Encyclopedia
Newport is the third-largest
city in
Wales . Standing on the banks of the River Usk, it is the cultural capital and largest urban area of the
traditional county of
Monmouthshire and governed by the unitary
Newport City Council. The population of the Newport urban area is in excess of 160,000 inhabitants .
The name Newport comes from the the fact that that
Caerleon was the 'old port' on the river Usk, but as ships became bigger, they could no longer navigate the river to Caerleon so a new port/dock was built near to where the Riverfront Arts Centre stands today.
The Welsh name for the city,
Casnewydd-ar-Wysg means 'New castle-on-Usk' . This refers to the twelfth-century
castle ruins near the city centre. The original Newport Castle was a small
Motte-and-bailey castle in the park opposite
St. Woolos Cathedral. It was buried in rubble excavated from the railway tunnels that were dug under Stow Hill in the 1840s and no part of it is currently visible.
Newport also has the
Latin name
Novus Burgus, meaning new borough or new town. It is sometimes labelled
Newport-on-Usk on old maps.
The city's importance as a trading port in the
Middle Ages was emphasised when a
15th century ship, referred to locally as the
Newport ship, was uncovered from the bank of the Usk in 2002, during the construction of the Riverfront Arts Centre.
The city is home to the world-class Celtic Manor Resort, Europe's leading five-star conference resort and home of the Celtic Manor Wales Open, the annual
European Tour golf tournament. The resort is also venue for the 2010
Ryder Cup.
Geography
- See also: List of places in Newport
The city is largely low-lying, but with a few hilly areas. 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 such as Caerleon, near the banks of the River Usk tend to also be low-lying. There is a ridge of higher land known as Ridgeway running through the city with good views of surrounding areas.
The
suburbs of the city have grown outwards from the inner-city, along the main roads, leading to the creation of out-of-town shopping centres. Such centres have large free car parks and are seen as more convenient than travelling several miles to shop in the city centre. The urban area is continuing to expand rapidly with new housing estates continuing to be built.
Districts
The city is divided into 20 wards. Most of these wards are coterminous with communities of the same name. Each community can have an elected council. The following table lists city council wards, communities and associated geographical areas. Communities with a community council are indicated with a '*':
| Ward | Communities | Other geographic areas |
| Allt-yr-yn | Allt-yr-yn | Ridgeway, Barrack Hill, Glasllwch, Gold Tops |
| Alway | Alway | Somerton, Lawrence Hill |
| Beechwood | Beechwood | Eveswell |
| Bettws | Bettws |
| Caerleon | Caerleon | Christchurch, Bulmore, The Village |
| Gaer | Gaer | Maesglas, St. Davids, Stelvio |
| Graig | Graig* | Rhiwderin, Bassaleg, Lower Machen, Pentre Poeth, Fox Hill |
| Langstone | Langstone*, Llanvaches*, Penhow* | Llanmartin, Parc Seymour, Wentwood Forest, Coed-y-caerau, Cat's Ash, Llanbedr, Whitebrook |
| Llanwern | Bishton, Goldcliff*, Llanwern*, Redwick* | Underwood, Whitson, Uskmouth, Broadstreet Common, Summerleaze, Wilcrick, Saltmarsh, Milton, Porton |
| Liswerry | Liswerry, Nash* | Broadmead Park, Moorland Park |
| Malpas | Malpas |
| Marshfield | Coedkernew*, Marshfield*, Michaelstone-y-Fedw*, Wentloog* | Castleton, St. Brides, Blacktown, Peterstone |
| Pillgwenlly | Pillgwenlly | Level of Mendalgief |
| Ringland | Ringland | Bishpool, Treberth, Coldra |
| Rogerstone | Rogerstone* | High Cross, Cefn Wood, Croesllanfro |
| Shaftesbury | Shaftesbury | Brynglas, Crindau, Marshes, Blaen-y-pant |
| St. Julian's | St. Julian's | East Usk, Barnardtown |
| Stow Hill | Stow Hill | St. Woolos, Baneswell, City centre |
| Tredegar Park | Tredegar Park | Duffryn |
| Victoria | Victoria | Maindee, Summerhill |
People
| Year | Population |
|---|
| 1801 | 6,657 |
| 1851 | 29,238 |
| 1881 | 48,069 |
| 1901 | 79,342 |
| 1941 | 116,434 |
| 1981 | 131,016 |
| 2001 | 137,017 |
| |
People from Newport are known as Newportonians. As of 2001, 71.9% considered themselves Christian, 2.6%
Muslim, 1% other religions , 16.8% were non-religious and 8.1% chose not to answer the non-compulsory religion question on the
2001 census. The central areas of Newport are very ethnically and racially diverse. The city is home to 7 mosques , 50+ churches . There appears to be only one
synagogue; the nearest
Gurudwara is in Cardiff.
