The old harbour of Lower Town set below the main town of Fishguard. Lower Town Fishguard is a particularly picturesque village with its cluster of quayside cottages and tidal inner harbour.

Above Lower Town Fishguard is Fishguard Fort, a superb viewpoint, complete with cannons.

Fishguard has many hotels, bed and breakfasts, holiday rental homes and restaurants. It is the main shopping town of North Pembrokeshire with a busy Thursday market in the Town Hall.

Lower Town Fishguard is situated at the back of a north facing bay known as Fishguard Bay (Welsh: Bae Abergwaun). Its position offers protection from waves generated by prevailing westerly winds.

It has a relatively mild climate due to its coastal position. The winds coming from the west or south-west have a determining influence on temperature and precipitation.

Captain Jack Sparrow may owe more to the imagination of Hollywood scriptwriters than reality but the Pembrokeshire coastline is littered with evidence of real-life pirates.

Seafaring Fishguard’s scenic Lower Town was attacked by an American privateer with cannons blazing in 1779. A fort was built on the local headland to fend off a future assault.

And one of the most famous pirates ever to sail the seven seas was Pembrokeshire lad Bartholomew Roberts, later known as Black Bart, from Little Newcastle.

Fishguard’s Royal Oak pub appeared in the film “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead” starring Clive Owen.

Lower Town Fishguard was used as “Llareggub” in the film of Dylan Thomas’s “Under Milk Wood”, starring Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor and Peter O’Toole. Many local people were involved in the production of this film as background characters.

The film “Moby Dick” (starring Gregory Peck) was filmed there in 1955. Fishguard has a 180-seat cinema/theatre called Theatre Gwaun which provides a venue for film, music and live theatre.

Fishguard is also home to the hundred foot long Last Invasion tapestry, telling a humorous and entertaining story. In a Bayeux tapestry style detailing the last invasion of mainland Britain. The Bayeux Tapestry and Fishguard’s Last Invasion Tapestry is an embroidered cloth, not an actual tapestry. Tapestries are a heavy fabric with a design woven into it on a loom, while embroideries involve working designs on cloth with laid or stitched threads by hand. There’s a strange and possibly useless fact for you!

Viewing the Last Invasion tapestry is free of charge in Fishguard Town Hall

The story of the Last Invasion.

In 1797, a force of French troops landed on the 22nd of February at Carreg Wastad point just west of Lower Town Fishguard but thanks to the heroic actions of people like Jemima Nicholas, a local cobbler, who single-handedly captured 12 French soldiers, the invasion failed two days later.

The Battle

General Lazare Hoche led a three-pronged invasion of Britain in support of Irish Republicans. The Invasion troops numbered 1,400 from the “Black Legion” and were commanded by the Irish American William Tate. Upon landing, troop discipline broke down with the recruits (recently enlisted from prisons) absconding to loot nearby settlements. This enraged the local population which lead to a brief fight and the unconditional surrender of William Tate.

Lower Town is home to a wide variety of colourful wildflowers and sea mammals including the grey seal, and even porpoises and dolphins. The local bird life includes Eurasian Curlew, Common Redshank and Sanderling regularly foraging in the Lower Town Fishguard harbour. European Stonechat, Great Cormorant and Northern Fulmar, Razorbills and Guillemots can be seen on our kayak tours.

Here is a small taster of the caves and arches that awaits on this fantastic and remote coastline.

Lower Town Fishguard is a great holiday destination for the whole family.

Join us to see what makes this little corner of West Wales beautiful.