Tenby Lifeboat Station

Tenby Lifeboat Station
RNLI Lifeboat station
Tenby's 2005 Lifeboat Station
Country	Wales
County	Pembrokeshire
Town	Tenby
Location	Castle Square, Tenby, Pembrokeshire, Wales
- coordinates	51°40′23″N 4°41′38″W / 51.67306°N 4.69389°W / 51.67306; -4.69389Coordinates: 51°40′23″N 4°41′38″W / 51.67306°N 4.69389°W / 51.67306; -4.69389
Founded	1854
Owner	Royal National Lifeboat Institution On land leased from the Crown Estate
Visitation	Summer Months only
Tenby, Pembrokeshire

Tenby Lifeboat Station is a lifeboat station in Tenby, Pembrokeshire, Wales that has been situated to the east of the town since 1852, three generations having been built; the original and updates in 1905 and 2005. The station currently houses two lifeboats.

The Tamar-class lifeboat is called Haydn Miller, after the farmer who left £3m to the RNLI in his will. The inshore D-class (IB1) lifeboat is called Georgina Taylor, (the 3rd ILB donated by the legacy).

The station was established in 1852, by The Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners' Royal Benevolent Society. The Society still exists, but its Tenby lifeboat activity was taken over in 1854 by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and the first RNLI boathouse was built on the town's castle beach in 1862. Six silver medals were awarded for coastal rescues from the station in the 19th century.

A difficulty with launching from the harbour site was the shallow angle of the underlying geological strata. The sand beaches at Tenby were a hazard due to the speed of the tide, and an obstacle to overcome while dragging a 2 ton lifeboat from the harbour. When in 1905 the time came to replace the boat with a larger and heavier one, a new boathouse and roller slipway were built on the north side of Castle Hill. It was constructed using the new screw-piles that had been created for the foundations in deep sand of Victorian era pleasure piers. The lifeboat was then usable in all weathers and states of tide. It later became a public access way, with the ferry boat to Caldey Island using the slipway as a disembarkation point for tourists. Due to the legal status of foreshore in the UK, the ground on which these lifeboat stations are built has been leased from the Crown Estate.

In 1923, the first motor-powered lifeboat came on station. The lifeboat operated throughout World War II, in part due to the three squadrons of Royal Air Force Short Sunderland flying boats operating from Milford Haven. In 1952 the station was awarded an RNLI Vellum for 100 years of service.