Occupying the mouth of the River Solva, Lower Solva is set back from the sea along a narrowing inlet providing excellent sheltered harbourage. This inlet has long been considered advantageous. Solva Head promontory fort (NPRN 94269) has overlooked the harbour from a promontory to the east since the Iron Age, and a Roman bronze bow brooch or `fibula' of late first century A.D. type was also found here. Solva was once a vibrant fishing and trading port where in its heyday, between c.1750 and the mid-nineteenth century, it was recorded that there were some 30 trading ships, nine warehouses and a population of over a thousand people. Remarkably, emigrants once sailed from here to New York for a single fare of £3 but had to carry their own food. It was from the same harbour that equipment, cast-iron fittings and timber for the world's earliest pile-built lighthouse on the Smalls Rock were sailed in 1775/6 by Henry Whiteside, and also for the present stone lighthouse which was erected in 1858-61. Voyages to the notorious Rock by the construction team often ended in failure due to changing wind conditions. A major role of the harbour at Solva was the importation of lime, and a number of kilns can still be seen (NPRN 40731). Today Solva is something of an artists' colony and a popular destination for tourists.

Extract from: Driver, T. 2007. Pembrokeshire, Historic Landscapes from the Air, RCAHMW, Chapter 4.
T. Driver, 28 June 2007.