Climate
Newport has a moderate temperate
climate, with the weather rarely staying the same for more than a few days at a time. The city is one of the warmer and sunnier locations in the
UK and its sheltered location tends to protect Newport from extreme weather. Like the whole of the
British Isles, Newport benefits from the warming effect of the
Gulf Stream. Newport has warm summers and cool winters.
Thunderstorms may occur intermittently at any time of year, but are most common throughout late-spring and summer. Rain falls throughout the year with spring often the driest season.
Snow falls nearly every winter but is often light and usually melts immediately or after a few days. Newport records few days with gales, again due to its sheltered location.
Frosts are common from November to April.
Regeneration
The city is undergoing a major regeneration programme led by
Newport Unlimited. The most important projects include:
- The Riverfront Arts Centre — this was the first structure to be built as part of Newport's regeneration by Newport City Council
- Newport Civic Centre [i]
...
.
- The Southern Distributor Road, including a new road bridge over the Usk, is completed, improving access and opening up new areas for development.
- Improving the city centre road network, including Kingsway and Queensway, which will be turned into boulevards.
- A new foot and cycle bridge called the Newport City footbridge is now open.
- The city centre is currently being expanded to take in areas of the east bank. The area of land between Newport Bridge and George Street Bridge is being developed as a £43 million high-density combined commercial and residential area, joined to the west bank by the new footbridge. The plan shows a strong urban form along the riverfront, emphasised with tall landmark buildings.
- In the next few years, a £50 million riverside University campus will be constructed adjacent to the new footbridge on the west bank.
- A new £210 million city centre shopping complex known as Friars Walk including a Debenhams department store, will be created in time for the 2010 Ryder Cup in Newport. This complex will complement the adjacent Kingsway Shopping Centre, which is undergoing its own £20 million refurbishment and expansion.
- Permission has been granted to turn the Grade II-listed former Art College in the east of the city centre into luxury apartments.
- The bus and railway stations will be extensively redeveloped. Newport railway station's connection with the Ebbw Valley Line is due to be completed by 2009. Two further stations in the city's suburbs of Pye Corner and Rogerstone situated along the Ebbw Valley Line will also be re-opened, and four others are planned in the city's Unitary Development Plan.
- Thousands of homes will be built, especially in the Riverside area, near Pill.
- A state-of-the-art hospital is planned to be built at the Whiteheads site now the old Corus facility has closed.
- A new M4 bypass skirting the southern edge of the urban area of Newport is to built, reducing the congestion on the existing motorway and making Newport and the surrounding areas more accessible.
- There are proposals to transform the disused Llanwern steelworks into 4,000 houses, shops and other facilities, with the creation of up to 6,000 jobs.
- There are also calls for a barrage across the River Usk to be incorporated with the M4 bypass, so the level of the river stays permanently at high tide level, or possibly a barrage across the River Severn.
Transport
- See category:
The city is excellently served with transport links — the
M4 motorway comes within a mile of the city centre, and Newport has six junctions. The
Great Western main railway line also passes through the heart of the city, stopping at
High Street station.
;Road
The principal east—west roads are the M4 motorway and A48. The A48 serves as an alternative to the M4. It is also the primary road for travelling to rural Monmouthshire and
Gloucestershire.
The principal north—south roads are the A467 and A4042 and
A449 trunk roads. The A467 and A4042 connect the surounding valleys to the city and motorway network, and the A449 connects Newport to the
Midlands. All are high-speed
dual carriageways.
The municipal bus service is provided by the council-owned
Newport Transport, who provide the "Newport Bus" branded service in the city. Other operators including Stagecoach in South Wales, Francis Drake Travel, Terry Ward, Cardiff Bus and Welcome Travel also served the city.
