Bring the past to life and reimagine the present with a range of perspectives as diverse as the connections between Ireland and Wales across the Irish Sea. Developed by James L. Smith of the Ports, Past and Present Project using project material…

If you’ve ever noticed sheets of what appears to be a translucent brown plastic film covering the rocks and the sand where the surf rolls in, you’ve seen the seaweed known in Wales as laver (or sloke in Ireland). If you’ve ever enjoyed sushi you…

Poised between the windswept coast and the stony volcanic spine of the land above Fishguard and Goodwick, the Pencaer peninsula’s acid soil has never borne rich harvests. Pembrokeshire’s early potato crop has become famous but once upon a time root…

In July 1943, the British government’s Special Operations Executive (SOE) proposed the formation of a top secret trials and training base at Fishguard/Goodwick for its experimental miniature submersibles designed to support reconnaissance, sabotage…

With images and articles ranging from shipping, built heritage and everyday life to suffragettes and twentieth-century film history, the Fishguard and Goodwick Local History website has it all. Here, we provide a snapshot of the much deeper dive…

Stand on the Parrog at Goodwick when the tide is low and look across to the ferry terminal. Before you lies a large expanse of flat sand, firm to walk on, but with a myriad of ankle-deep puddles. On the far-side, below the steel gantry frame over…

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The St Patrick was the only ferry still sailing between Ireland and Wales during World War Two. The others, the St David and the St Andrew, had been requisitioned as hospital ships serving the European front. The St. Patrick made a regular daily…

Round and smooth, frail but strong. I was blown once, made of molten sand from the very beach where I lay forgotten until she found me. “Oh look, what is it, Hugh? Isn’t it lovely? Can we keep it as a memory of our time here?” Forgotten now the…

Margaret Todd from Goodwick sat down with Ports, Past and Present to talk about her former work as stewardess on board the ferries linking Fishguard and Rosslare. She remembers her duties as stewardess, her colleagues and meeting her future husband…