Rosebush

Rosebush
Pembrokeshire
Terrace of quarrymen's cottages
Location
Location:	51°55’48"N, 4°48’-0"W
Data
Post town:	Maenclochog
Postcode:	SA66
Dialling code:	01437
Local Government
Council:	Pembrokeshire
Parliamentary constituency:	Preseli Pembrokeshire

Rosebush is a small village in the parish of Maenclochog in northern Pembrokeshire. It lies in the southern slopes of the Preseli Hills, about a mile north-west of the village of Maenclochog. Slate was extensively quarried nearby, its export facilitated by the railway in the 19th century. Today, Rosebush is a centre for exploring the Preseli Hills.

Name

The name Rosebush is possibly an Anglicisation of Rhosbwlch (meaning moor gap) or Rhos y Bwlch (moor in the gap) but this is by no means certain. A number of other nearby places do include Bwlch.

History

Rosebush as a village did not exist before slate began to be quarried nearby in the early 19th century. The village took its name from Rosebush Quarry when houses were built for quarry workers. To the north, there had been quarrying at Prescelly Quarry (later called Bellstone) since 1825. Rosebush may have been the first Welsh village to have piped water.

Slate quarrying

Quarrying was an industrially modest but locally significant mining operation. Quarrying at Rosebush began in 1842 and was worked until the end of the century. The quarry supplied slate for the roof of Westminster Palace. Slate was ferried around the county by the old railway; some was taken to Fishguard via the Rosebush and Fishguard Railway to be shipped abroad.

Rosebush Quarry, 2010

Rosebush House, now the Old Post Office Bistro and Bar, was built in 1872 by the owners of Rosebush Quarry and is a Grade-II-listed building by Cadw (ID 83191). Inside can be found a slate quarry apprentice piece of work, cut to the shape of a Welsh plank for cooking Welshcakes. This slate comes from Llangolman. The telephone call box outside is also listed (ID 83189).

Railway

Rosebush, ca 1885, showing railway

In 1876 a railway line from Clynderwen to Rosebush was opened by the Narberth Road and Maenclochog Railway company which facilitated the export of slate from the quarries. The line closed in 1882 and the name changed to North Pembrokeshire and Fishguard Railway in 1884 but was not reopened until 1895 with an extension from Rosebush to Letterston. An early passenger was a Western Mail reporter who travelled from Newport into the mountains to interview the husband of Margaret Rees who was being tried for murdering her child at Tyr-Bwlch. At the end of the report, he wrote that he drove "...to Rosebush Station to return, by the new North Pembrokeshire Railway, to more civilised haunts." At the end of the 19th century attempts were made to encourage tourists to visit by rail, but the proposal did not bear fruit.

The Great Western Railway took over in 1898. The line was closed to passengers in 1937 and to freight in 1949. During World War II the railway line across the moorland was used by British and US air forces for target practice. The Preselis were used extensively by the military ground forces during the conflict, and some troops were stationed in and around Rosebush.

Forgery charge

In 1881 at Newport, former Lincolnshire curate John Frederick Morgan, after visiting the rector Rev. Thomas Walters at Rosebush, was committed for trial for stealing a cheque book and passing forged cheques for £50 and £27.10s. He was allowed bail, and subsequently pleaded guilty at trial.

Amenities

Tafarn Sinc

Rosebush has a pub, Tafarn Sinc, built in 1876 from timber and zinc sheeting in the grounds of the railway station; part of the station platform still exists. The pub was originally a hostelry for quarry workers. It was threatened with closure in the 2010s when the owners retired but the community, with the support of actor Rhys Ifans, raised the money to keep it open.

The Old Post Office, originally the house of the owner of the smaller part of the old Rosebush slate quarry, was built in 1872 of faced Rosebush slate and was a general store where the quarry workers bought supplies. It later became a Victorian post office. From there a walk can be started to the highest point in the hills.

The village is home to cheese manufacturer Pant Mawr Cheeses, which has a shop and a post office on the farm. Seren Brewing Company is in Rosebush and there is a Holiday Park in the village.

Nearby Rosebush Reservoir provides water for southern Pembrokeshire and is a brown trout fishery.

Further reading

• Richards, Alun John. The Slate Quarries of Pembrokeshire, (Gwasg Carreg Gwalch, Llanrwst, 1998) ISBN 1845241894
• George, Eirwyn. Meini Nadd a Mynyddoedd, (Gwasg Gomer, 1999) ISBN 1859027849
• Wyn, Hefin Battle of the Preselau 1946-1948 (Clychau Clochog 2008) ISBN 9780954993139

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Rosebush)

• Photographs of Rosebush and surrounding area on Geograph