Kilgetty (Welsh: Cilgeti; Welsh pronunciation) is a village immediately north of Saundersfoot in Pembrokeshire, Wales, at the junction of the A477 between St. Clears and Pembroke Dock and the A478 between Tenby and Cardigan.

Community

The villages of Kilgetty, Reynalton and Begelly make up the community of Kilgetty/Begelly. In 2011 it had a population of 1,207.

History

Kilgetty, in Narberth Hundred and the parish of St Issel's, was the name of an ancient mansion owned by the Picton family and was already decaying in the 19th century, according to Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Wales published in 1833. It was subsequently. demolished. The remnants of the garden are designated Grade II on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales.

Coal mining

Kilgetty has an industrial heritage and was part of the Pembrokeshire anthracite coalfield. Coal had been mined locally since the middle ages and was easily accessible as the coal seams were comparatively close to the surface. While musch larger colliery settlemembts emerged further east in the nineteenth centiry the coal industry i Pembroskeshore alos expanded. During the 1870s the miners of the locality became involved with the Amalgamated Association of Miners and i 1874 trade union leader Thomas Halliday addressed the miners of the locality on Begelly Common.

The last Pembrokeshire coal mine, at Kilgetty, closed in 1950.

Amenities

The village has local shopping facilities, a pub, which was called the Railway Inn, now the White Horse, and a sports club that has a cricket and football ground. There is a local scout group known as 1st Kilgetty. St Mary's Mission Church in the village closed for worship in the 1990s and is now a private residence. Kilgetty railway station is a request stop on the West Wales Line.