Queen Eleanor of Castile, wife of Edward 1st, 'Hammer of the Scots,' and also of the Welsh for that matter, could well be described as an early advocate of holidays in Pembrokeshire, for she seemed to have a great love of the area .
When in 1289, Humphrey de Bohun 111 gave Haverfordwest Castle to Queen Eleanor, she spent large sums on the building having taken a particular fancy to it, say the historians. In the short time before her death at the end of 1290, she spent some time there and in that period borrowed £ 400 from two English notables of South Wales and records show that £ 360 and £ 47 were paid for carpentry work.
These were substantial sums in those days and historians say that the date of construction of the existing curtain wall and towers co-incides with her ownership. They appear to historians to have been an extension to the original building, with large windows indicating that they were a grand residence for the Lord of the Castle and his officials, allowing a splendid view of the town and the river port below.
Her holidays in Pembrokeshire were brief in view of her early death, but during her last year or so, she had a small garden built outside the caste walls, overlooking the town, and this is still known as Queen Eleanor's Bower or Arbor, although little remains to show what it must have been like. Holidays in Pembrokeshire visitors parking in the Castle Lake car park between the castle and the High Street will be able to see the grassy terraces where the Bower was. The romantically-minded holidays in Pembrokeshire patron can no doubt imagine the Queen looking down from her Bower, the Arbor fragrant with climbing roses, onto the walled town. It must have been an attractive sight with its five gates, three parish churches, its bridge, numerous mills, Dominican Friary and large Augustinian Priory.
Unfortunately, the present day holidays in Pembrokeshire visitor will find the friary, gates and mills all gone but the bridge, three churches and ruins of the Priory still there to be seen and visited. The Priory was subject to a 12-year-long archaeological dig by CADW, the Welsh Ancient Monuments agency and makes a fascinating visit with its restored cloister and its unique medieval garden. One can sympathise with Queen Eleanor that she only had a year in which to enjoy her new possession before she died aged only 49.
