HAVERFORD\VEST, called Hwlffordit, is a town of South Wales, and the capital of the county of Pembroke. It is situated on the side of a very steep hill on the banks of the liver Daugieddy or Cliddy, which forms a bay for packets and vessels, and which is crossed by a good stone bridge. In the upper part of the town there are some good houses ; but from the irregularity of the avenues, from the narrowness of the greater part of the streets, and from the confused manner in which the houses are piled one above another on the steep declivity of the hill, it has a very singular and unpromising appearance to a stranger. The principal public establishments are three churches, St Mary's, St Martin's and St Thomas's, a cus tom-house, a free school, a charity school, an alms-house, and a good quay, at which vessels of large burden can unload. The castle, when seen from the bridge, has a stately appearance ; but since the sessions have been held here, it has been greatly disfigured by part of it being converted into a county gaol. The walls are of great thickness. It was strongly fortified with towers, and is said to have been built by Gilbert Earl of Clare.
At a short distance to the south of the town, is a priory of black canons, endowed by Robert de Haverford, lord of this place. The walk to it from the town is pleasant, and the ruins have a venerable aspect. The chapel is the best
preserved part.
The market here is one of the largest and most abun dant in Wales, and fish are to be had in the greatest plenty and variety. There is likewise a very large corn market, and there is a great fair for horses and cattle on the 7th of July on St Thomas's clay, who is the tutelary saint of the upper town. Near this town there is a cotton mill, which gives employment to about 150 persons. It is the principal manufacture in the county. A considerable num ber of independent gentry reside at Haverford. The town is a county of itself, and it sends one member to parlia ment, who is elected by freeholders and burgesses, and inhabitants not receiving alms, to the amount of 500. The inhabitants draw their chief support from travellers who go from Milford Haven to Waterford, Wexford, Cork &c.
The following is the population abstract for the town in 1811.
Number of inhabited houses 630 Number of families 691 Do. employed in agriculture 32 Do. employed in trade and manufactures 290 .Males 1257 Females 1836 Population in 1811 3093 Increase since 1801 213 See Malkin's Scenery, Antiquities, and Biography of South Wales, vol. ii. chap. 26. p. 293.