We engage, inspire and encourage learning
The Pembroke Dock Heritage Centre museum and collections are operated by the Pembroke Dock Heritage Trust, a registered charity established in 2006.
We are located in the stunning Royal Dockyard Chapel, Pembroke Dock – the UK’s only surviving Georgian military chapel.
The Trust was formed in 2006 with the original aim of recovering and preserving the remains of a Sunderland flying boat that rests on the seabed in just 65 feet of water off Pembroke Dock’s historic waterfront.
The veteran aircraft has been identified as a Short Sunderland flying boat Mk 1 T9044 that had served with 201 Squadron. It sank at its moorings in a gale in November 1940. There was no crew on board. As the world’s only remaining Mk 1 Sunderland, the submerged aircraft is believed to be a “time-capsule” of wartime RAF.
The Pembroke Dock Heritage Centre was established shortly after the building’s restoration in 2008.
Later, in 2017, the Heritage Trust broadened its charitable object. As well as preserving the memories of our flying boats, it would now tell the full story of Pembroke Dock’s heritage.
The Charity’s objects (‘the Objects’) are to advance education for the benefit of the public through the establishment and maintenance of a museum pertaining to the history, heritage and culture of Pembroke Dock and the surrounding area.
Memorandum of Association, Pembroke Dock Heritage Trust
Our town and its citizens have helped shape our nation and our society through their impact on world events, society and technology. The Pembroke Dock Heritage Centre is the only museum telling the comprehensive story of Pembroke Dock and its people.
We generate a sense of pride in the town. We use the stories of Pembroke Dock’s people and our collections in order to engage, inspire and encourage learning.
The historic Royal Dockyard Chapel: a public resource
The Heritage Centre is open five days a week. It is closed November through to March for essential maintenance. The museum receives over 8,000 visitors each year, and this figure has increased every year since 2016. As well as local people and holidaymakers, these visitors include:
School groups who are visiting to enrich their curriculum
Uniformed Youth groups
Community groups (e.g. WI, U3A, local history societies) who visit as part of a programme of activities within the group.
Organised coach tours
Day care or residential care groups
Attendees to our public events, such as half-term Family Fun Days or our annual Falcon Fun Day
We are a fully accredited museum
In July 2023 the Pembroke Dock Heritage Centre was awarded the UK Museum Accreditation standard.
This standard, managed in Wales by the Welsh Government, helps museums ensure future sustainability and safeguard their collections.
Engaging our community
The Trust also serves important community functions beyond the immediate preservation and commemoration of the town’s history.
The towns of Pembroke and Pembroke Dock are ranked as being among the most socially and economically deprived in Pembrokeshire, with wards featuring in the top 10% in all of Wales (according to Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation, 2014). We are working to make a real impact in these communities on a variety of fronts.
We organise activities for families during school holidays and host community groups. Volunteers regularly lead daytime Heritage Walks around the historic Royal Dockyard as well as programmes of evening talks aimed at local people.
The Heritage Centre works with local partners such as Pembroke Dock Town Council, the Air Training Corps or community projects and local charities.
We are part of the “Keep warm keep well in Pembrokeshire” network offering free refreshments in a friendly warm environment once a week during the winter months.
Every fortnight the Centre welcomes those with memory illnesses, and their carers. These reminiscence sessions use items from the collections, the displays and a range of additional media including pictures, music and video clips to stimulate memories and generate conversations.
A venue for volunteering
The Trust works with approximately 100 volunteers, with about 40-50 individuals regularly attending the Heritage Centre performing core functions within the organisation.
They undertake customer facing roles in retail, catering, customer service, tour guides and ‘heritage interpreters’. There are also specialist roles supporting care of collections in documenting and heritage conservation; as well as general maintenance and constructing display areas.
We also work with local agencies who seek to find volunteer placements for work experience.
New volunteers are welcome – find out more here.
A destination for informal learning and lifelong learning
In addition to providing facilities for school visits, the Heritage Centre ensures that its displays, exhibits and activities are produced with learning objectives in mind. Activities such as those designed for families during school holidays, heritage walks or evening talks all contribute toward ongoing learning by all our visitors and participants.
Our learning objectives are designed around the Inspiring Learning for All framework of Generic Learning Outcomes, designed by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council to help cultural venues measure the impact of their activities.
Our town’s heritage is regionally, nationally and internationally significant
Pembrokeshire receives over 4 million visitors each year. Cultural heritage is an attraction in its own right. We are not just a ‘wet weather’ alternative to the county’s beautiful countryside and beaches, but many holidaymakers are grateful for a diversity in the attractions they can visit here.
Each year we proudly welcome visits from individuals who have voyaged to Wales with the specific intention of visiting the Heritage Centre, frequently from as far afield as Australia and Canada, to explore their family’s military connections with Pembroke Dock.
Our visitors bring social and economic benefits to Pembroke Dock and the surrounding area, not only because they will also use shops, restaurants, pubs and other businesses and services in the town while here, but also in generating a sense of civic pride in the local community.
How we are funded
The Trust depends on income from Heritage Centre admissions, as well as sales in the Gift Shop and Coffee Bar, and charitable donations from members of the public.
At present, the Trust doesn’t receive any core funding, except for a small but essential contribution from Pembroke Dock Town Council towards part of our rent.
Find out more about how you can support us.
We also welcome corporate sponsorship.
