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Principal area · Wales

Pembrokeshire

Explore Pembrokeshire through its coastal towns, the Preseli Hills and St Davids, with historic sites and landscapes beyond the shore.

Quick facts

Type of place
Principal area
Nation
Wales
Official identifier
gss:W06000009

Overview

Pembrokeshire is a principal area in Wales with coastal towns, coves, inland hills and prehistoric sites. St Davids, Tenby and the Preseli Hills offer different ways into its story. The principal area and the coastal National Park are different geographies, so their boundaries should not be treated as identical.

Pembrokeshire is a principal area in Wales.

Population and demographics

Land area
1,618.34 km²

Figures for . ONS EW MYE25 workbook geography: Notes April 2024; landing edition 2023 boundaries.

Office for National Statistics · ons-mid-2025 · MYE5!D352 (binary spreadsheet decimal rounded to 6 dp). Released 29 July 2026.

Open Government Licence v3.0 · Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0

Population
125,849 people

Figures for . ONS EW MYE25 workbook geography: Notes April 2024; landing edition 2023 boundaries.

Office for National Statistics · ons-mid-2025 · MYE2 - Persons!D352. Released 29 July 2026.

Open Government Licence v3.0 · Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0

Population density: 77.8 people per km²

Calculated from the population and land area for 30 June 2025, using figures from the same release and covering the same boundaries.

Coastal towns and island life

Tenby's development as a seaside resort was linked to Victorian ideas about the health benefits of the coast. Caldey Island has a monastery. Elsewhere, Stackpole offers a contrast between the beach at Barafundle Bay and the waters of Bosherston Lakes.

St Davids and the coastal landscape

St Davids, or Tyddewi, has a cathedral associated with pilgrimage since the twelfth century. Porthclais and St Non's lie on the coastal walking landscape, connecting the area's religious history with places along the coast.

The Preseli Hills

Pembrokeshire's history also extends inland. The Preseli Hills contain burial chambers, stone circles and Iron Age forts. These sites provide different traces of earlier communities, alongside the county's coastal settlements and religious places.

Newport beside the Nevern

Newport's Welsh name, Trefdraeth, means beach town. Its two shores, the Parrog and Newport Sands, are separated by the River Nevern. Above the town, Carningli's Iron Age hillfort retains parts of its ramparts and hut circles. Newport also has a Norman castle. This is Newport in Pembrokeshire, distinct from the city beside the Usk.

Sources

  1. Things to do and places to visit in Pembrokeshire — Visit Wales. Pembrokeshire has coastal settlements, coves and places such as St Davids, or Tyddewi. (Coastal landscape and St Davids sections). Accessed 2026-09-28.
  2. Newport, Carningli — Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority. Newport's Welsh name, Trefdraeth, means beach town. (Newport and Carningli walk). Accessed 2026-09-28.

  3. ONS local authority districts December 2025

    Office for National Statistics · lad-december-2025 · Open Government Licence v3.0 · Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0 Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2025.