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Newport has been a port since the Middle Ages, originating with the construction of Newport Castle by the Normans. The town eventually outgrew the earlier Roman settlement of Caerleon, located just upstream and now incorporated into the city. Newport received its first charter in 1314. The town experienced significant growth during the 19th century, as its port became a major hub for coal exports from the eastern South Wales Valleys. For a time, Newport was the largest coal-exporting port in Wales, until Cardiff surpassed it in the mid-1800s. Newport was also the site of the last large-scale armed insurrection in Great Britain, the Newport Rising of 1839.
In the 20th century, Newport's docks declined in significance, but the town remained a vital hub for manufacturing and engineering. More recently, its economy has benefitted from its location within the high-technology M4 corridor, with expanding aerospace and semiconductor industries. Newport was granted city status in 2002. The Celtic Manor Resort, located in the city, hosted the Ryder Cup in 2010 and the NATO summit in 2014. While the urban core is well developed, Newport also includes rural areas, with several villages of notable archaeological interest. Newport Cathedral, the seat of the AnglicanBishop of Monmouth, serves as the cathedral for the Diocese of Monmouth.
The original Welsh name for the city was Casnewydd-ar-Wysg (pronounced [kasˈnɛwɪðarˈwɪsk]). This is a contraction of the name Castell Newydd ar Wysg, which translates as 'new castle on the Usk'. The Welsh name is recorded in the Brut y Tywysogion when it was visited by Henry II of England sometime around 1172. "New castle" suggests a pre-existing fortification in the vicinity and is most likely either to reference the ancient fort on Stow Hill, or a fort that occupied the site of the present castle.[6]
The English name 'Newport' is a later application. The settlement was first recorded by the Normans as novo burgus in 1126. This Latin name refers to the new borough (or town) established with the Norman castle.[7] The origin of the name Newport and the reason for its wide adoption remains the subject of debate. Newport-on-Usk is found on some early maps, and the name was in popular usage well before the development of Newport Docks.[8] One theory suggests that Newport gained favour with medieval maritime traders on the Usk, as it differentiated the "New port" from the "Old Roman port" at Caerleon.[9]
Bronze Age fishermen settled around the fertile estuary of the River Usk and later the CelticSilures built hillforts overlooking it.[10] In AD 75, on the very edge of their empire, the Roman legions built a Roman fort at Caerleon to defend the river crossing. According to legend, in the late 5th century Saint Gwynllyw (Woolos), the patron saint of Newport and King of Gwynllwg founded the church which would become Newport Cathedral. The church was certainly in existence by the 9th century and today has become the seat of the Bishop of Monmouth. In 1049/50, a fleet of Orkney Vikings, under Welsh king Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, sailed up the Usk and sacked St Gwynllyw's church.[11][12] The church suffered a similar fate in 1063, when Harold Godwinson attacked south Wales.[13][14] The Normans arrived from around 1088–1093 to build the first Newport Castle and river crossing downstream from Caerleon and the first Norman Lord of Newport was Robert Fitzhamon.
The original Newport Castle was a small motte-and-bailey castle in the park opposite Newport Cathedral. It was buried in rubble excavated from the Hillfield railway tunnels that were dug under Stow Hill in the 1840s and no part of it is currently visible.[15]
Around the settlement, the new town grew to become Newport. Newport obtained its first charter in 1314.[16] It was granted a second one by Hugh Stafford, 2nd Earl of Stafford in 1385. The Newport coat of arms reflects those of the Staffords: theirs was a red chevron - pointing upwards- on a gold field, Newport's is a red chevron reversed - pointing downward - on the same background. In the 14th century Augustinian friars came to Newport where they built an isolation hospital for infectious diseases. After its closure the hospital lived on in the place name "Spytty Fields" (a corruption of ysbyty, the Welsh for hospital).[17] "Austin Friars" also remains a street name in the city.
During the Last War for Welsh Independence in 1402 Rhys Gethin, General for Owain Glyndŵr, forcibly took Newport Castle together with those at Cardiff, Llandaff, Abergavenny, Caerphilly, Caerleon and Usk.[18] During the raid the town of Newport was badly burned and Saint Woolos church destroyed.
A third charter, establishing the right of the town to run its own market and commerce came from Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham in 1426. By 1521, Newport was described as having "....a good haven coming into it, well occupied with small crays [merchant ships] where a very great ship may resort and have good harbour." Trade was thriving with the nearby ports of Bristol and Bridgwater and industries included leather tanning, soap making and starch making.[17] The town's craftsmen included bakers, butchers, brewers, carpenters and blacksmiths. A further charter was granted by James I in 1623.
