Visit Newport, Wales Places

Welcome to Visit Newport, Wales Places
The Walkfo guide to things to do & explore in Newport, Wales

  

Newport, Wales Places Overview: History, Culture & Facts about Newport, Wales

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Newport, Wales history

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Early history

Bronze Age fishermen settled around the fertile estuary of the River Usk and later the Celtic Silures built hillforts overlooking it. Roman legions built a Roman fort at Caerleon to defend the river crossing. Saint Gwynllyw (Woolos), the patron saint of Newport and King of Gwynllwg founded the church which would become Newport Cathedral.

Norman invasion and early modern Newport

Newport was granted its first charter in 1314 by Hugh Stafford, 2nd Earl of Stafford in 1385. 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 and Usk. 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.

Industrial Revolution

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. 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. The march was met with an attack by militia, called to the town by the Mayor, Thomas Phillips: at least 20 marchers were killed and were later buried in Saint Woolos churchyard. 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. 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!”. In 1922 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. 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. In 1892 the Alexandra South Dock was opened and was the largest masonry dock in the world. 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. 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”. 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. The rescuers included 12-year-old paperboy Thomas ‘Toya’ Lewis who was small enough to crawl into the collapsed trench. Lewis worked for two hours with hammer and chisel in an attempt to free one of those trapped who was released the next day. Several hundred pounds was later raised through public subscription in gratitude for the boy’s efforts, and he was sent on an engineering scholarship to Scotland. Lewis was awarded the Albert Medal for Lifesaving by King Edward VII in December 1909. A Wetherspoons pub in the city centre is named “The Tom Toya Lewis” after the young hero. The building in which the pub is housed was formerly the Newport YMCA, the Foundation Stone for which was laid by Viscount Tredegar, also in 1909. 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 been originally 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. 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. 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. 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. 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 being extant for technology companies. A flourishing local music scene in the early 1990s led to claims that the town was “a new Seattle”. The county borough of Newport was granted city status in 2002 to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee. 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.

Key dates in Newport’s history

Newport Castle was built in 1327–1386: Newport Castle built. Town was taken by forces of Owain Glyndŵr, rebel Prince of Wales during the Welsh Revolt: Saint Woolos Cathedral destroyed. Newport gained County Borough status, governed independently of Monmouthshire. Newport granted city status in 2002; Newport Unlimited regeneration company set up.

Newport, Wales etymology

The original Welsh name for the city was Casnewydd-ar-Wysg. This is a contraction of the name Castell Newydd ar Wysg, which translates as “new castle on the Usk” The English name ‘Newport’ is a later application. The settlement was first recorded by the Normans as novo burgus in 1126.

Newport, Wales geography / climate

Newport is located 138 miles (222 km) west of London and 12 miles (19 km) east of Cardiff. It is the largest urban area within the historic county boundaries of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent. The city is largely low-lying, but with a few hilly areas.

Wards and districts

The city is divided into 20 wards. Most of these wards are coterminous with communities (parishes) of the same name. Each community can have an elected council.

Climate

Newport has mild summers and cool winters. The city is one of the sunnier locations in Wales and its sheltered location tends to protect it from extreme weather. Thunderstorms are most common throughout late-spring and summer.

You can visit Newport, Wales places with Walkfo Newport, Wales to hear history at Newport, Wales’s places whilst walking around using the free digital tour app. Walkfo Newport, Wales has 91 places to visit in our interactive Newport, Wales map, with amazing history, culture & travel facts you can explore the same way you would at a museum or art gallery with information audio headset. With Walkfo, you can travel by foot, bike or bus throughout Newport, Wales, being in the moment, without digital distraction or limits to a specific walking route. Our historic audio walks, National Trust interactive audio experiences, digital tour guides for English Heritage locations are available at Newport, Wales places, with a AI tour guide to help you get the best from a visit to Newport, Wales & the surrounding areas.

“Curated content for millions of locations across the UK, with 91 audio facts unique to Newport, Wales places in an interactive Newport, Wales map you can explore.”

Walkfo: Visit Newport, Wales Places Map
91 tourist, history, culture & geography spots

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Newport, Wales historic spots	Newport, Wales tourist destinations	Newport, Wales plaques	Newport, Wales geographic features
Walkfo Newport, Wales tourism map key: places to see & visit like National Trust sites, Blue Plaques, English Heritage locations & top tourist destinations in Newport, Wales

  

Best Newport, Wales places to visit

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Newport, Wales has places to explore by foot, bike or bus. Below are a selection of the varied Newport, Wales’s destinations you can visit with additional content available at the Walkfo Newport, Wales’s information audio spots:

Visit Newport, Wales plaques