;Rail
Newport is connected directly to the
Great Western Main Line, Welsh Marches Line, Gloucester to Newport Line and Ebbw Valley Line. The Great Western line provides high-speed connections to Cardiff,
Bristol and
London primarily, and also other towns and cities such as
Swansea,
Swindon and
Reading. There are also train services directly to
Birmingham,
Southampton,
Manchester,
Nottingham,
Derby,
Plymouth,
Portsmouth,
Gloucester,
West Wales, the
South Wales Valleys and many other smaller towns.
;Air
Cardiff,
Bristol and
Heathrow Airports are within driving distance for those travelling by plane.
Education
Newport is home to the
University of Wales, Newport which has two campuses in the city — one in Caerleon and the other in Allt-yr-yn. The university can trace its roots to the founding of the Newport Mechanics Institute in 1841. The Newport School of Art was one of the first Schools to be awarded degree status in 1963 and enjoyed a high reputation in painting and sculpture throughout the 1960s and 1970s.
Plans have been granted for the first phase of a new £60m city centre university campus as part of the riverside regeneration plans by the urban regeneration company
Newport Unlimited. This phase will see the return of the renowned Newport School of Art and Design to the city centre.
The City of Newport is home to eight state comprehensive schools, and one independent comprehensive school. All schools are governed by the
Newport LEA. Newport also has a campus of the further education college Coleg Gwent called the City of Newport Campus, informally known as Nash College.
Employment
Newport has three major centres for employment: the city centre and business parks clustered around the M4 junctions 24 in the east and 28 in the west. The civil service industry is the biggest employer in the city.
Businesses in the city centre include the Passport Office for much of the south and west of the UK, and the Wales headquarters of the
Charity Commission and
British Red Cross.
Businesses on the west side of the city include: The headquarters of the
Office for National Statistics, the headquarters of the Patent Office, the headquarters of Wales and West Utilities, a large
Panasonic manufacturing plant, a manufacturing plant for
International Rectifier and the shared-service centre for
HM Prison Service. There is a huge plant on the Celtic Lakes business and science park originally built for the
LG Group, but market conditions led to the semiconductor plant never opening, and the
CRT plant eventually closing. There are many plans for the site, including transforming it into a conference centre along the lines of the
National Indoor Arena in Birmingham or a large super-casino.
Industry in the east of Newport was formerly based on the Corus steelworks at Llanwern, and although the rolling mill is still active, steel manufacture ceased in 2001. The land formerly used for manufacturing is currently being redeveloped to provide 4,000 homes and up to 6,000 jobs.
Government
- Main article: Newport City Council
...
.
Newport has long been the largest town in the traditional Monmouthshire county and became a unitary authority in 1996. The City of Newport is divided between the parliamentary constituencies of Newport West and Newport East. These two parliamentary constituencies cover a similar area to that of the City area controlled by Newport City Council. The city formerly had only
one constituency until 1983 when the city was split into Newport West and East to due population expansion.
The city has traditionally had a strong support for the Labour party with many working-class areas, but the Conservatives have a significant minority especially in the middle-class areas in the west. There has been a sharp increase in
Liberal Democrat voters in recent elections. In the
2005 general election, the Liberal Democrats pushed the Conservatives into 3rd place in Newport East with Labour still holding on to a sizable majority but in Newport West the Conservatives gained a swing on Labour's lead, making their majority slim.
Culture and arts
Newport is known for its works of civic art, including the steel Wave on the banks of the Usk, and "The Nick of Time"; a large mechanical clock in the city centre. It also has one of the few remaining working
transporter bridges in the world .
Set in a beautiful 90 acre park,
Tredegar House is one of the best examples of a 17th century
Charles II mansion in Britain. The earliest surviving part of the building dates back to the early 1500s. For over five hundred years, it was home to one of the greatest of Welsh families, the Morgans - later Lords Tredegar - until they left in 1951. The house was then used as a girl's school until it was bought by the council in 1974, giving rise to its present status as the "grandest council house in Britain".
The city is known for its nightlife, containing many pubs, bars and nightclubs. The most famous of these is probably T.J.'s, an alternative music club where it is rumoured that
Kurt Cobain proposed to
Courtney Love. T.J.'s was voted one of the top 50 'Big Nights Out' in the world by
FHM in December 1997.
Newport hosted the National Eisteddfod in 1897, 1988 and 2004.
Notable people
Notable current and former residents and natives of Newport include:
...
...