During the English Civil War in 1648 Oliver Cromwell's troops camped overnight on Christchurch Hill overlooking the town before their attack on the castle the next day. A cannonball dug up from a garden in nearby Summerhill Avenue, dating from this time, now rests in Newport Museum.[19]
Newport, 1813The attack on the Chartists by the Westgate Hotel, 4 November 1839
As the Industrial Revolution transformed Britain in the 19th century, the South Wales Valleys became key suppliers of coal from the South Wales Coalfield, and iron. These were transported down local rivers and the new canals to ports such as Newport, and Newport Docks grew rapidly as a result. Newport became one of the largest towns in Wales and the focus for the new industrial eastern valleys of South Wales. By 1830 Newport was Wales' leading coal port, and until the 1850s it was larger than Cardiff.[7]
The Newport Rising in 1839 was the last large-scale armed rebellion against authority in mainland Britain. John Frost and 3,000 other Chartists marched on the Westgate Hotel at the centre of the town, where chartists were being held prisoner, with some of the chartists being armed. Shooting began between the chartists and the 45th Regiment of Foot, which had been called to the town by the Mayor of Newport, Thomas Phillips, to assist the police.[20] At least 20 chartists were killed and were later buried in Saint Woolos churchyard. Thomas Philips and three of those in the hotel were wounded. John Frost was sentenced to death for treason, but this was later commuted to transportation to Australia. He returned to Britain (but not to Newport) later in his life. John Frost Square (1977), in the centre of the city, is named in his honour.
Newport probably had a Welsh-speaking majority until the 1830s, but with a large influx of migrants from England and Ireland over the following decades, the town and the rest of Monmouthshire came to be seen as "un-Welsh", a view compounded by ambiguity about the status of Monmouthshire.[7] In the 19th century, the St George Society of Newport (a group largely consisting of English settlers and businessmen) asserted that the town was part of England. It was at a meeting in Newport, attended by future Prime Minister David Lloyd George, that the Cymru Fydd movement received its death-blow in 1896 when politician Robert Bird stated: "You will find, from Swansea to Newport, a cosmopolitan population who will not submit to the domination of Welsh ideas!".[7] Lloyd George was to suffer a further blow in Newport, when the South Wales Liberal Federation, led by David Alfred Thomas, an industrialist and Liberal politician, and Robert Bird moved that Lloyd George "be not heard" in the 1895 General Election. The Conservative capture of the recently created Newport constituency in a by-election in 1922 was one of the causes of the fall of his coalition government.[7]
The late 19th and early 20th century period was a boom time for Newport. The Alexandra Docks opened in 1875. The population was expanding rapidly and the town became a county borough in 1891.[7] In 1892 the Alexandra South Dock was opened and was the largest masonry dock in the world.[7] Although coal exports from Newport were by now modest compared to the Port of Cardiff (which included Cardiff, Penarth and Barry), Newport was the place where the Miners' Federation of Great Britain was founded in 1889, and international trade was sufficiently large for 8 consuls and 14 vice-consuls to be based in the town.[7] In 1898 Lysaght's Orb Works opened and by 1901 employed 3,000 staff. Urban expansion took in Pillgwenlly and Lliswerry to the south; this eventually necessitated a new crossing of the River Usk, which was provided by the Newport Transporter Bridge completed in 1906, described as "Newport's greatest treasure".[7]
Further extensions to the South Dock were opened in 1907 and 1914. The Newport Docks Disaster occurred on 2 July 1909 when, during the construction of the new south lock connecting the South Dock to the Severn Estuary, supporting timbers in an excavation trench collapsed and buried 46 workers. Rescuers included a 12-year-old paperboy, Thomas 'Toya' Lewis, who was small enough to crawl into the collapsed trench. He worked for two hours trying to free one of the trapped men, who was finally released the next day. A public subscription raised several hundred pounds and Lewis was sent on an engineering scholarship. He was also awarded the Albert Medal for Lifesaving by King Edward VII. Memorials to the dead are in St Mark's Church, close to the centre of the city. A pub in the city centre was named "The Tom Toya Lewis" in his honour, but closed in 2021.[21] The building in which the pub was housed was formerly the Newport YMCA, the foundation stone for which was laid by Viscount Tredegar in 1909.[22][23]
From 1893 the town was served by the paddle steamers of P & A Campbell Ltd. (the "White Funnel Line"), which was based in Bristol. The company had originally been set up by the Scottish brothers Alex and Peter Campbell on the River Clyde, but was re-located to the Severn Estuary. Departing steamers would face south on Davis Wharf, with the Art College to its left and the town bridge behind. The boats gave rise to the name of the short street which led to the quayside – Screwpacket Road. By 1955 steamers had stopped calling at Newport and P & A Campbell went into receivership in 1959. It was taken over by the firm which would become the Townsend Ferry group.[24]
Compared to many Welsh towns, Newport's economy had a broad base, with foundries, engineering works, a cattle market and shops that served much of Monmouthshire.[7] However, the docks were in decline even before the Great Depression, and local unemployment peaked at 34.7% in 1930: high, but not as bad as the levels seen in the mining towns of the South Wales Valleys. Despite the economic conditions, the council re-housed over half the population in the 1920s and 1930s.[7] In 1930 the Town Dock was filled in.
