Angle, Pembrokeshire
Encyclopedia
Angle is a village and Community
located on a narrow peninsula
on the very southwest tip of Wales
in Pembrokeshire
. It has two public houses, a school, post office
, a castle, St Mary's church and a sandy beach to the west of the village. The nearest viable rail station is Pembroke
, from where there is a bus link. The Angle lifeboat received silver medals in 1878 rescuing the crew of the Loch Shiel
on rocks near Thorn Island
which carried cases of whisky.
. The rockpools in the bay are home to a small green starfish with the scientific name Asterina phylactica
. The starfish was only formally identified in 1979.
The "castle" in the village is a single pele tower that was built by Robert de Shirburn in the 14th century. It is within Castle Farm but can be easily accessed. The castle may have been built by the Shirburn family during the time of Owain Glyndŵr
. A French army landed at Angle in 1405 to assist Glyndŵr . Some sources see this as a tower but others see evidence of a moat and another tower and see this ruin as the remains of a castle.
In the nineteenth century it was reported that 388 people lived in the village with the women involved in plaiting straw for bonnets and mats, whilst the men would trawl for oysters when they were in season.
In the same century a large number of forts were constructed around Pembroke Dock
and Milford Haven
. Three of these are on the coast around Angle, the East Blockhouse Battery, Thorn Island Fort
and the Chapel Bay Battery. Their construction was funded as part of advice to Lord Palmerston following a Royal Commission
.
For many generations the chief landowners in Angle were the Mirehouse family, descendants of John Mirehouse of Brownslade, Pembrokeshire, who purchased the Angle estate from the Kinner family for £29,000 shortly after 1800. The family later made The Hall its main seat after extensive refurbishment in the 1830s. By 1886, John Mirehouse's descendant, Lt. Col. Richard Walter Byrd Levett of Staffordshire
, graduate of Eton
and Christ Church, Oxford
, had taken the surname of his mother's family and had settled in the village.
Lt. Col. Mirehouse, as he became known, lived at The Hall, Angle, where his descendants continue to live today, and where he embarked on making improvements to the estate and the village, including constructing a number of buildings, including the eclectic Globe Hotel, now in private hands. The Mirehouse estate included Cheveralton Farm and Hubberton Farm. The family also owned the Golden Estate in Pembroke and Wallaston Farm in Pembroke St. Mary. John Mirehouse served as High Sheriff of Pembrokeshire
in 1886, and Lt. Col. Richard Walter Byrd Mirehouse served as High Sheriff in 1886. Councillor
John Allen-Mirehouse of Angle currently serves as Pembrokeshire County Council Deputy Leader.
The church itself is thought to have been built in the thirteenth century with the tower added in the fifteenth century. The church's grounds also include a number of graves for a Japanese ship that sank locally during the First World War. The church contains memorials to the Mirehouse family of The Hall, Angle, as well as ancient monuments to the families of Ferrers and Dawes of Bangeston, now a ruin located within the parish.
The first rescue where the crew received silver medals was in the rescue of 27 (some say 33) people who were on board the 1878-built Loch Shiel
which had run into rocks off Thorn Island
. Two lifeboat crew members and the honorary secretary received silver medals. One of these crew members was Thomas Rees. He is buried in the church yard at St Mary's. It was said that the lifeboat was unable to reach them but these brave people managed to get to them by climbing around Thorn island and getting a rope to the ship. They literally held on by their finger tips to achieve this.
The rescue is particularly noteworthy as it is described as Wales' "Whisky Galore". The Loch Shiel was carrying goods from Scotland to Adelaide
and included gunpowder, beer and 7,500 (some say 7,000) cases of Glasgow whisky. Much of this was never recovered. Some of the bottles are still amongst the wreck which are described as "undrinkable", but much of the cargo was only partially recovered by the customs men. It was said that one local drank himself to death on the 100 proof whiskey. In 1999, bottles of beer from the wreck were auctioned for £1000 per bottle.
