St Daniel's Church is situated on a hill approximately 1.1 kilometres south of Pembroke Castle. One of the oldest churches in the area, it is located on an ancient, pre-Norman site associated with Saint Deiniol throughout the 6th century.
The saint to whom it is dedicated is Deiniol, who according to tradition was the first Bishop of Bangor. It is claimed that Deiniol had a hermit's cell on the site, pre-dating the church, and the site has also been linked to Saint David. The site gained a reputation for miraculous healing, and became a shrine for pilgrims who would drink from the well.
The current structure dates to the 14th or 15th century. It underwent repair in 1780, and again in 1849 and 1893. Today, the church, a small structure built of rubble stone with a slate roof, is disused. It has a nave, a chancel, and a spire, with a tower on the western side.
By 1832 the building was in private hands and it was being bought and sold along with the land on which it was built. At the end of the 19th century it was in use only as a cemetery chapel.
References:Towering 52 meters above the sea, Bengtskär lighthouse is the tallest one in Scandinavia. The building started in in 1905 after the shipwreck of S/S Helsingfors and was completed in 1906. The lighthouse was designed by architect Florentin Granholm. On December a special petrol lantern, designed and built in Paris, was brought to Bengtskär and installed atop the tower.
German fleet bombarded Bengstkär in the First World War in 1914. Since the Gulf of Finland was heavily mined, it was not until 1919 that the surrounding seas were declared safe for shipping, that the light was lit again.
After the war the military value of Bengtskär increased as part of the defence system of independent Finland. In Second World War (1941) Soviet Union made a suprise attack to island. After a bloody battle, the small Finnish garrison emerged victorious. Intermittent repairs to the facility continued during the post-war period.