Tenby Museum and Art Gallery has recently acquired an important artefact connected with one of the town's leading privately owned hotels.

The brass plate shown in the photograph was originally located outside the main entrance to the Cobourg Hotel in High Street.

It was spotted by one of the museum's eagle-eyed volunteers in a local antiques shop and was swiftly acquired for the museum.

The Cobourg Hotel was situated in the High Street in the pink building now occupied by a branch of T. P. Hughes and Tenovus with the Ashley House flats above. The hotel opened in 1816 and remained in the same family for over 150 years until it closed in 1982.

Built in 1816 by local builder William Maddox, the hotel was owned and operated by the Hughes family throughout.

The Cobourg was the premier hotel in Tenby in its day and the place that all visiting dignitaries chose to stay.

For the benefit of visitors, the hotel operated a coach service from Narberth Road (Clynderwen) station to Tenby before the coming of the railway to Tenby. A full account of the history of the hotel can be found in a back issue of the Tenby Times newspaper (January/February 2011) or on the Tenby Historical Society website.

Honorary curator of the museum, Neil Westerman, said: "The museum is always keen to add important local artefacts to its social history collection. Unique items like this brass plate recall the heyday of Tenby as a leading seaside resort."

Neil added that 'it was ordinary members of the public who donated most of the items in the museum's collection and with the help of local people we can continue to build our collections and preserve Tenby's past for the benefit of future generations.'

If you have any interesting artefacts concerning Tenby's history and would like to donate them to the museum, please contact the museum's collections manager, Mark Lewis AMA, on (01834) 842809, or call in to the museum, which will be open seven days a week from April 1.