The post-war years saw renewed prosperity, with Saint Woolos' Cathedral (now Newport Cathedral) attaining full cathedral status in 1949, the opening of the modern integrated Llanwern steelworks in 1962, and the construction of the Severn Bridge and local sections of the M4 motorway in the late 1960s, making Newport the best-connected place in Wales.[7][25] Although employment at Llanwern steelworks declined in the 1980s, the town acquired a range of new public sector employers, and a Richard Rogers–designed Inmos microprocessor factory helped to establish Newport as a centre for technology companies.[26]
The county borough of Newport was granted city status in 2002 to mark Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee.[28] In the same year, an unusually large merchant ship, referred to locally as the Newport Ship, was uncovered and rescued from the west bank of the River Usk during the construction of the Riverfront Arts Centre. The ship has been dated to between 1445 and 1469 and remains the only vessel of its type from this period yet discovered anywhere in the world.[citation needed]
Newport has long been the largest town in the historic county of Monmouthshire, and was a county borough between 1891 and 1974. The Local Government Act 1972 removed ambiguity about the legal status of the area by including the administrative county of Monmouthshire and the county borough of Newport into all acts pertaining to Wales. In 1974, the borough was incorporated into the new local government county of Gwent until Newport became a unitary authority again in 1996. Gwent remains in use for ceremonial functions as a preserved county.
The right to use the armorial bearings of the Newport Corporation which were lost when the corporation was abolished on 1 April 1974 were only officially transferred to the new authority on 14 March 1996, some 18 days before it too was abolished.[34] The present city council was awarded the right to use the arms on 26 July 1996.[35]
Labour lost control of the council in the 2008 local elections to a Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition but Labour regained an overall majority of councillors in the 2012 election, continuing until the present day.
Until 2024, the city was divided between the UK Parliament constituencies of Newport East and Newport West and elected one Member of Parliament (MP) for each constituency. The Labour Party held Newport East since constituency boundaries were redrawn in 1983 and held Newport West since 1987.
The city formerly had only one constituency, Newport (Monmouthshire), until 1983 when the city was split into Newport East and Newport West due to population growth.
The official blazon of the armorial bearings is: "(arms) Or, a chevron reversed gules, the shield ensigned by a cherub proper. Supporters: on the dexter side a winged sea lion Or, and on the sinister side a sea dragon gules, the nether parts of both proper, finned gold."
The title of Freedom of Newport is a ceremonial honour, given by the Newport council to those who have served in some exceptional capacity, or upon any whom Newport wishes to bestow an honour. There have been 17 individuals or organisations that have received the honour since 1909,[39][40] including:
The city is largely low-lying, but with a few hilly areas. Wentwood is 1,014ft (309m) above sea level. Areas in the south and east of the city tend to be flat and fertile with some housing estates and industrial areas reclaimed from marshland. Areas near the banks of the River Usk, such as Caerleon, are also low-lying. The eastern outskirts of the city are characterised by the gently rolling hills of the Vale of Usk and Christchurch has panoramic views of the Vale of Usk and the Bristol Channel. Ridgeway at Allt-yr-yn also has good views of the surrounding areas and Bristol Channel. Brynglas has views over the city centre and Twmbarlwm to the west. The suburbs of the city have grown outwards from the inner-city, mostly near the main roads, giving the suburban sprawl of the city an irregular shape. The urban area is continuing to expand rapidly with new housing estates continuing to be built.
The city is divided into 21 wards. Most of these wards are coterminous with communities (parishes) of the same name. Each community can have an elected council. The following table lists city council wards, communities and associated geographical areas.
Newport has a moderate temperateclimate, with the weather rarely staying the same for more than a few days at a time. The city is one of the sunnier locations in Wales and its sheltered location tends to protect it from extreme weather. Like the whole of the British Isles, Newport benefits from the warming effect of the Gulf Stream. Newport has mild summers and cool winters.[45][46][47][48][49]
Thunderstorms may occur intermittently at any time of year, but are most common throughout late-spring and summer. Rain falls throughout the year, Atlantic storms give significant rainfall in the autumn, these gradually becoming rarer towards the end of winter. Autumn and summer have often been the wettest seasons in recent times. Snow falls in most winters and sometimes settles on the ground, usually melting within a few days. Newport records few days with gales compared to most of Wales, again due to its sheltered location. Frosts are common from October to May.
