St. Mary's Church, Haverfordwest, isone of the finest examples of Perpendicular, or Early English,architecture. Originally, it had a spire but this was damaged during the C18thand never replaced.

Following the capture of Jerusalem by Saladin, Giraldus Cambrensis came to Haverfordwest in 1188, accompanied by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Archbishop Baldwin. Their mission was to recruit volunteers for the Third Crusade and it is thought they occupied the pulpit at St. Mary's.

Gerald, Archdeaconof Brecon, refers to himself in the third person when he says: 'Although the Archdeacon addressed them both in Latin and the French tongues, those persons who understood neither of those tongues were equally affected and flocked in great numbers to the Cross'.

Wives tried to dissuade their husbands from going, not wishing to be widows of a Holy War.

Gerald, ever themysogynist, was wholly disapproving oftheir sentiments: 'Nor is it wonderful if a woman follows her innate evil bent. For it is written in Ecclesiastes:"I have found one good man out of a thousand, but not one good woman", he trumpeted.

This was the Age of Faith anda statue in St. Mary's Church is of a pilgrim, bearing a purse with the scallop shell insignia, showing he has journeyed to Santiago de Compostella in Spain.

Not far from St. Mary'sstands a memorial, erected in 1912, recording the martyrdom of William Nicoll, burnt at the stake on 9th April, 1588, during the reign of Bloody Mary. Little is known of Nicoll, but he wasthougt to be a simpleton by some: 'This William Nicoll was so simple a good soule that many deemed him half foolish'.

Moving on to Victoriam times, market stalls were set up outside the church and the Llangwm fisherwomen were a feature most weeks.