The Coach House Museum

About the museum

The Coach House is a restored mid-nineteenth-century coach house and stable block next to the ruins of St Dogmaels Abbey, a medieval abbey of the Tironensian Benedictine order founded in the early twelfth century. It now serves as the abbey’s visitor centre and as the home of the community charity Hanes Llandoch, which was set up in 2001 to look after and improve the village of St Dogmaels and its surroundings.

The centre grew out of plans to give the village a gateway to the culture, history and environment of the area and to create local jobs and training. Its museum exhibition was designed with Cadw and takes visitors anticlockwise through nearly 2,000 years of Christian settlement on the site, from early Christian standing stones of the fourth and fifth centuries to the later medieval abbey of the twelfth century. A computer-generated reconstruction shows the abbey at its height in the fifteenth century.

Alongside the museum the building holds a café, a gallery for local artists, a gift shop, a training room that can be hired, information on the Pembrokeshire Coast Path and a weekly local producers’ market on Tuesday mornings.

Highlights

• Early Christian standing stones and carved abbey fragments
• Chronological exhibition on nearly 2,000 years of Christian settlement
• Computer-generated reconstruction of the abbey in the fifteenth century
• Café, gallery and gift shop
• Weekly local producers’ market on Tuesdays

Permanent exhibition

• The museum at St Dogmaels Abbey – A chronological exhibition of carved stones and artefacts, from early Christian standing stones to the medieval abbey, with a computer-generated reconstruction of the abbey at its height.

Founded

2008

Operated by

Hanes Llandoch

Admission & discounts

Admission is free.

Entry to the museum exhibition and to the abbey ruins is free; donations to the charity are welcome.

Accessibility

• Wheelchair accessible: no information
• Elevator: no information
• Accessible restroom
• Accessible parking: no information
• Service dogs welcome: no information
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

Cadw lists accessible toilets at the site. The abbey grounds are on a mostly sloping site and can be difficult for wheelchair users. Well-behaved dogs on leads are welcome.

Kids & families

High chairs are available in the café and families are welcome.

Getting there & parking

Drive into St Dogmaels and take the second left opposite the White Hart pub, then turn left past the mill; the Coach House and the abbey are on the right.

Amenities & dining

• Café
• Museum shop
• Wi-Fi

Café serving breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and drinks, with a licence for wine and local beers and ciders; gift shop; gallery. Free guest Wi-Fi for visitors. Local producers’ market every Tuesday 9:00–13:00.

Events & venue rental

• Spaces for rent
• Corporate events

A resource and conference room with an interactive whiteboard and ICT equipment can be hired for meetings, training and workshops, between 9:00 and 16:00 subject to availability.

Plan your visit