- Skindred
- James Henry Thomas
- Leslie Thomas OBE
- Robert William Windsor
- Vanessa Clarke
Twinning
Newport has four international
twinning links:
;Heidenheim
The Newport -
Heidenheim Twinning Association was formed in 1980 to promote and assist Newports link with Heidenheim.
;Kutaisi
The twinning arrangement between Newport and
Kutaisi,
Georgia dates from 1989. Kutaisi is the second city in Georgia, set in a beautiful location between the Caucasian mountains and the Black Sea. The was founded to promote international friendships and to strengthen links between the two communities.
;Guangxi
Newport has been twinned with Guangxi Province in
China since 1996.
;Annapolis
Newport is a sister city of
Annapolis,
Maryland.
Sport
- See category:
The city has a formidable sporting reputation, owed mainly to the exploits of the world-famous Newport Rugby Club. One of the few clubs to have beaten all the major southern hemisphere touring sides, they were the only side to beat the Invincible All Blacks of 1962—63. Amongst the names associated with the club are Arthur 'Monkey' Gould, the first Rugby Union superstar, and David Watkins, the only man to have captained Great Britain at
rugby union and
rugby league. Newport's rugby league club are called the Newport Titans and play in the Welsh Conference Premier. They also have a regional rugby side, the
Newport Gwent Dragons who play in the Celtic League.
Newport also has an
association football club,
Newport County: although currently a non-league club, Newport have played in the second tier of English football, reached the last 16 of the
FA Cup and played in the European
Cup Winners' Cup. The city also has a
speedway track, home to the Newport Wasps speedway team, and is home to one of the few indoor
velodromes in Britain.
The city is home to a number of annual sporting events, including:
- The Wales Open European Tour golf tournament
- The Welsh Open world ranking snooker tournament
- The World Cup of Pool
- The All*Star Cup celebrity golf tournament
History
The River Usk at Newport has always proved an attractive place to make a home.
Bronze Age fishermen settled around its fertile estuary and later the Celtic
Silures built hill forts overlooking it. In AD 75, on the very edge of their empire, the Roman legions built a fortress at
Caerleon to defend the river crossing. The
Normans arrived in 1090 to build a castle and river crossing downstream. Around the settlement, the New Town grew to be become Newport, and was granted a charter by Hugh, Earl of Stafford in 1385.
Newport was the focal point of a major
Chartist uprising in 1839, where John Frost and 3,000 others marched on the Westgate Hotel. John Frost Square, in the centre of the city, is named in his honour.
The
county borough of Newport was granted
city status in 2002 to mark
Queen Elizabeth II's
Golden Jubilee.
Other key dates:
- 864: St. Woolos church founded by St. Gwynllyw, later to become St. Woolos Cathedral.
- 1140: The first wooden castle is built on Stow Hill.
- 1672: Tredegar House completed.
- 1796: Opening of the Monmouthshire canal.
- 1842: Town Dock opens — able to accommodate the largest ships in the world.
- 1870: W. H. Davies, renowned poet born in Portland Street, Pillgwenlly.
- 1877: Athletic grounds at Rodney Parade opens.
- 1894: Belle Vue Park opens.
- 1906: Transporter Bridge opens.
- 1937: King George VI visits Newport and cuts first sod of new Civic Centre building.
Coat of arms
Newport's
coat of arms is unusual for two reasons. Firstly, it places a cherub above the shield of arms; secondly, one of the supporters is a winged sea lion - Newport was the first authority to use this rare heraldic device. In 1929 Newport obtained a grant to use the armorial bearings which, in fact, it had already been using for some time - certainly since 1835. This is a gold shield with a red chevron in reverse; the shield is ensigned by a cherub. The shield is that of the Staffords, Earls and Dukes of Buckingham,
lords of the Manor of Newport in the 14th and 15th centuries - but the reversed chevron marks the difference between these Borough Arms and those of the family.
In 1957 it was decided to petition the Earl Marshal for the supporters which all Boroughs are entitled to possess. A year later the
College of Arms granted this request and a winged sea dragon and a winged sea lion were brought into use. These supporters represent strength on land, sea and in the air. The motto
Terra Marique was adopted at the same time and means 'By land and sea'.
The official description of the armorial bearings are: " 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."
References
See also
- Railway stations in Newport
External links
City of Newport
Education
News
Sport
Community
|
Politics
Entertainment
- paint-your-own pottery studio, aka a contemporary ceramics studio, on Charles Street
Culture
Historical Newport
Business
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