Fishguard

Fishguard's ancient Royal Oak pub saw the surrender signed following the last attempt to invade mainland Britain, in 1797, when a French-inspired force of 1400 troops in four warships landed on February 22nd at Carregwastad Head hoping to trigger an uprising. The invasion, executed by units very far from the top drawer of the French forces, did not go at all well and was concluded with little harm done on either side - a few fatalities and some looting. The surrender took place on February 25th. The local heroine of the invasion was Jemima Nicholas, who with her pitchfork single-handedly rounded up 12 invaders. The whole story is told by the Fishguard Tapestry, which was created for the 200th anniversary as a deliberate echo of the Bayeux Tapestry, and is on display in a hall near the town centre.

External links

• French Farce at Fishguard (http://europeanhistory.about.com/library/prm/blfrenchfarceprm1.htm), thorough account from europeanhistory.com
• A shorter account from historic-uk.com (http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/Wales-History/Fishguard.htm)