The next award was a bronze medal awarded to Coxswain James Watkins for rescuing 28 people on the 26 November 1929 from the single-screw steamship Molesley which had been caught by a sudden wind change and a poor decision by its captain. James Watkins went on to be awarded both a silver medal for rescuing 6 people in 1944 from the motor boat Thor and a year later another bronze medal for a difficult rescue of nine people from the steamer . (This steamer had been seized from the Germans and sank on the 15 July before it could be renamed the Empire Concourse.)
More recently, Coxswain William John Rees Holmes has been awarded two bronze medals. The first was in 1977 when the tanker Donna Marike was thought to be about to explode and the lifeboat stood by her in December 1976. The second bronze medal was for rescuing three people from the fishing boat Cairnsmore on 1 December 1978.
In 1997 a third coxswain, Jeremy R. Rees, and his crew were awarded another bronze medal for rescuing four people after their motor boat, Dale Princess, was blown onto cliffs on Skomer Island. The rescue was made in gale force winds and stormy seas.
In April 2009, a new £2.2m Tamar class lifeboat
replaced the previous Tyne class boat. Funding raising started in 2006 in Pembrokshire and Birmingham
, while a single £1.6M donation from Grand Lodge
of Mark Master Masons, a branch of the Free Masons in London
, enabled final purchase of the boat.
. The eventual cleanup of all the beaches took several years and cost £60 million.
Community (Wales)
A community is a division of land in Wales that forms the lowest-tier of local government in Wales. Welsh communities are analogous to civil parishes in England....
located on a narrow peninsula
Peninsula
A peninsula is a piece of land that is bordered by water on three sides but connected to mainland. In many Germanic and Celtic languages and also in Baltic, Slavic and Hungarian, peninsulas are called "half-islands"....
on the very southwest tip of Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
in Pembrokeshire
Pembrokeshire
Pembrokeshire is a county in the south west of Wales. It borders Carmarthenshire to the east and Ceredigion to the north east. The county town is Haverfordwest where Pembrokeshire County Council is headquartered....
. It has two public houses, a school, post office
Post office
A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...
, a castle, St Mary's church and a sandy beach to the west of the village. The nearest viable rail station is Pembroke
Pembroke railway station
- External links :...
, from where there is a bus link. The Angle lifeboat received silver medals in 1878 rescuing the crew of the Loch Shiel
Loch Shiel
Loch Shiel is a 19.3 km2 freshwater loch, 120 m deep, situated 20 km west of Fort William in Lochaber, Highland, Scotland...
on rocks near Thorn Island
Thorn Island
Thorn Island is in the Community of Angle off the south west coast of Wales. The island is dominated by a fort that was built to defend Milford Haven from the French Navy. The Angle lifeboat received silver medals in 1878 rescuing the crew of the Loch Shiel on rocks near the island which carried...
which carried cases of whisky.
The village
A major occupation is tourism as people travel to use the sheltered beach at West Angle bay which has been designated a Site of Special Scientific InterestSite of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...
. The rockpools in the bay are home to a small green starfish with the scientific name Asterina phylactica
Asterina phylactica
Asterina phylactica is a species of sea star. It can be found in geographically widespread sites around the British Isles and in the Medieterranean and Australia. It has five arms, is about 1.5 cm across and is of green colour. The species was formally identified in 1979 and is very similar to...
. The starfish was only formally identified in 1979.
The "castle" in the village is a single pele tower that was built by Robert de Shirburn in the 14th century. It is within Castle Farm but can be easily accessed. The castle may have been built by the Shirburn family during the time of Owain Glyndŵr
Owain Glyndwr
Owain Glyndŵr , or Owain Glyn Dŵr, anglicised by William Shakespeare as Owen Glendower , was a Welsh ruler and the last native Welshman to hold the title Prince of Wales...
. A French army landed at Angle in 1405 to assist Glyndŵr . Some sources see this as a tower but others see evidence of a moat and another tower and see this ruin as the remains of a castle.
In the nineteenth century it was reported that 388 people lived in the village with the women involved in plaiting straw for bonnets and mats, whilst the men would trawl for oysters when they were in season.
