Editing Haverfordwest (section)

===Medieval period===
[[File:HaverfordwestCastle - geograph.org.uk - 25363.jpg|thumb|[[Haverfordwest Castle]]]]
The ecclesiastical centre of the area (perhaps the seat of a bishop in the [[Age of the Saints]]) was probably one of the several churches of the local St Ismael, most probably [[St. Ishmael's]].<ref>Williams, A. H. (1941). ''An Introduction to the History of Wales'': Volume '''I''': ''Prehistoric Times to 1063''. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. p. 120.</ref> This occurred around 1110.<ref>Miles p 12</ref>

The proposition that [[Haverfordwest Castle]] was founded by Tancred, a [[County of Flanders|Flemish]] [[Marcher Lord]],<ref>{{cite journal|first=Mark|last=Muller|title=900 year celebrations for Haverfordwest|journal=Pembrokeshire: The Journal of the Pembrokeshire Historical Society|volume=20|year=2011|pages=53–60}}</ref> is questionable. The Marcher Lords were not Flemish but [[Normans|Norman]] barons originally along the Marches (Anglo-Welsh border).{{citation needed|date=May 2016}} The castle is recorded as having been founded in 1100 by the Norman [[Gilbert Fitz Richard|Gilbert de Clare]]. The Flemings, said to have [[Flemish settlement in Pembrokeshire|arrived in three groups]] in 1107, 1111 and 1151, are likely to have participated in its later development for their own and the Normans' protection from the Welsh warlords. It is recorded that the Constable of the castle in 1207 was Itohert, son of Richard Tancard, possibly a descendant of the first Tancred.

The Flemish presence, reputed to result from floods in the [[Low Countries]], was more likely to have consisted initially of Flemish mercenaries originally in the invading army of [[William the Conqueror]], who in reward for their part in William's victory were granted lands in parts of Northern Britain, and in Wales in the [[Gower Peninsula|Gower]], and [[Geraldus Cambrensis]] recorded their presence in the [[Hundred of Roose]] in Pembrokeshire.

A Fleming, Wizo, who died in 1130 founded at Wiston a motte and bailey fortification, the forerunner of the stone castle, for protection against the Welsh warlords: the Flemings were reportedly unpopular wherever they settled. The precarious position of Normans and Flemings was demonstrated in 1136 when the Normans, having already lost 500 men in battle at [[Loughor]], re-recruited from Lordships from all over [[South Wales]] and led by [[Robert fitz Martin]] at [[Battle of Crug Mawr|Crug Mawr]] near [[Cardigan, Ceredigion|Cardigan]] attacked Owain Gwynedd and his army. Routed, they fled over the Teifi Bridge which collapsed; the retreating Normans drowning under the weight of their armour. Their leader [[Richard Fitz Gilbert de Clare|Richard de Clare]] had previously been intercepted and killed by Iorwerth ab Owen. Wiston and the castle were overrun in 1147 by Hywel Sais, son of Lord Rhys. [[Ranulf Higden]], in his ''Polychronicus'', records the Flemings as extinct in Pembrokeshire by 1327 but Flemish mercenaries reappear in 1400 when at the behest of [[Henry IV of England|Henry IV]] they joined an army of 1,500 English settlers who marched north from Pembrokeshire to attack the army of [[Owain Glyndŵr]] at [[Mynydd Hyddgen]]. The attack was repulsed with heavy casualties and legend has it that English prisoners were spared but surviving Flemish mercenaries were massacred or sold into slavery.

[[File:St Mary's Church Haverfordwest.JPG|thumb|St Mary's Church, viewed from Tower Hill]]
[[File:Chapel Haverfordwest.JPG|thumb|St David & St Patrick Roman Catholic Church, Dew Street]]
[[St Mary's Church, Haverfordwest|St Mary's Church]] originated at the end of the 12th century and the current (Grade I [[Listed building|listed]]) building was constructed between the 13th and 15th centuries<ref>{{National Historic Assets of Wales|num=12226 |desc=St Mary's Church |grade=I |access-date=25 July 2019 }}</ref> and prominently visible at the top of the High Street.

Haverfordwest rapidly grew, initially around the castle and St Martin's Church (the settlement being called Castletown), then spreading into the High Street area. It immediately became the capital of the hundred of [[Roose (hundred)|Roose]] (part of [[Little England beyond Wales]]), and because of its pivotal position, the commercial centre of western [[Dyfed]], which it has remained to this day. In common with other British towns, its growth was rapid during the period up to 1300, and its extent<ref>Miles p 28</ref> by then was much the same as it was in the early 19th century. A large town by the standards of the time, its population was probably around 4,000–5,000. It received its first marcher [[charter]] from [[William Marshall, 1st Earl of Pembroke]] sometime between 1213 and 1219, and obtained the lucrative trading privileges of an English [[borough]]. It traded both by land and sea and had a busy tidal [[quay]] on the river below the "New" Bridge. At least ten [[guild]]s operated, and there was significant [[woollen]] [[cloth]] manufacture. In 1545, the town was designated a [[county corporate]] by [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]], with the aim of supporting a campaign against [[piracy]] in local waters. It was one of only two such counties corporate in Wales (the other being [[Carmarthen]]), and remained officially "The Town and County of Haverfordwest" until the abolition of the borough in 1974.<ref name=JISC/>

In common with other large towns in Europe, Haverfordwest was hit hard by the [[Black Death]] in 1348, suffering both depopulation (perhaps by more than 50%) and diminution of trade. Large parts of the town were abandoned, and it did not start to recover until the [[Tudor dynasty|Tudor]] period. At the end of the 17th century,<ref>Miles p 23</ref> the town was still significantly smaller than in 1300. In 1405, the town was burned by the French allies of Owain Glyndwr, although in its early history Haverfordwest suffered less than most towns in Wales from such depredations.