A little bit of Haverfordwest stars at National History Museum (From Western Telegraph)
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A little bit of Haverfordwest stars at National History Museum
10:40am Saturday 7th July 2012 in County News
A little bit of Haverfordwest's history is now on show at St Fagans after it was re-erected at the National History Museum.
The small late-medieval house from Bridge Street is only the second building from Pembrokeshire to have been rebuilt at St Fagans: National History Museum, following the opening last year of a clogmaker's workshop from Ysgeifiog near Solva.
The rebuilding of the house was recently featured on a BBC2 documentary ‘Brick by Brick’ and from July 2nd visitors have been able to experience for themselves what it would have been like to live and work in a Tudor trader’s house.
This little house was originally built against a steep wooded bank behind Quay Street in Haverfordwest, and its proximity to the old quayside suggests that it may have been the home of a trader.
Its construction, with a vaulted undercroft, is reminiscent of the solid castle-building techniques found in domestic structures in many parts of Pembrokeshire at that time.
St Fagans' senior curator Gerallt Nash said: “We’re delighted that the Haverfordwest House is open to visitors “The mysterious medieval building near the quayside at Haverfordwest was dismantled 30 years ago by a team of young apprentices and those same men have reconstructed the house here at St Fagans.
“It is a wonderful addition to the original buildings from different historical periods which have been re-erected here at the Museum. Visitors can learn more about the historical context of this wonderful building and see how the Tudors managed to navigate the oceans and bring new goods and ideas into Wales from Europe and beyond.”
Replica items have been used to furnish the house to show how it may have looked about 1580 .
During the Elizabethan period, Haverfordwest was a bustling cosmopolitan settlement which George Owen considered was the second most important trading centre in Wales in 1603.
