Emergency Services
Police
The passing of the Municipal Corporations Act in 1835 enabled all boroughs set up their own Police Force and Watch Committees. By 1836, the Haverfordwest Borough Police Force was in existence and consisted of four officers. The police Station a building at the junction of Tower Hill and St. Mary's Street was rented at 4s a week.
The Fire Brigade
Haverfordwest Fire Brigade was originally located at the old Corn Market in Hill Street (now the Palace Cinema). It was controlled by a special committee under the chairmanship of the mayor, and used a horse drawn fire engine with a manual pump. After 1930 a motor pump was acquired and this was used until the formation of the National Fire Service in 1941, when war requirements revolutionised the service and made up to date and adequate equipment essential.
In 1948 the fire service reverted to local authority control, Haverfordwest serving as the headquarters for the Pembrokeshire Fire Brigade. By this time, the service had outgrown the existing station, which could only house one fire engine, and in 1957 the fire brigade moved to the new custom built county headquarters overlooking Merlin's Hill.
As early as 1537 there is record of a hospital in Haverfordwest. The first 'modern' hospital was the Pembrokeshire and Haverfordwest Infirmary, originally located in North Street. Later, the hospital was transferred to a building that had previously served as a lunatic asylum at St. Thomas' Green. In 1874 a new infirmary was opened. Although it had been enlarged in 1898, by 1914 the infirmary was no longer meeting Pembrokeshire's hospital needs.
Following the First World war it was decided to build a new hospital, and on 24th May 1923 the County War Memorial Hospital opened in Winch Lane. In 1970, all the equipment, services and patients were transferred from County War Memorial Hospital to the newly build hospital at Withybush. However, one ward remained in use until 1987 when the county hospital was closed. The buildings were demolished in the early 1990's to make way for the Merlins Court Business Park and housing.
The Institution was established in the old workhouse on Winch Lane in 1930. Under the NHS, which commenced in 1948, It was renamed St. Thomas' Hospital. It was also known as Priory Hospital and served as a unit of the County Hospital and Withybush General Hospital until its closure in 1978. It was converted into residential flats in 1982. The first hospital at Withybush was established in 1970's, with tin huts being used as wards. On 15th June 1979, the new Withybush hospital was opened.
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