In the same century a large number of forts were constructed around Pembroke Dock
Pembroke Dock
Pembroke Dock is a town in Pembrokeshire, south-west Wales, lying north of Pembroke on the River Cleddau. Originally a small fishing village known as Paterchurch, the town was greatly expanded from 1814 onwards following the construction of a Royal Naval Dockyard...
and Milford Haven
Milford Haven
Milford Haven is a town and community in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is situated on the north side of the Milford Haven Waterway, a natural harbour used as a port since the Middle Ages. The town was founded in 1790 on the north side of the Waterway, from which it takes its name...
. Three of these are on the coast around Angle, the East Blockhouse Battery, Thorn Island Fort
Thorn Island
Thorn Island is in the Community of Angle off the south west coast of Wales. The island is dominated by a fort that was built to defend Milford Haven from the French Navy. The Angle lifeboat received silver medals in 1878 rescuing the crew of the Loch Shiel on rocks near the island which carried...
and the Chapel Bay Battery. Their construction was funded as part of advice to Lord Palmerston following a Royal Commission
Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom
In 1859 Lord Palmerston instigated the Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom because of serious concerns that France might attempt to invade the UK...
.
For many generations the chief landowners in Angle were the Mirehouse family, descendants of John Mirehouse of Brownslade, Pembrokeshire, who purchased the Angle estate from the Kinner family for £29,000 shortly after 1800. The family later made The Hall its main seat after extensive refurbishment in the 1830s. By 1886, John Mirehouse's descendant, Lt. Col. Richard Walter Byrd Levett of Staffordshire
Staffordshire
Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...
, graduate of Eton
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
and Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...
, had taken the surname of his mother's family and had settled in the village.
Lt. Col. Mirehouse, as he became known, lived at The Hall, Angle, where his descendants continue to live today, and where he embarked on making improvements to the estate and the village, including constructing a number of buildings, including the eclectic Globe Hotel, now in private hands. The Mirehouse estate included Cheveralton Farm and Hubberton Farm. The family also owned the Golden Estate in Pembroke and Wallaston Farm in Pembroke St. Mary. John Mirehouse served as High Sheriff of Pembrokeshire
High Sheriff of Pembrokeshire
This is a list of High Sheriffs of Pembrokeshire. Under the Local Government Act 1888, an elected county council was set up to take over the functions of the Pembrokeshire Quarter Sessions...
in 1886, and Lt. Col. Richard Walter Byrd Mirehouse served as High Sheriff in 1886. Councillor
Councillor
A councillor or councilor is a member of a local government council, such as a city council.Often in the United States, the title is councilman or councilwoman.-United Kingdom:...
John Allen-Mirehouse of Angle currently serves as Pembrokeshire County Council Deputy Leader.
St. Mary's church
The church stands in the main street surrounded by a full graveyard and more unusually a seaman's chapel, which is dedicated to St. Anthony. The chapel is a fairly small building that was built in the 15th century (1447) by Edward de Shirburn a "knight of Nangle". Beneath the chapel is a crypt where many anonymous seamen's bodies that had been found on the coastline were readied for burial until the early twentieth century.The church itself is thought to have been built in the thirteenth century with the tower added in the fifteenth century. The church's grounds also include a number of graves for a Japanese ship that sank locally during the First World War. The church contains memorials to the Mirehouse family of The Hall, Angle, as well as ancient monuments to the families of Ferrers and Dawes of Bangeston, now a ruin located within the parish.
Notable residents
- Lieut-Col Richard W.B. Mirehouse (1849–1914) High Sheriff of PembrokeshireHigh Sheriff of PembrokeshireThis is a list of High Sheriffs of Pembrokeshire. Under the Local Government Act 1888, an elected county council was set up to take over the functions of the Pembrokeshire Quarter Sessions...
, 1886, and Lieutenant Colonel of 4th Batt. North Staffs RegimentNorth Staffordshire RegimentThe North Staffordshire Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Army, which was in existence between 1881 and 1959. It can date its lineage back to 1756 with the formation of a second battalion by the 11th Regiment of Foot, which shortly after became the 64th Regiment of Foot...