On 20 March 1930, the overnight temperature fell to −16.1°C (3.0°F) the coldest temperature for the whole of the UK during that year, and the latest date in spring the UK's lowest temperature has been recorded.[50]
In 1929 St Woolos Church became the Pro-Cathedral of the Diocese of Monmouth, becoming a full cathedral in 1949. When Rowan Williams was appointed Archbishop of Wales in 2000, the Cathedral became the Metropolitan Cathedral of Wales,[51] as it had when previous Bishops of Monmouth were elected Archbishop.
The foundation of the Charles Street Baptist Church was mainly the project of three women who had been members of Bethesda Baptist Chapel in Rogerstone, which was first built in 1742. In 1807 a Mrs Samuel and her friends rented a room in John Rowe's house on Stow Hill and asked the preachers John Hier, and his subordinate James Edmunds, both from Bethesda, to preach to them there. They later moved to a larger room in Charles Street. In 1816 a meeting at the Castleton Baptist Association agreed to build the first Welsh Baptist Chapel in Newport. Land was acquired in Charles Street, with the help of a bequest from Newport tailor John Williams. In May 1817 the opening services of the new church were held. By July 1879 the decline in Welsh-speaking in the town led to a change in the services from Welsh to English. In September 1993, the Charles Street congregation joined with Ebbw Bridge Baptist Church, Newport, and the Charles Street Chapel closed.[52]
In the 2021 census 43.0% of Newport residents reported having "No religion", making it the most common response in this local authority area (up from 29.7% in 2011). 42.8% of Newport residents considered themselves Christian (58.9% in 2011), 7,1% Muslim (up from 4,7%), 1.7% other religions (including Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Jewish and Others) (previously 1.2%). 5.6% (7.5%) chose not to answer the non-compulsory religion question on the census.[53]
In the 2011 census, 89.9% described themselves as White, 5.5% Asian, 1.7% Black, 1.1% Mixed White/Black, 0.5% Mixed White/Asian and 1.4% as other ethnic groups.[62] In the 2021 census, Whites had decreased to 85.6% of the population while all other groups increased bar Black Caribbeans.[63]
Newport's travel to work area incorporates much of south Monmouthshire; the new 2001-based area also includes Cwmbran.[67] The city itself has three major centres for employment: the city centre, and business parks clustered around the M4 motorway junctions 24 in the east and 28 in the west.
In 1997, Newport secured what was then thought to be Europe's largest-ever inward investment when the LG Group announced a £1.7 billion project creating 6,100 jobs, and supported by public sector grants.[69] Facilities were built on the Celtic Lakes business and science park, but market conditions led to the semiconductor plant never opening, and the CRT plant eventually closed in 2003.[70] In 2005 Irish radiator manufacturer Quinn Group bought the former LG Phillips building, which became its European base.[71]
Industry in the east of Newport was formerly based at the CorusLlanwern steelworks, and although the rolling mill is still active, steel manufacture ceased in 2001. Permission has been granted to transform the 600-acre (240ha) former steelworks site into a £1bn mixed-use development comprising housing, office and industrial space, public open space and a range of community facilities.[72]
Newport Cattle Market, in the Pillgwenlly area of the city, closed in 2009 and was demolished to make way for a new supermarket.[78][79]
On 17 February 2024 workers from Llanwern steelworks marched in the city centre to protest at the proposed loss of thousands of steel jobs at Port Talbot.[80]
The first stage of regeneration involved improving the city centre road network, turning Kingsway and Queensway into boulevards. The Southern Distributor Road to the south of the city opened in 2004, including the new City Bridge over the River Usk, improving access and opening up new areas for development. The Newport City footbridge opened in 2006 linking the east and west banks of the river for pedestrians and cyclists.
Newport railway station was expanded in 2007[81] to four full size platforms capable of receiving 10 car Class 800 trains. In 2010 a new station building was finished, carried out by engineering firm Atkins. During construction it was Wales' most environmentally friendly station work,[82] using a hypermodern green ETFE structure similar to the materials used in the Eden Project and the Beijing Olympics' 'Water Cube'. In 2019 railway electrification and resigning work was completed, completing the 21st-century modernisation of the Great Western Main Line and reducing journey times to London to 1 hour 30 minutes.
The Royal Gwent Hospital was downgraded to a minor injuries unit in 2020 when the new Grange University Hospital (Ysbyty Athrofaol Y Faenor) was opened at Llanfrechfa, near Cwmbran. There had been proposals to use the former Corus SteelWhiteheads site, close to the existing Royal Gwent site, for a replacement hospital but this was considered to have the same access and space restrictions as the current hospital. It was decided to redevelop the Llanfrechfa Grange Hospital site, a former mental health and disabilities residential centre near Cwmbran, as a specialist and critical care unit.
