Castlemartin - St. Michael.

The Church of St. Michael, Castlemartin, was on 29 June, 1299, granted to John, called 'Oysef,' the Prior, and to the Monks of St. Nicholas, Pembroke, by Joan de Valence, Countess of Pembroke, and mother of Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke.---Pat. Rolls. To the same priory William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke, granted the tithes of his mill of Pembroke, Tenby, and Castlemartin.---Ibid. In 1461, the property of Pembroke Priory was granted by the King to the Abbey of St. Albans, and on the dissolution of the latter house, Castlemartin Church came into the hands of the Crown. In 1594 the Queen was patroness.----Owen's Pem.

Under the name, Castro Martini, this church was assessed in 1291 at £26 13s 4d (£26.66), the tenths thereon payable to the King being £2 13s 4d (£2.66).---Taxatio.

Vicario de Castro Martini.---Vicaria ibidem ex collacione prioris Pembr' unde Thomas Lange, clericus, est vicarius sine glebe sed percipit in altileglis communibus annis viij. Inde in sinodalibus et procuracionibus quolibet anno ij vj. Et remanet clare £7 17s 6d (£7.88). Inde decima 15s 9d (£0.79).---Valor Eccl.

Under the heading ' Livings Discharged ':--Castle Martin V. (St. Michael). Syn and Prox. quolibet anno 2s 6d (£0.13). Val. in altarag, &c. Prior Pembrok, Propr. John Campbell, Esq., 1720, 1760, 1782. Clear yearly value, £20. King's Books, £7 17s 6d (£7.88).---Bacon's Liber Regis.

There was an ancient chapel in this parish, called Flimston Chapel, which was dependent on Castlemartin Church. It had long gone to decay, and in 1800 was devoted to farm purposes. It is thus described in the Archaeologia Cambrensis for 1880: 'Two floors for storing corn have been inserted [in the building]. In the cart-shed beneath, the piscina and sedilia are still to be seen in the south wall. The rrof is sharply vaulted, like many churches in the naighbourhood. A small turret remains on the western gable. The stair to the first floor now occupies what may have been a sacristy.'

Flimston Chapel was restored in 1902 by Col. and Mrs. Lambton, in memory of their sons who fell in the Boer War.

Vicars.

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