Haverfordwest is the county of town of Pembrokeshire. The oldest buildings in the town date back to the mediaeval period when the Normans built the castle and several churches were built. The importance of Haverfordwest as a trading centre on the River Cleddau is also seen in the survival of a mediaeval store house on the quay and a merchant’s house from the period. Coaching inns arrived later Haverfordwest became a transport hub for major routes in southwest Wales and the rise of Nonconformism from the seventeenth century is also represented by numerous chapels. Nineteenth and twentieth century Haverfordwest can be seen civic, commercial and industrial buildings, schools, cinemas, the railway station and airport, the hospital, supermarket and retirement homes continuing into the twenty-first century with a new school, library, gallery, archive and leisure centre.

Haverfordwest in 50 Buildings explores the history of this town in southwest Wales through a selection of its most interesting buildings and structures, showing the changes that have taken place over the years. The book will appeal to all those who live in Haverfordwest or who have an interest in the area.

Patricia Swales Barker is a music graduate and teacher who was a director of her family's music shop in High Street, Haverfordwest, until retiring in 2006. An enthusiastic local and family historian (MA in Local History in 2002) who has researched and written widely about the history of town's civic church, dedicated to St Mary the Virgin. She has also studied the musical and cultural history of the area as well as the commercial and social history of the shops and shopkeepers of the town. She lives in Haverfordwest.