The M4 relief road skirting the southern edge of the urban area of Newport was proposed as a means of reducing the congestion on the existing M4 motorway (presently squeezed through the Brynglas Tunnels) and making Newport and the surrounding areas more accessible for motorised vehicles. The relief road scheme was cancelled in July 2009 but relaunched in 2014.[citation needed] A final decision not to proceed with the scheme was announced by the then First Minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford, on 4 June 2019.[86]
Newport witnessed the fastest growth in property values in the UK during 2018,[87]
As part of the city's master plan, the city centre has been expanded to take in areas of the River Usk east bank, with the area of land between Newport Bridge and George Street Bridge part of an ongoing £43 million high-density combined commercial and residential area, joined to the west bank by the new footbridge.[88] The first phase has been labelled City Vizion.[89]
The Newport Student Village is adjacent to the university campus on the west bank,[90] as well as the "Newhaus" development of 154 riverside apartments.[91] At the southern end of the site, the "Alexandra Gate" development includes 300 homes and riverside apartments built adjacent to the City Bridge.[92]
In east Newport, land released from the Corus steelworks at Llanwern is being redeveloped as 4,000 houses, shops and other facilities.[93]
The Newport retail environment faced challenges following the late-2000s recession, with major redevelopment projects heavily delayed.
Friars Walk shopping complex was first planned as a £210 million development ahead of the 2010 Ryder Cup, but faced numerous setbacks. The site opened to the public in November 2015[94] helped by £90 million of assistance from Newport Council to the developers,[94] with the Debenhams flagship store.[95] As well as 30 new shops, there are a dozen restaurants and an eight-screen Cineworld multiplex cinema.[94] Plans for redevelopment of the smaller Cambrian Centre were approved in 2012.[96]
The 15-storey Chartist Tower was redeveloped by developers Garrison Barclay Estates as a 163-bedroom Mercure Hotel, offering views across the city and the Bristol Channel. The site will also include 25,000 sq ft of office space and 18,000 sq ft of retail space. The hotel development is seen as an important step towards meeting the additional demand for hotel space in Newport created by the International Convention Centre (ICC) Wales. The opening of the hotel was delayed by several months due to Wales' lockdown as a response to COVID-19 and opened in May 2022.[98][99]
Newport Market was redeveloped as a £12 million mixed use[100] site with a tech hub, apartments, market units, as well as a food court, a project led by Newport City Council and the proprietors of Tramshed Cardiff.
For those travelling west from England into Wales, Newport is the first major urban area one passes through. As a result, it is a convergence point for national road, bus, and rail routes.
The nearest airport with scheduled domestic and international flights is Cardiff Airport, 30mi (50km) south-west of Newport.[101] The airport is a 35-minute drive away from the city or a 55-minute train journey which involves changing at Cardiff Central for Vale of Glamorgan Line services to the nearby Rhoose Cardiff International Airport railway station. The airport is also accessible by transferring to 24-hour TrawsCymru T9 buses, which begin at Cardiff Central station.
In 2003, a proposal for a new Severnside airport near Newport was rejected by the Department for Transport. The airport would have featured runways on a man-made island in the Severn Estuary.[102]
Newport bus station is the largest bus interchange in the county, with 24 stands. It was built as part of the adjacent Friars Walk shopping centre and the station opened in December 2015.
Inter-city National Express services run from a stop near the Riverfront arts centre, opposite the bus station.[103] Services to/from Bristol stop at Newport on average 2–3 times per hour, while there are nearly 4 services to/from London each hour.[104]
The current Newport station was built in 2010, in a hypermodern green ETFE structure, after a £22 million refurbishment programme; it introduced the futuristic new passenger terminal and bridge, whilst restoring the 19th-century features of the site. The new complex, west of the old station entrance, includes two terminals, four full-size platforms, new terminal buildings and a public footbridge, a new passenger footbridge, a new taxi area, short-stay car park and a 250-space passenger car park.
Overhead line equipment has been installed through the city, as part of electrification of the London to Cardiff line, which allows the operation of Hitachi Intercity Express Programme trains. The new services are all-electric, with more seats and improvements to journey times between Newport and London of around 1 hour 30 minutes, including non-stop services after Wales between Bristol Parkway and London Paddington.[105]
There are active proposals from Grand Central to operate services from Llanelli, via Cardiff and Newport, to London Paddington, only stopping at Severn Tunnel Junction and Bristol Parkway instead of the current service which also calls at Didcot Parkway, Swindon and Reading.[106]
The Southern Distributor Road (SDR) is part of the A48 road and is a peripheral distributor road, which runs from Junction 24 of the M4 motorway in the east of Newport to Junction 28 in the west. Combined with the M4 in the north, the SDR forms the southern part of a ring road for the city.
The B4237 (former A48) connects M4 junction 24 to junction 28 (Chepstow Road, Wharf Road, crossing George Street Bridge onto George Street and then Cardiff Road).
The B4596 (Caerleon Road, former A4042) links central Newport to Caerleon via M4 Junction 25.
The B4591 (Risca Road/Glasllwch Crescent/High Cross Road, former A467) is an alternative route from Newport to Risca via M4 Junction 27 (High Cross) and Rogerstone.
