Portal:Wales/Selected article/22

Milford Haven (Welsh: Aberdaugleddau, meaning "mouth of the two Rivers Cleddau") is a town and community in Pembrokeshire, Wales. With a population of 12,830, it is the county's second largest settlement. It is situated on the north side of the Milford Haven Waterway, a natural harbour used as a port since the Middle Ages. The town was founded in 1790, and designed to a grid pattern. Its founder, Sir William Hamilton, originally intended it to be a whaling centre, though by 1797 it was developing as a Royal Navy dockyard which it remained until the dockyard was transferred to Pembroke in 1814. It then became a commercial dock, with the focus moving in the 1960s, after the construction of an oil refinery built by Esso, to logistics for fuel oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG). By 2010 the town's port had become the fourth largest in the United Kingdom in terms of tonnage, and plays an important role in the United Kingdom's energy sector with several oil refineries and one of the biggest LNG terminals in the world.

The natural harbour of the Waterway provides a safe port, and has been exploited for several military operations. Campaigns conducted from the Haven included part of Henry II's Invasion of Ireland in 1171 and Cromwell's attack on Ireland in 1649, while forces which have disembarked at the point include Jean II de Rieux's 1405 reinforcement of the Glyndŵr Rising and in 1485 Henry VII landed at Milford Haven Waterway before marching on England.