In 1982, Geoff Nicolle published a small booklet entitled ‘Rosemarket: A Village beyond Wales’. A year later, he published another small booklet, ‘A History of Rosemarket Church’. We have discovered that Geoff had actually carried out extensive research and had written a comprehensive history of the village, which he entitled 'Beyond Wales: the story of the Pembrokeshire village of Rosemarket'. He had hoped to publish this history of the village but was unable to do so at the time. He did however retain his original copy and lodge further copies with the Pembrokeshire Archives and the National Library of Wales.
Geoff was born in Caerleon, Gwent and was educated at West Monmouth School, Pontypool and University College of Wales, Aberystwyth. He gained an honours degree in History and spent his early career as a teacher in Essex.
In 1965, he was appointed headmaster of Rosemarket Primary School, a role he held for nearly 20 years. He was also People’s Warden of the Parish Church (St Ismael) and played for Rosemarket Cricket Club.
The Rosemarket Rackler
As well as his passion for local history, living in Rosemarket inspired his other great passion, that of growing Auriculas. Introduced to them by villagers who knew them as 'Racklers', he started collecting them, and mixing history with horticulture set about recreating historical varieties. He became the holder of the national collection, and in 2003 won a gold medal at the Chelsea flower show for a display that included the 'Rosemarket Rackler'.
Geoff’s health is unfortunately declining and, working with his family, Rosemarket Local History Society has been granted access to his material for use on this website and in other activities. We hope one day to be able to realise Geoff’s ambition to publish a full and comprehensive history of Rosemarket.