Corporation Road follows the east bank of the River Usk, but with limited views of the river. It links Newport Bridge to George Street Bridge, Newport City Bridge and, via Stephenson Road, Newport Transporter Bridge.
Isca Augusta – extensive remains of a Roman fortress in the village of Caerleon including a baths, amphitheatre, and barracks. The site of the Cadw Roman Legion museum.
Main Post Office – a retained façade of the former main Post Office building in High Street adjacent to the old Corn Exchange. A blue plaque states: "Site of Newport's first Head Post Office. Built in 1844 and rebuilt in 1907, the Edwardian façade being preserved in the total reconstruction of the island site in 2001. Once housed the town's first telephone exchange, known as The Savoy. Listed Grade II in 1985."
The Kings Hotel – former hotel in High Street dated c.1812, now redeveloped as apartments
Newport Arcade – Victorianarcade linking High Street to Cambrian Road.
Market Arcade – Victorian arcade linking High Street to Market Street.
Waterloo Hotel – Grade II-listed building in Alexandra Road, Pillgwenlly, currently operating as a bistro.
Masonic Hall – Grade II-listed building at 109 Lower Dock Street.
Burton Almshouses – almhouses, located on Friars Road, and Victoria Almshouses, Stow Hill, built 1900.
The Old Rising Sun – former public house on Shaftesbury Street, Shaftesbury
An unusual cylindrical former electricity transformer (1891), situated in Park Square.
In addition, the Twenty Ten Bridge at the Celtic Manor Resort is a footbridge crossing the River Usk north of Caerleon Bridge, not open to the public.[109]
The city has had a long history of constructed crossings of the River Usk, wooden bridges going back to Norman times, and stone ones beginning in 1800:
1800: First stone structure, Newport Bridge, constructed
1806: Caerleon Bridge built
1850: South Wales Railway Usk Bridge built
1866: Newport Road Bridge widened
1866: St. Julian's railway bridge built
1888: second Usk Railway Bridge built beside first
1906: Transporter Bridge built
1911: Great Western Railway Usk bridge widened
1927: Current Newport Bridge built
1964: George Street Bridge built
1967: M4 motorway Usk bridge built
1989: M4 motorway Usk bridge, and additional crossings, built
The main shopping streets of Newport city centre are pedestrianised with High Street and Commercial Street forming the north /south axis plus adjoining roads including Newport Arcade, Market Arcade, Skinner Street, Bridge Street, Upper Dock Street, Market Street, Griffin Street, Corn Street, Cambrian Road, Hill Street and Llanarth Street.
The five roads of Commercial Street, Stow Hill, Bridge Street, High Street and Skinner Street converge at Westgate Square (named after the Westgate Hotel) and this is generally regarded as the central point the city.
Kingsway Shopping Centre is an indoor shopping mall. The adjoining £90 million Friars Walk shopping centre opened in November 2015 is regarded as having benefited the city centre; this has 30 shops, about 12 restaurants and an 8-screen cinema.[94][110]Newport Market is a Victorian indoor market on two floors with outlets for produce and general products.
The University of South Wales campus is on the west bank of the river Usk in Newport city centre. The university can trace its roots to the founding of the Newport Mechanics Institute in 1841. Newport School of Art, Media and Design was one of the first Art Schools to be awarded degree status in 1973 and enjoyed a high reputation in painting,[111] Fine Art,[112] and sculpture[112] throughout the 1960s and 1970s. It is still highly regarded however, especially in documentary photography.[113] The Fine Art course closed in 2013, its final degree show entitled 'depARTure'.[114]
Newport also has the further-education Coleg Gwent City of Newport Campus, informally known as Nash College, in Lliswerry. Brynglas House is currently an Adult Education Centre.
Newport has four Welsh-medium primary schools; Ysgol Gymraeg Casnewydd in Ringland, Ysgol Gymraeg Bro Teyrnon in Brynglas and Ysgol Gymraeg Ifor Hael in Bettws. Ysgol Gymraeg Nant Gwenlli is temporarily located in Caerleon and is planned to move to the refurbished former Pillgwenlly Primary school site in 2025. Pillgwenlly Primary moved to a new build facility in 2024 on the former Corus steel Whiteheads site.
A football academy is based at Llanwern High School. It was established in 1998 as a partnership of Newport County Football Club and Newport City Council, when the school was named Hartridge High School. The academy has a development programme of around 50 students undertaking sporting qualifications. The students compete in the EFL Youth Alliance as Newport County's youth team.
Newport Transporter Bridge is one of the few remaining working bridges of its type in the world and featured in the film Tiger Bay. Visitors can travel on the suspended cradle most days and can walk atop the steel framework on bank holidays. The only other British example is Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge. Open days are occasionally held to view the renovation of the historically important Newport Ship.
