Places of Interest

A. Amroth: Amroth developed as a mining village. Amroth Castle is an 18th century house built on the site of a medieval fortification. A row of cottages once stood on the seaward side of the road, but they were washed away by storms in the 1930s. At low tide, you can see peat and tree-stumps just offshore. These are the remains of an ancient woodland, drowned by rising sea levels at the end of the ice age, between 10,000 and 5,000 years ago. Amroth marks the end (or the beginning if you are walking the opposite way).

B. Wisemans Bridge: This beach was the scene, in August 1943, of full-scale rehearsals for the D-Day landings. Churchill and Eisenhower both came to watch the event. In the early 19th century, coal and ironstone were exported from here.

C. Tunnels: The Coast Path runs through tunnels, these were built to carry the rail link from Kilgetty coal mines and the Stepaside ironworks to Saundersfoot harbour.

D. Saundersfoot: The village owes its development to the coal industry. In the 19th century it was the export point for coal brought by tramway from the mines around kilgetty. The harbour was completed by 1834 at a cost of £7000. By 1864, more than 30,000 tons of coal were exported from here annually, and by the 1880s the figure was approaching 100,000 tons. Firebricks and iron castings from the Stepaside ironworks near Wisemans Bridge were also exported from here, mostly to Bristol, France and Ireland, some even went as far as Hong Kong. By 1939 the last cargo had sailed from Saundersfoot and the last of the local collieries had closed. The village is now a popular holiday centre and the harbour provides a safe anchorage for sailing boats.

E. Tenby: This ancient walled town is famous for its wonderful beaches and picturesque harbour. Its name in Welsh, Dinbych-y-pysgod, means "the little fort of the fishes" and is first mentioned in a poem written in the 9th century, the town walls were built a century later. Many of the houses in High Street and Tudor Square date back to the 16th century or earlier. Tenby was a major port at this time, its ships trading across the Bristol Channel and to the European continent. The first oranges seen in Wales were imported here in 1556. The town declined after the Civil War and the plague of 1650-51, but its fortunes improved in the 18th century when it became a popular holiday resort.