.
- Jocelyn de AnguloJocelyn de Angulo-Biography:De Angulo was one of fifty knights serving under Hugh de Lacy upon the latter's grant of Meath by Henry II in 1172. Jocelyn was awarded the barony of Navan by de Lacy...
, ancestor of the NagleNagleNagle is a surname, and may refer to:* Browning Nagle , American football quarterback* Chet Nagle , American intelligence officer and author* Courtney Nagle is an American professional tennis player....
and CostelloCostelloCostello is a surname in the English language. The name is an Anglicised form of the Irish Mac Oisdealbhaigh, meaning "son of Oisdealbhach". The Irish Oisdealbhach is derived from two elements: the first, os, means "deer"; the second element, dealbhach, means "in the form of", "resembling"...
families of IrelandIrelandIreland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, fl. 1172
Lifeboat
A lifeboat station was established here in 1868; since then there have been a number of lifeboats and even a number of different slipways. The crew here has received numerous awards including seven silver medals from the RNLI. In 2008 there are two lifeboats, The Lady Rank and the smaller Richard John Talbot Miller.The first rescue where the crew received silver medals was in the rescue of 27 (some say 33) people who were on board the 1878-built Loch Shiel
Loch Line
The Loch Line of Glasgow was a group of ill-fated colonial clippers that belonged to Messrs William Aitken and James Lilburn. Together, they operated a line of sailing ships between the United Kingdom and Australia between 1867 and 1911.-History:...
which had run into rocks off Thorn Island
Thorn Island
Thorn Island is in the Community of Angle off the south west coast of Wales. The island is dominated by a fort that was built to defend Milford Haven from the French Navy. The Angle lifeboat received silver medals in 1878 rescuing the crew of the Loch Shiel on rocks near the island which carried...
. Two lifeboat crew members and the honorary secretary received silver medals. One of these crew members was Thomas Rees. He is buried in the church yard at St Mary's. It was said that the lifeboat was unable to reach them but these brave people managed to get to them by climbing around Thorn island and getting a rope to the ship. They literally held on by their finger tips to achieve this.
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
and included gunpowder, beer and 7,500 (some say 7,000) cases of Glasgow whisky. Much of this was never recovered. Some of the bottles are still amongst the wreck which are described as "undrinkable", but much of the cargo was only partially recovered by the customs men. It was said that one local drank himself to death on the 100 proof whiskey. In 1999, bottles of beer from the wreck were auctioned for £1000 per bottle.
More recently, Coxswain William John Rees Holmes has been awarded two bronze medals. The first was in 1977 when the tanker Donna Marike was thought to be about to explode and the lifeboat stood by her in December 1976. The second bronze medal was for rescuing three people from the fishing boat Cairnsmore on 1 December 1978.
In 1997 a third coxswain, Jeremy R. Rees, and his crew were awarded another bronze medal for rescuing four people after their motor boat, Dale Princess, was blown onto cliffs on Skomer Island. The rescue was made in gale force winds and stormy seas.
In April 2009, a new £2.2m Tamar class lifeboat
Tamar class lifeboat
Tamar class lifeboats are all-weather lifeboats operated by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution around the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland...
replaced the previous Tyne class boat. Funding raising started in 2006 in Pembrokshire and Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, while a single £1.6M donation from Grand Lodge
Grand Lodge
A Grand Lodge, or "Grand Orient", is the usual governing body of "Craft", or "Blue Lodge", Freemasonry in a particular jurisdiction. The first Masonic Grand Lodge was established in England in 1717 as the Premier Grand Lodge of England....
of Mark Master Masons, a branch of the Free Masons in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, enabled final purchase of the boat.
Recent events
In 1996, the coastline around Angle was severely affected by an oil spill from the Sea EmpressSea Empress
The MV Sea Empress was a single-hull oil tanker that ran aground near the southwest coast of Wales in February 1996. The ensuing oil spill affected a considerable area of nearby coastline.Pembrokeshire was suffering for over a year after the incident...
. The eventual cleanup of all the beaches took several years and cost £60 million.