Tiled murals by Kenneth Budd (1975) at the Old Green Interchange.
Union, Prudence, Energy statues commemorating the Chartist Newport Rising outside the Westgate Hotel. Created by Christopher Kelly (1991).
Stand and Stare statue by Paul Bothwell Kincaid, in Commercial Street, commemorating the work of poet W. H. Davies, who was born in Newport and lived his early life there. Davies is best known for his poem Leisure; "What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare".
Statue of Charles Morgan, 1st Baron Tredegar, in Bridge Street, created by John Evan Thomas (1850).
The Newport Festival runs throughout the summer months with a large number of events being staged in the city centre and elsewhere in the city.[117]
Set in a park of 90 acres (36ha), Tredegar House is an example of a 17th-century Charles II mansion. The earliest surviving part of the building dates back to the late 15th century. For over five hundred years, it was home to the Morgans – later Lords Tredegar – until they left in 1951. The house was then bought by the Catholic Church and used as a girls' school until it was bought by the council in 1974, which led to it being described as the "grandest council house in Britain".[118]
A 115ft-long (35m)mosaicChartist Mural was created in 1978 near John Frost Square to commemorate the Chartist rising of 1839. It was demolished amid protests in October 2013 to make way for city centre redevelopment.[119][120][121][122] A trust was set up to commission a new memorial with £50,000 of funding provided by Newport City Council[123] In 2014 the Newport Chartist Commission, with members Dame Rosemary Butler, Pat Drewett and Rowan Williams, sought to recruit a project manager.[124]
A smaller replica of the mural, in four panels, was unveiled on 4 November 2019, exactly 180 years since the Chartist uprising. It was created by Oliver Budd, son of the original mural's creator, Kenneth Budd. The panels are located on Cefn Road, Rogerstone, and include an information board telling the history of Chartism.[125]
As part of the city's "Big Splash" festival, on 30 August 2010, 45-year-old French circus star Olivier Roustan from Toulouse, performed the highest ever wirewalk in Europe, along the top cable of the Newport City footbridge.[126]
Newport hosted an outdoor art exhibition called "SuperDragons" in 2010 which displayed 60 large dragons decorated by local community groups.[127]
In November 2013 the Newport Arts, Culture and Heritage Association (NACHA), which promotes "the past, present and future of the arts, culture and heritage of the people of Newport, South Wales" was launched on Facebook.[128] In December 2014 chairman of the Friends of Newport Museum and Art Gallery, Richard Frame, expressed alarm at Newport City Council proposals to close the museum in 2015.[129]
The city centre has many pubs, bars and nightclubs, mostly in the vicinity of High Street. The most famous of these was TJ's, an alternative music club where it is claimed that Kurt Cobain of Nirvana proposed to Courtney Love, which closed in 2010.[130] TJ's was voted one of the top 50 'Big Nights Out' in the world by FHM in December 1997.[131]
The Riverfront Arts Centre is a popular concert venue. Other live music venues in the city centre include NEON, Six Feet Under, Le Pub, Riverside Tavern, Warehouse 54, McCann's, Slippin Jimmy's, El Sieco's, and The Potters. The Newport Centre, which hosted many music concerts from 1984 to the 2010s, was closed during the COVID-19 pandemic and was subsequently demolished in 2023. The planned replacement leisure centre will not have a concert and performance space.
Newport is the subject of a 2010 song "Newport (Ymerodraeth State of Mind)",[132] a parody of the Alicia Keys song "Empire State of Mind". The video went viral, was featured on BBC News,[133] and by August 2010, nearly 2.5 million people had watched it on YouTube. YouTube removed the video due to a copyright claim by music publishers.[134][135] Newport-based rap group Goldie Lookin Chain released a 'parody of a parody' video in response, alleging that their rivals lacked local knowledge.[136]
Newport City footbridge is a cycle and pedestrian bridge in Newport city centre linking the east and west banks of the River Usk.
A cycle and pedestrian walkway on the west bank of the River Usk links Newport city centre at Crindau to central Caerleon.[139] There is a marked heritage trail in Caerleon. A cycle and pedestrian walkway is on both banks of the River Usk. The East bank path links Newport Bridge to Lliswerry. The West bank path links Newport Bridge to Newport Transporter Bridge and to Lliswerry via Newport City Bridge.[140] It is therefore possible to walk or cycle from the north to the south of the City whilst largely avoiding public roads.
Newport RFC was established in 1874 and was one of the founder members of the Welsh Rugby Union in 1881. Newport was the only side to beat the (otherwise) Invincible All Blacks of 1963–64[142] and has also beaten the other two major Southern Hemisphere sides, Australia and South Africa, in its history.
Since the introduction of regional rugby franchises in Wales in 2003, Newport RFC now play in the Welsh Premier Division and operate as a feeder club to the Dragons regional team, who play in the United Rugby Championship. While the Dragons play at Rodney Parade near Newport city centre, Newport RFC play the majority of their home games at Newport Stadium in the Spytty area of the city.
