Ambleston

 Pubs/Bars in Ambleston:
 The Cross Inn
       Clarbeston Road
       Clarbeston Road
       Dyfed
       SA63 4UL
 01437 731506
 
 The Picton Inn
       Clarbeston Road
       Dyfed
       SA63 4UN
 01437 731615

Starlings over Ambleston

Ambleston - From 'A Topographical Dictionary of Wales' (1849)
AMBLESTON, a parish, in the union of Haverfordwest, hundred of Dungleddy, county of Pembroke, South Wales, 8 miles (N. N. E.) from Haverfordwest; containing 605 inhabitants. Ambleston has been identified as the site of the longsought-for Roman station Ad Vigesimum, noticed in the Itineraries as the first from Maridunum or Carmarthen, the distance from which corresponds exactly with that mentioned in the Itinerary. The discovery, which, from a variety of concurrent testimony, appears to be founded in truth, was made in the year 1805, by Mr. Fenton, author of the "Historical Tour through Pembrokeshire," accompanied by Sir Richard Colt Hoare, Bart., while collecting materials for that work. The form of the station, which is situated about a mile north-east of the church, is nearly a perfect square, having the angles rounded off, and comprehends an area of 260 feet: the agger by which it was inclosed, though almost effaced by tillage, may still be accurately traced; and the Via Julia, leading from Maridunum to Menapia, passes through the centre of the area. This camp is called by the inhabitants Castel Flemish, having been subsequently occupied by the Flemings, who first settled in this part of the principality, in order to assist in subjugating the natives; and another Roman road, more to the north, and afterwards uniting with the Via Julia near St. David's, is from the same source designated Via Flandrica, or "the Flemish way." Within the area of the station have been found Roman bricks and cement, part of a stuccoed floor, a large flagstone bearing an inscription, now lost, and other Roman relics. At a short distance to the west, near the village of Ford, are the remains of a smaller camp, evidently of Roman construction, and probably the campus æstivus of the station; and in the same neighbourhood were discovered, in 1806, the remains of a Roman hypocaust, six feet in depth, and eight feet long, lined on each side with stone and cement, from which two flues of one foot four inches in the aperture, and widening towards the upper extremity, rose in an angular direction to the surface: these flues were formed of fluted Roman bricks. The parish comprises 3993 acres, of which 300 are common or waste land; the soil is in general fertile. The living is a discharged vicarage, rated in the king's books at £3. 19. 4½., endowed with £600 royal bounty, and £200 parliamentary grant; present net income £183; patron, the Crown; impropriator, Lloyd Phillips, Esq. The church is dedicated to St. Mary. There is a chapel of ease in the parish, called Rinaston chapel. The Calvinistic Methodists have also a place of worship, with two or three Sunday schools.