Milford Haven Museum
The Museum is housed in one of the oldest buildings in Milford Haven. Designed by Swansea architect, Jernigan, it was built in 1797 for the storage of whale oil awaiting transhipment for sale in London.
Milford Haven has been connected with a number of industries - fishing, Quaker whaling from 1790s, which lead to the whale oil industry and more recently the modern oil industry. It has also played an important role during the two World Wars, when it was a convoy assembly point for mine-sweeping. The Museum collection reflects all of these aspects of the town's history, but focuses particularly on the maritime history.
Central to the collection are approximately 5,000 photographs, dating from the 1860s onwards, and representing all aspects of life in the area. There are also Minute Books of local companies and organisations, such as the various fishing companies, as well as the Milford Haven Improvement Commissioners (1860s onwards) and Milford Haven Urban District Council ( 1930s onwards); certificates relating to the fishing industry, awarded to mates and engineers, from Victorian times to the 1940s; fishing based charts for the Irish Sea, Bristol Channel and the Haven, and modern charts for the Port Authority for use by the oil industry; documentation relating to the oil industry, such as Esso Refinery, and modern documents concerned with health and safety, and anti-emmisions issues relating to the burning of the water-based 'orromation'. There are also some dock company shares and prospectuses.
The collection also contains information relating to the railway industry in the area, such as prospectuses from the 1850s, share certificates, and records of the State and Railway Company, which built the railway between Milford Haven and Johnston, this contains information relating to rents of properties, etc.
Wartime information in the collection includes personal diaries from the First World War, and 'intelligence' diaries kept by docks companies, relating to maritime activities; diaries from the Second World War, kept by trawlermen; miscellaneous wartime material such as details of the boom installed across the docks to prevent submarines from entering; and wartime broadcasts from c.1942, transferred to vinyl records, and covering subjects such as nutrition.
Other items include prints and paintings; artefacts based on the fishing and maritime industry and other local industries, including shipwrights, foundries, net makers, and dry dock processes; a small costume collection, which includes some military uniforms; archives and records relating to local churches and chapels, and containing parish magazines and baptismal certificates; brochures and magazines of local societies and clubs; and short runs of newspapers printed in Milford Haven, from 1908 onwards.
The collection also contains information relating to the railway industry in the area, such as prospectuses from the 1850s, share certificates, and records of the State and Railway Company, which built the railway between Milford Haven and Johnston, this contains information relating to rents of properties, etc.
Wartime information in the collection includes personal diaries from the First World War, and 'intelligence' diaries kept by docks companies, relating to maritime activities; diaries from the Second World War, kept by trawlermen; miscellaneous wartime material such as details of the boom installed across the docks to prevent submarines from entering; and wartime broadcasts from c.1942, transferred to vinyl records, and covering subjects such as nutrition.
Other items include prints and paintings; artefacts based on the fishing and maritime industry and other local industries, including shipwrights, foundries, net makers, and dry dock processes; a small costume collection, which includes some military uniforms; archives and records relating to local churches and chapels, and containing parish magazines and baptismal certificates; brochures and magazines of local societies and clubs; and short runs of newspapers printed in Milford Haven, from 1908 onwards.
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