Rodney Parade, home of Newport County, Dragons, and Newport RFC
Newport's best known association football club is Newport County, who were formed in 1912 and joined the English Football League in 1920. Newport County have played in the second tier of English football and spent over 60 seasons in the Football League, reached the last 16 of the FA Cup, won the Welsh Cup in 1980 and subsequently reached the quarter-finals of the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1981. They were relegated from the Football League in 1988 and went bankrupt the following year. The club re-formed in 1989. They secured promotion back to the Football League for the 2013–14 season after a 25-year absence and now play in Football League Two.
The city has high-quality golf facilities at Llanwern Golf Club, Peterstone Golf Club, Parc Golf Academy in Coedkernew and Newport Golf Club and Tredegar Park Golf Club in Rogerstone. Caerleon has a good quality nine-hole municipal course, driving range and clubhouse.
Newport is one of three main cities where British baseball is still played – the others are Cardiff and Liverpool – and the city hosts an international match every four years at Coronation Park.
Newport Squash Club has four courts situated in the grounds of Rodney Parade and the club operates a public pay-per-play arrangement there.
St. Joseph's Amateur Boxing Club is situated on George Street and is the home club of Yemeni-born 2006 Commonwealth bronze medallist Mo Nasir[143] and 2010 Commonwealth Silver medallist Sean McGoldrick.[144]
Treetops Shooting Ground, Coedkernew is one of Britain's best-equipped clay pigeon shooting grounds and often hosts competitions between local shooting clubs and university clay shooting clubs from around South Wales and South West England.
Local analogue radio broadcasting licences cover the Cardiff/Newport area; the FM licence is held by Communicorp, broadcasting as Capital South Wales from Cardiff Bay and the AM licence is held by Global, broadcasting as Smooth Wales,[148] however the AM frequencies, 1305 and 1359, were switched off on 12 October 2020 but Smooth continues to be broadcast on DAB. The local DABensemble is South Wales and Severn Estuary (12C). Heart South Wales, also from Cardiff Bay, is also available in the Newport area.
Newport has several internet radio stations, the most popular of which is Newport City Radio.[149]
Newport City Council voted unanimously on 23 July 2019 to effectively end relations with the Guangxi Province region of China.[151]
38,000 people had petitioned the council to end its twinning agreement due to the Yulin Dog Meat Festival, which takes place in the Guangxi town of Yulin each year. Council Leader Debbie Wilcox, Baroness Wilcox stated that while the council had previously written a strong letter to officials from Guangxi, this had been ignored, and that cutting ties was now necessary. The Council says it will now lobby the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Great Britain–China Centre on the issue of protecting dogs.
↑2011 Census: Usual resident population by five-year age group, local authorities in England and Wales – 2011 censusArchived 21 July 2012 at the Wayback Machine
↑Wade-Evans, Arthur .W. (1944). Vitae Sanctorum Britanniae et Genealogiae. Cardiff: University of Wales Press Board. p.183.
↑Garmonsway, G.N. (1953). The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. London: J.M. Dent & Sons (Everyman's Library 624). p.170.
↑Wade-Evans, Arthur, W. (1944). Vitae Sanctorum Britanniae et Genealogiae. Cardiff: University of Wales Press Board. p.185.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
↑Garmonsway, G.N. (1953). The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. London: J.M. Dent & Sons (Everyman's Library 624). p.191.
↑Statistics, Neighbourhood (14 April 2008). "2011 Census: Newport Ethnicity". 2011 Census Key Statistics. ONS (Office for National Statistics). Archived from the original on 5 June 2013. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
Newport railway station in 2011
Newport is the easternmost Welsh city on the United Kingdom rail network and has close proximity to major economic centres in Cardiff and Bristol. Newport railway station is the second-busiest station in Wales and, due to its interchange options, it serves as a major transfer station.
The Great Western Main Line connects the city with termini at Bristol Temple Meads, London Paddington and Pembroke Dock; the Welsh Marches line connects with Holyhead, Manchester Piccadilly and Llanelli; and the Gloucester line connects the borders region including Cheltenham. The Wessex Main Line also provides an hourly service from the city to Portsmouth. The station has four platforms and is a mandatory stop on all GWR services to and from London Paddington.
The city is well linked with the nearby Welsh capital Cardiff, with approximately six rail and five bus services between the cities every hour.<ref>"Train Info – Plusbus"(PDF). Ptsllibrary.co.uk. Archived from the original(PDF) on 23 February 2012. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
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Newport Arcade, High Street
The junction of High Street, Commercial Street, Skinner Street, Bridge Street and Stow Hill in the city centre
High Street
The Westgate Hotel in Commercial Street
Commercial Street
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