[Mariners] ayme their course till they see St. Annes Chappel being an ould chappel decayed having a rounde towre builded like a windmyllne or pigeon howse of stonne, as I esteerne yt xxti# foote highe the towre and chappel standeth soe mounted that it is seene first of any land markes, and by this they knowe where to finde the entrance into the harborowe [Milford Haven] for it standeth within three flight shootes west of the havons mouth. - Owen's Pem. Pt. II., p. 55X.
Fenton states that one of the old lighthouses was built on the site of St. Ann's Chapel.
Dale Castle - Tony Roberts 1989. Dale Castle is a private house just north of the village. It is not open to the public, although one has a good view of it from the road. Parts of a much earlier castle are incorporated in the present house. Though hardly built in strategic position, the castle was in the 13th century the property of the de Vales, descendants of a knight who had accompanied Martin de Tours, the invader of north Pembrokeshire. An ancestor had been one of the adherents of Strongbow, earl of Pembroke, in the invasion of Ireland. The male line died out early; a subsequent owner was the Walter family of Roch and Rosemarket, from whom Lucy Walter was descended. She was the mistress or wife of Charles II and mother of the unfortunate Duke of Monmouth. Paynters, Allens and Lloyds owned the castle afterwards and it is now in the possession of the Lloyd Philipps family. No admission.
A straggling village on the A478 east of Fishguard. The village runs along the foot of the steep northern slope of the Carningli- Mynydd Dinas upland. Millions of years ago the coastal strip hereabouts was beneath the sea, and breakers crashed against the cliffs some 200 feet above present sea-level. You can still see the old stacks and cliff-face crevices from the road together with spectacular meltwater channels cut during the Ice Age. The parish church, built in 1860, is at Brynhenilan.
To the north is Dinas Island, so called because it is almost an island separated from the mainland by a deep glacial meltwater channel. The narrow valley once known as Ynys Fach Llyffan Gawr (The little Island of Llyffan the Giant). It had its own herd of feral goats until 1947. The walk around this headland is magnificent,
Dinas Island is the locale for two of R.M. Lockley's books, namely Island Farmer and Golden Year.
Acc/to The Pembrokeshire Coast National Park by Dillwyn Miles
Dinas "the little fort" is a long strung out village that follows in part an ancient shore line
.Acc/to The Old Parish Churches of South West Wales by Mike Salter (1994)
Dinas St Brynach: Only the west gable with a 15c doorway and a fragment of the south wall remain beside the shore. The rest of the church was destroyed in a gale in the autumn of 1859. Old drawings show it as cruciform with a double bellcote on the west gable.
Acc/to - Topographical Dictionary of Wales - S Lewis.
Dinas, a parish in the hundred of Kemmes, county of Pembroke 5 miles NE by E from Fishguard, containing 741 inhabitants. This parish which is situated on the coast of St George's channel and intersected by the turnpike road from Fishguard to Newport is of small extent and probably owes its name, which signifies fortress or city to the bold promontory of Dinas head which forms one side of Fishguard bay and was fortified on the land side by an agger now nearly demolished.The living is a discharged rectory in the archdeaconry of Cardigan and diocese of St David's rated in the king's books at £8 and in the patronage of Thomas Lloyd Esq.The church dedicated to St Brynach, occupies a remarkable situation on the beach,and at spring tides the walls of the Churchyard are washed by the sea; but it is probable that this was not the site of the original structure from a place called Bryn Henllan "old Church hill" in the vicinity.
There are places of worship for Baptists, Independents and Calvanistic Methodists.
The average annual expenditure for the support of the poor is £106 2s.
Acc/to Pembrokeshire Parsons.
This living is a rectory which appears to have been from the earliest time in the patronage of the lords of Kemes as appendant to their Barony of Kemes.
Dinas Church was in 1291 assessed at £2 6s. Ed. - Taxatio.
Under the heading "livings Discharged" Dinas alias Dynas R. (St. Brynach). William Laugharne, Esq., 1708, and William Lloyd, Esq., Lords of Kemys; Thomas Lloyd. Esq.. and Anne his wife, 1753, 1758; John Bateman, 1784. Clear yearly value, £42. King's Books, £8. - Bacon's Liber Regis.
On 8 Nov., 1859 the schoolroom was licensed for divine service on account of the destruction of the church. This is no doubt the date when the sea encroached on the shore, and washed away a portion of the old church, known as Cwm yr Eglwys Church, the remains of part of which are still to be seen at the little cove called Cwm yr Eglwys, situated at the north end of the small valley between what is known as Dinas Island and the mainland land.
On 5 April, 1887, a faculty was granted for the removal of the body of Harriet Mary Mansfield from Dinas Church-yard to the churchyard of the parish of Thornton Le Moors, in the county of Chester.
Acc/to South Pembrokeshire Place Names by P
Valentine Harris
Druidston [Drewston] Originally Drueston. A foreign
knight of the reign of Henry I, one Alfred Drue, was signatory to several grants
to religious houses in Dyfed. Drue seems to have founded Drueston in the first
quarter of the 12c. The sandy cove was used by the Fitzgerald contingent during
Stongbow The Rev. John Grant, 1175-6 not The inhabitants of
the cantref of Dugledu and those of Angle (Ger Camb. DE Rebus(R.S)Vol 1 p28) Episcopal Acts relating to Welsh Dioceses 1066 - 1272 James Conway Davies Vol 1.
Dugledu Cantref