A treasure trove for researchers

The Pembroke Dock Heritage Centre houses a rich collection focussed on the history of the town and the surrounding area since the establishment of the Royal Dockyard in 1814. 
It is a treasure trove for researchers who have in the past included authors, production companies and playwrights. The collection is also invaluable for researching family or local history, school projects, or writing a dissertation.
Many of our artefacts are on display in the permanent exhibits in the Heritage Centre, but others are kept in storage. Sometimes, due to the conservation needs of individual objects, it is not always possible to keep items on display permanently.
Responsibility for the cataloguing and care of the collections falls to the trustees and volunteers of the Pembroke Dock Heritage Centre. Because we are all volunteers, we may not always be able to reply immediately. More detailed questions may take a little time and, whilst we are always happy to help, we can’t promise to find all of the answers.
Send your research questions to collections@pdht.org Please give as much background information as you can. To use the research library, or access to some of our collections, please ask for an appointment.

Accessing our research facilities is free. But if you would like to thank us with a small donation, see here

The museum artefacts have mainly been donated by members of the public and include uniforms, medals and military memorabilia, as well as books, documents, ephemera and photographs, particularly pertaining to 1930s-1950s; as well as original art relating to Pembroke Dock.
The collection also includes aircraft parts such as those recovered from the wreckage of Sunderland T9044, which sunk in the Milford Haven waterway in 1940, as well as machinery and tools.
Our small research library includes non-fiction books on the following subjects – particularly with volumes that have a specific relevance to Pembroke Dock or Pembrokeshire:
  • Aviation, aircraft, air warfare, the Royal Air Force
  • The British Army, arms and armaments
  • World War I, World War II, specific battles or engagements within those wars
  • Commonwealth armed forces; Axis and Allied armed forces with links to Pembroke Dock
  • The Royal Navy, maritime heritage, maritime warfare
  • Biographies and local history of Pembroke Dock
Please note that we do not hold the official archive for the Royal Dockyard or for the town of Pembroke Dock. The county records office will hold most of the official documents relating to the town, and military records are likely to be held by the relevant branch of the Ministry of Defence.
We cannot give advice on items for sale or provide valuations. We also cannot authenticate objects.

Popular questions

“I have my grandfather’s service number and I know his regiment, where can I find his Army records?”
“When was HMS Erebus built, how many years was she in active service and what was her fate?”
“When did the last military unit leave the defensible barracks in Pembroke Dock, which unit was it?”
“Who was the Master Shipwright in 1887?”
“Which squadrons were in Pembroke Dock in 1950?”

Online digital archives

We have two on-line digital archives, available to members of the public to view free of charge*:
The Pembroke Dock Heritage Trust – Oral History Channel is hosted by YouTube and includes interviews with Pembroke Dock citizens and service people who served at Royal Air Force Pembroke Dock. These interviews were recorded between 2005 and 2014.
The Pembroke Dock Heritage Trust Flickr Site has a large collection of digital images, many scanned from personal photographs which have been donated to the Trust over a period of many years. They include school photographs, local history and the Royal Air Force Flying boat service.
*Both You Tube and Flickr may require you to log on with a valid email address to view our albums. This is part of their terms and conditions which are outside our control.

Donating artefacts

We are incredibly grateful to those who wish to donate items to be held in our collections.
We don’t usually accept items on long-term loan, and we can’t accept items with specific conditions attached. We also cannot guarantee that every item donated to us will feature in our permanent displays. There may be other reasons why we cannot accept an item, but in those circumstances we will do our best to suggest other possible recipients for your donation.
If you would like to donate, please email collections@pdht.org with as much information about the object as you can including a detailed description relating to the object and any of the people who owned or used it, and a photograph. We will contact you to arrange an appointment.
IMPORTANT: we no longer accept casual artefact donations at our reception desk. Please email us to arrange a face to face meeting with a member of the collections team.

Disposals

From time to time, it is necessary for us to remove items from our collection, and dispose of them appropriately. This is done in line with best practice within the museum sector, according to the Collections Trust guidelines and the Museums Association Code of Ethics among other considerations. The decision to dispose of an object is never taken lightly, and is only done with the best interests of the object(s) in questions and the collection as a whole.
We would never dispose of any item that had been given to the Heritage Centre on loan. If we chose to dispose of an item that has been gifted to us, we would always do our best to contact the donor or the family of the donor first, to ensure that they do not wish to have the object(s) returned prior to seeking other means of disposal.
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