There was an empty factory overlooking Lower Priory which had apparently been built by a company called Machonachies, these canned fish landed at Milford Haven. However, the company didn't last very long and they closed down and this was the place where the box factory (owed by Count de Lesener) moved to and where it remained until just after the second world war when it went into liquidation.
The fishing industry was so intense at the time that up to five fish trains a day left Milford Haven to various parts of the country.
There could apparently have been forty fully laden trucks in each train and it would have been necessary to have a pull and a push engine, especially because it had to get up the Milford Haven gradient.
It was apparently a magnificent site to see these mighty engines in their G.W.R. livery and polished brasses, roaring across the bridge at Lower Priory.
The Baptist minister at Thornton for many years was the well loved and respected Rev. Brynmor Jones who unfortunately was deaf. He was always walking along the railway line to do his shopping into town etc, hence he was very well known to all the railway men who were always very alert when they knew he had seen walking the line.
At the junction of Cromwell Road and the rear to Lower Priory was a public house called "The Mason Arms", here to be seen at the top right hand of the picture.
It has long been demolished to enable the road to be widened, but will be remembered as a favorite "watering" hole for the locals of the area.
The old walk through the farm yard near Goose Pill to the Lower Bridge, now called the "Nature Trail" and seen in the picture below on the left, was used by Hakin workers to get to the box factory.
The high ground was the golf course but this was taken in the late 1930's for underground oil tanks.
The stream came round via the mill, the sawmill employed 2 people but more were working on the docks. Cut timber was built into rafts and towed down stream by rowing boats. Apparently, Mr Morgan was the saw man at he mill.
There was a pine wood by Thornton which they chopped down and towed it round to Lower Priory by horses and cut it up in the mill. The timber was later taken to Milford Docks and used as masts for ships.
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