Milford Haven

Coordinates: 51°42′51″N 5°02′34″W / 51.71418°N 5.04274°W / 51.71418; -5.04274

Milford Haven (/ˈmɪlfəd ˈheɪvən/; Welsh: Aberdaugleddau, meaning "mouth of the two Rivers Cleddau") is a town and community in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is situated on the north side of the Milford Haven Waterway, an estuary forming a natural harbour that has been used as a port since the Middle Ages. The town was founded in 1790 on the north side of the Waterway, from which it takes its name. Designed to a grid pattern, it was originally intended by the founder, Sir William Hamilton, to be a whaling centre, though by 1800 it was developing as a Royal Navy dockyard which it remained until the dockyard was transferred to Pembroke in 1814. It then became a commercial dock, with the focus moving in the 1960s, after the construction of an oil refinery built by the Esso Company, to logistics for fuel oil and liquid gas. By 2010 the town's port has become the fourth largest in the United Kingdom in terms of tonnage, and plays an important role in the United Kingdom's energy sector with several oil refineries and one of the biggest LNG terminals in the world.

Milford Haven Waterway

Milford Haven Waterway (Welsh: Dyfrffordd Aberdaugleddau) is a natural harbour in Pembrokeshire, West Wales. The Haven is a ria or drowned valley flooded at the end of the last Ice Age formed by the Pembroke River and the Daugleddau estuary, and winds west to the sea. As one of the deepest natural harbours in the world, it is a busy shipping channel, trafficked by ferries from Pembroke Dock to Ireland, oil tankers and pleasure craft. Admiral Horatio Nelson, visiting the harbour with the Hamiltons, described it as the next best natural harbour to Trincomalee in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) and "the finest port in Christendom".

History

Early history

From the 790s until the Norman Invasion in 1066, the waterway was used occasionally by Vikings looking for shelter. During one visit in 854, the Viking Chieftain Hubba wintered in the Haven with 23 ships, eventually lending his name to the district of Hubberston. Evidence of metal working in the area was recently excavated, suggesting a level of industrialisation in the period 750 – 1100.