The Englishman Henry Penruddocke Wyndham was a native of Salisbury becoming a Freeman of the city at the age of 25, mayor when he was 34 and High Sheriff of Wiltshire at the age of 36. Although he entered parliament as MP for Wiltshire when he was older his main interest was topography (the study of the shapes and features of the landscape) and it was in following this pursuit he made two tours of Wales in 1774 and 1777 when he was in his late thirties and early forties.

For the second trip he was accompanied by Swiss-born artist Samuel Grimm some of whose works are shown elsewhere on this site.

He published an account of his trips in the book ‘A Tour Through Monmouthshire and Wales’ including several pages on his stay in Haverfordwest where he was impressed by the castle and by the low food prices but less than impressed by the quality of the local cheese on offer which he said tasted worse than train oil.

He was also puzzled by the headwear worn by the town’s ladies, but why not read about this for yourself. Note - mis-spellings are as shown in the book