England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Hayscastle St Mary

The Parish

The parish of Hayscastle lies in the western part of Pembrokeshire close to its Irish Sea coast. Hayscastle lies about 7 miles northwest of the market town of Haverfordwest, it is not large merely a scatter of farms and cottages lying just west of the B4330 road which links Haverfordwest with the main A487 (St Davids to Cardigan) road at Croes-goch. Hayscastle, as its name suggests, as at its heart a motte & bailey site dating from Norman times, more ancient is Hayscastle Tump a megalithic site about 3/4 miles southeast of the village. The area around Hayscastle is quite fertile and consists of a dissected plain sitting at around 100 metres above sea level largely used for arable agriculture. Hayscastle, itself, is sited at 110 metres above the sea but land slopes away to the west into the valley of Brandy Brook which forms the main drainage of the area and heads southwards to reach the sea at Newgale. Parish sizes in Pembrokeshire vary markedly depending on the terrain and Hayscastle, for a lowland parish, was quite extensive, it supported something in the region of 350 parishioners scattered across its range. In common with most of Wales there is no mention of Hayscastle in Domesday Book.

The Church

There is doubt concerning the dedication of Hayscastle's church, Pevsner has it as St David but all other sources consulted state it as St Mary, on this occasion I follow the latter. The church sits just south of the main junction of lanes that forms the notional centre of Hayscastle on the western side of the lane that heads to Hayscastle Tump and eventually Roch. The church has been extensively restored both in Victorian times and also in the twentieth century, such restoration lead Pevsner to state that nothing datable remains although he does state the church is mediaeval in origin, The church has a simple form, for most of its life it had a combined nave and chancel, the intervening arch being added by the Victorians, topped with a bellcote. Coming from the crossroads the church is rather well screened by trees until you are almost past the site, a gateway at this southeast corner gives access to a tarred pathway. Once beyond the screening trees views are not restricted.