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Newport

The city grew up around the docks at the mouth of the River Usk. In 1801 it had a population of just 1000; that had rocketed to 70,000 by the early 1900s, and has now reached 120,000. Newport is the third largest city in Wales and achieved city status in 2002 to mark the Queen’s Golden Jubilee. The Romans settled in the area in the 1st century and the town’s St Woolos Cathedral, splendidly situated on the hilltop, is just the latest building on a site that has been a place of worship since the 6th century. The church was founded by St Gwynllyw (Woolos is the English version of his name), who was, before his conversion, a cruel and wicked man. He is said to have had a dream one night that he would go to a hill and find there a white ox with a black spot. He went the next day and, finding the ox, saw it as a sign from God and became a devout Christian. It is said that he died in AD500.

The church started off life as a wooden structure not long after the saint died. It was then replaced by a Saxon stone building, and some of the stonework in the present Galilee Chapel may be from this church. The rest of the building is Norman and later. It did not become a pro-cathedral until 1929, when the diocese of Monmouth was created. Finally, in 1949, it achieved full cathedral status. In the graveyard of the church are the graves of some of the soldiers of the Welsh Regiment who were killed in the Battle of Rorke’s Drift during the Zulu Wars of South Africa.

Just down the road from the cathedral, Snow Hill is remarkable for its Georgian and Victorian houses, something of a rarity in Newport.

Hemmed in by modern buildings on three sides and by the river on the fourth, the substantial remains of Newport Castle are best seen from the middle of the nearby bridge. In any case, entry to the site has been suspended for safety reasons. The castle was built in the 14th century by the d’Audele family, and replaced an earlier timber structure near what is now the cathedral. In the 16th century the castle was lived in by Henry VIII’s uncle, Jasper Tudor.

In the Newport Museum and Art Gallery there is a range of displays on the town’s origins, including a Roman mosaic floor that was excavated close by. Not to be missed here are the John Wait teapot display and the Fox collection of decorative art. Just to the north of the museum, on the river bank, is another striking work of art, Peter Fink’s enormous red sculpture, Steel Wave. Erected in 1991, it represents the steel and sea trades, which played such important roles in Newport’s development. The sculpture is part of the city’s Public Art Trail, which also features an extraordinary Kinetic Clock, which delivers a repertoire of shudders, spits and shakes on the hour; and a massive Chartist Mural depicting the Chartist uprising of 1839 when 22 protestors were killed by soldiers as they hid in the Westgate Hotel. Both these works can be found in the pedestrianized John Frost Square. Westgate Hotel itself is a wonderfully ornate Victorian structure fronted by pillars from its predecessor, which still bear the bullet pocks from the shooting.

 An impressive reminder of Newport’s more recent past is the massive Transporter Bridge across the River Usk. It was specially designed in 1906 by Frenchman Ferdinand Arnodin to allow traffic to cross the river without disrupting the movement of shipping. Basically, a cradle is suspended on wires from a gantry that spans the river, and this carries vehicles back and forth. The bridge is one of very few of its kind, one being in Middlesbrough, while two others are in France.

Among the city’s famous sons of Newport were the TV personality Johnny Morris and the poet W H Davies, born in his grandfather’s house in 1871. Much admired by Shaw, Davies is perhaps best known for his Autobiography of a Supertramp; in a poem called Leisure he penned the famous lines:

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

An allegorical sculpture of Davies, inscribed with this couplet stands in the town’s shopping centre.

To the west of the town stands Tredegar House and Park, one of the finest examples of Restoration architecture in Wales, and the home of the influential Morgan family for more than 500 years. Visitors can tour the rooms and discover just what life was like here, both above and below stairs, as well as finding out something of this great Welsh family. Its more colourful and famous members include Sir Henry Morgan, the notorious pirate, Godfrey, the 2nd Lord Tredegar, who survived the Charge of the Light Brigade and whose horse is buried in the grounds, and Viscount Evan, whose menagerie included a boxing kangaroo. The park that surrounds the house is equally impressive, with early 18th-century walled formal gardens, an orangery with restored parterres, and craft workshops. Visitors can take a carriage drive through the parkland and children have their own adventure playground. There’s a tea room and gift shop, and a suite of rooms available for corporate events.