Stackpole

Stackpole is a community and estate in Pembrokeshire, West Wales.

It includes Stackpole Estate, a National Trust property, Stackpole Quay, Stackpole Head and a nature reserve. Stackpole has a spectacular maritime landscape with towering limestone sea cliffs providing nesting sites for many species of seabirds.

Overview

Between Stackpole Quay and Stackpole Head is the sandy beach of Barafundle Bay voted by many publications including The Times and Country Life, as one of the top 10 most beautiful beaches in the world.

The Stackpole estate, once owned by the Earls Cawdor (the same Thanes of Cawdor mentioned in Shakespeare's "Macbeth"), consists of parkland centred on three beautiful lakes that lead down to the sea at Broad Haven South. The estate is a haven for rare species, including otters and rare butterflies.

810 hectares of outstanding countryside and coastal landscape set in the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. National Nature Reserve including the famous Bosherston lilyponds and the historic site of Stackpole Court, the home of the Cawdor family, Bronze Age and Iron age settlements and Stackpole Quay.

In 1883 the second earl had been one of 28 noblemen who owned more than 100,000 acres (400 km²) of land in the United Kingdom, 17,735 acres (71.77 km²) of which were in Pembrokeshire, and Stackpole Court was one of the greatest country houses in the kingdom. In February 1902 the third Earl entertained King Edward VII there in circumstances of great splendour. The house was superbly sited and appointed, its grounds and gardens were renowned, and an army of servants, domestic and outdoor, catered for the whims of the owner's family and guests. However, the tide of fortune was about to turn. Increasingly subject to penal taxation, the Cawdors, like many of the other great land-owning families of Britain, found it necessary to adapt to changing circumstances and to adopt economic strategies which involved radical and often unpalatable changes in land management. These affected Stackpole profoundly, and resulted in the demolition of Stackpole Court itself in 1963 and the subsequent alienation of most of the Campbell lands in the district.

Historical buildings

Stackpole church, near Pembroke, is dedicated to St James and St Elidyr, and goes back probably to the 12th century. It is situated in the village of Stackpole Elidor, otherwise known as Cheriton on the Castlemartin peninsula of Pembrokeshire, that part of Wales, often referred to by its inhabitants as Little England beyond Wales. This reflects the long history of Anglicization in the area, dating right back to Norman times, when the area was held as an important trading and staging post to Ireland. The large number of Norman castles in the small area testifies to the importance it held in their eyes. The locality has been completely English speaking since those times.

The layout of the parish church is in the traditional cruciform shape, aligned east to west, with a chancel and nave flanked by two transepts. The tall, slender tower is undoubtedly the oldest part of the present structure, dating back probably to the 13th or late 12th century. It is of the typical South Pembrokeshire form, if anything even more slender than usual, and at present without stringcourse or battlement.

The church is memorable for the well preserved church monuments contained in the chancel and the Lort chapel. In the chancel there are two striking alabaster effigies on tomb chests, traditionally identified with the founder of the church, Sir Elidor de Stackpole and his wife, the Lady Elspeth. The style of the two effigies is considered to be considerably later than their period, but it was not uncommon for descendants to erect monuments to long dead forebears in contemporary style, as many church brasses bear witness. The legs of the knight's effigy are crossed, commonly interpreted as showing that the knight had been to the Crusades. According to tradition, Sir Elidor de Stackpole went to the Crusades with King Richard I, though Henry Owen discounts the story.

On the south side of the chancel there is a small chapel, known as the Lort Chapel, which contains a number of interesting church monuments. Under the east window there is a rough pillar stone with a damaged Latin inscription, CAMULORIC -/- FILIFANNUC, (Camulorix, son of Fannucus). Nothing more is known about the stone or its original location, but it may be that of an early chieftain of the district.

The most imposing tomb in the Lort Chapel is that of John, first Earl Cawdor, by John Forsyth. One of the most striking monuments in the chapel is that to Roger Lort, Lord of the Manor of Stackpole, who died in 1613. The figures of Roger Lort and his wife Abertha face each other, and underneath are depicted their seven sons and five daughters, all in deep mourning.

The village of Stackpole is also served by an award winning pub (serving food), housed in a pair of 17th century cottages with a beautiful garden. The National Trust also runs a very good tearoom at Stackpole Quay, an historic and tiny port used by the Cawdors to bring in coal and other goods to the estate.

Other info

The Welsh indie band Gorky's Zygotic Mynci are from Stackpole, and named their fourth album Barafundle after the bay.

External links

* [http://members.lycos.co.uk/John_Richards/estate.htm A Short History of Stackpole]
* [http://www.cambria.org.uk/HLC/manorbier/manorbierhistoric.htm Article on the landscape history of the Stackpole area]
* [http://www.geograph.org.uk/search.php?i=2726869 www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Stackpole and surrounding area]