Crookhaven Harbour is as picturesque today as it was useful in its heyday, being a large and sheltered harbour.
You pass the old Roadstone Quarry on the side of the mountain, which provided metalling for the roads of Wales until 1945. There are numerous Bronze Age field monuments scattering the hills surrounding Crookhaven. The Ordnance Survey Discovery Series Map 88 will indicate the whereabouts for you. The village of Crookhaven has a distinguished history as the last port of call for ships journeying to and from America. Over the centuries ships stocked up with provisions here before tackling the Atlantic Ocean. All the shipping lines had agents located here to tell the ships in which port their cargo has been sold.
At the beginning of the 20th century it was said that you could cross the harbour on the decks of boats. 700 people lived and worked in the village against the 29 permanent inhabitants who reside here today. Marconi came here to try to send his first radio message across the Atlantic and he fitted the first telegraphic equipment to the Fastnet Rock Lighthouse to communicate with the passing ships.
