Pembroke Dock.

Copies of the 2026 Journal are available from the Society treasurer Mr David Norris; email [email protected].