Castles in Pembrokeshire

Pembrokeshire is one of the most heavily castled corners of Britain, and for a specific reason: the Landsker line. After the Norman conquest of the south, a chain of castles was built across the county to hold the boundary between Norman-English "Little England beyond Wales" in the south and Welsh Pembrokeshire in the north. You can still hear the line today in place names and, in places, in language.

Three groups are worth separating. The great medieval castles — Pembroke, Manorbier, Carew, Cilgerran, Picton — are the ones to build a day around. The small mottes and ruins scattered across the farmland are mostly for enthusiasts and are often on private land. And the Victorian sea forts guarding the Milford Haven waterway — Stack Rock, Thorn Island, West Blockhouse, Chapel Bay — are a separate, later story: Palmerston's answer to a French invasion that never came.