Holyland Wood has been managed by Pembroke 21C Community Association (Pembroke 21C, based at Foundry House) since October 2006 on a 20-year lease, from the owner. Holyland Wood is managed as a nature reserve to enhance its natural history; promote its educational use; and maintain it as an outdoor area for the local community to enjoy as a wildlife reserve close to an urban environment.
Maintenance of the Wood is done entirely by volunteers, guided by Pembroke 21C Holyland Wood Management Group, consisting of enthusiasts and amateur naturalists, calling on local experts such as The Wildlife Trust when required. The aim of the management group is to ensure the area is safe for the public to appreciate, whilst maintaining a natural and sympathetic environment.
Land Tenure
The Holyland Estate, of which Holyland Wood is part, is privately owned by members of the Thomas-Ferrand family, having passed by marriage from the Adams family. The adjoining Pembroke Upper Millpond is owned by Crown Estates and leased to the Wildlife Trust South and West Wales who manage it as a Local Nature Reserve.
In August 1979 a ten year lease was granted by the owner to the then Dyfed Wildlife Trust to manage the woodland together with a further lease from the Crown Estates to manage the Upper Millpond. The Wildlife Trust managed the whole area up until 1999 when the lease for the woodlands expired. They continue to manage the Upper Millpond area on behalf of the Crown Estates.
In 2005 Pembroke 21C secured funding from Cydcoed (Woods for All). This money was used to install paths and a boardwalk and a small car park area; these works were completed in June 2008.
In October 2006 the owner of Holyland Wood granted Pembroke21C a 20 year lease to enable the wood to be regenerated and conserved.
In 2005 Pembroke 21C secured funding from Cydcoed (Woods for All). This money was used to install paths and a boardwalk and a small car park area; these works were completed in June 2008.
In October 2006 the owner of Holyland Wood granted Pembroke21C a 20 year lease to enable the wood to be regenerated and conserved.
Holyland Wood and House
Where the woods now stand was previously steep grazing land, dipping down to what was once a tidal creek with salt marshes. Gradually, following construction of Pembroke Mill Bridge, the Railway Embankment and finally the Tidal Barrage below Pembroke Castle, the creek became silted-up. Above what remains of Pembroke Upper Mill Pond are now reed beds and marshland.
Holyland House can be seen from the upper woodland boardwalk-loop route. The current building is largely circa 1800. During the early C19 the house was enlarged from an ‘L’ shaped homestead by adding its south facing Georgian rooms and facade. It is now a Grade 2 Listed Building with historic associations, including connections with the 1797 Fishguard Landings when Joseph Adams served in the Pembrokeshire Yeomanry. Behind it, the coach house was built in 1824 and the walled kitchen garden in 1825. The field above the house was once a vineyard.
It was probably at about this time that the surrounding land was planted with the trees that are there now and, over time, they have become Holyland Wood. There are varieties of oak, beech, lime, some chestnut and the remains of regenerated elm and holly.
Holyland Estate and the Adams Family
The Adams’ were an old Pembrokeshire family who lived in and around Pembroke for successive generations. The first in line was Nicholas Adams who lived at Buckspool Co Pembroke circa 1370. Holyland House became the seat of the Adams family from the C16.
Nicholas’ son John Adams married Ellen, daughter and heir of David de Paterchuch, in 1422; and it was probably through this union that Holyland passed to the Adams family. It was then a fragment of what was a much larger landholding stretching from the shores of the Cleddau Estuary (now Pembroke Dock). It remained so for at least 500 years and 19 generations of Adams’.
As well as once being substantial landowners, the Adams family served the public in Parliament, in the Courts, as Customs Officers and in the Armed Forces. The C20 heir would have been Lieutenant John Stephen Adams RNVR ‘who lost his life by enemy action while on patrol duty in Northern Waters March 11 1942’. Instead, the Holyland Estate passed to his younger sister, Mrs Sylvia Alston (Adams) Thomas-Ferrand, and then to her son John Adams Thomas-Ferrand.
Holyland House was requisitioned by the War Office during WW2 and, as a result, the Adams family moved to live in Tenby. After WW2, the house was rented out until it was sold to private owners in 1999. Since then, Holyland House has been a hotel and, currently, residential apartments.
To the left of the car park before heading to the main boardwalk are the remains of what was the old Kingsbridge, which was an earlier road across the River Pembroke. This was demolished during the early 1930s when the A4075 and the river were diverted to straighten the road and lift it to its current level. As well as having a hairpin bend as it approached the old Kingsbridge, it was also liable to flooding. This development was probably connected with the need to improve access for heavy vehicles to the Tank Range at Castlemartin.
Historically the area just off Kingsbridge was used as the former Dyfed County Council depot. Evidence of this was confirmed by the uncovering of large amounts of cut stone, concrete pipes and other building materials. These materials were incorporated into transforming the area into a small car park – hardcore, dry stonewalling etc.
The Holyland Estate, of which Holyland Wood is part, is privately owned by members of the Thomas-Ferrand family, having passed by marriage from the Adams family. The adjoining Pembroke Upper Millpond is owned by Crown Estates and leased to the Wildlife Trust South and West Wales who manage it as a Local Nature Reserve.