Rogerstone is both a ward and community

Community council

A community council is a public representative body in Great Britain.In England they may be statutory parish councils by another name, under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, or they may be non-statutory bodies...

 (parish) of the city of Newport

Newport

Newport is a city and unitary authority area in Wales. Standing on the banks of the River Usk, it is located about east of Cardiff and is the largest urban area within the historic county boundaries of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent...

, south-east Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

. The area is governed by the Newport City Council

Newport City Council

Newport City Council is the governing body for the city of Newport, one of the subdivisions of Wales within the United Kingdom. It consists of 50 councillors, representing the city's 20 wards. Since the 2008 election, the council has been controlled jointly by the Conservatives and Liberal...

.

The parish lies at the gateway to the Sirhowy valley, to the north of Newport on the eastern side of the Ebbw River

Ebbw River

The Ebbw River is a river in South Wales.The main Ebbw River is formed by the confluence of the two minor Ebbw rivers, Ebbw Fach, and Ebbw Fawr ....

 . It is bounded by the M4 motorway

M4 motorway

The M4 motorway links London with South Wales. It is part of the unsigned European route E30. Other major places directly accessible from M4 junctions are Reading, Swindon, Bristol, Newport, Cardiff and Swansea...

 to the south, the Ebbw River

Ebbw River

The Ebbw River is a river in South Wales.The main Ebbw River is formed by the confluence of the two minor Ebbw rivers, Ebbw Fach, and Ebbw Fawr ....

 to the west, the Henllys vale to the east and the city boundary with Caerphilly

Caerphilly (county borough)

Caerphilly is a county borough in southern Wales, straddling the ancient county boundary between Glamorgan and Monmouthshire.Its main town is Caerphilly, and also the largest...

 county borough to the north.

Rogerstone railway station

Rogerstone railway station

Rogerstone railway station is a station on the Ebbw Valley Railway in the community of Rogerstone in Newport, south Wales. The station is situated ½ mile north of the original station on the site of former rail sidings. The station is within the Afon Village housing development...

 is on the Ebbw Valley Railway. It opened on 6 February 2008 and links Ebbw Vale to via Rogerstone. The Re-opening of the link from Rogerstone to Newport railway station

Newport railway station

Newport railway station is the 3rd busiest railway station in Wales , situated in Newport city centre. It is part of the British railway system owned by Network Rail and is operated by Arriva Trains Wales, although First Great Western and CrossCountry also provide services...

 is planned for 2011.

History

The original settlement dates back to Norman

Normans

The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...

 times when Rogerstone Castle was built in the early part of the 12th century. The name is said to originate from Roger de Haia, the Norman Lord who was responsible for the building of the castle

Castle

A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...

, the remains of which are reduced to a low bush and tree covered motte

Motte-and-bailey

A motte-and-bailey is a form of castle, with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised earthwork called a motte, accompanied by an enclosed courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade...

 opposite Criddle's garage on the lower section of Tregwilym Road. The Welsh

Welsh language

Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...

 name for Rogerstone "Tŷ Du" translates to English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 as "Black House", though no one is entirely sure why it has this name.

The larger parish of Rogerstone started as two distinct settlements of Tregwilym and Tydu, Tregwilym taking its name from the land owner, William de Berkerolles. These hamlets remained predominantly rural until the advent of the industrial revolution

Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...

. The population grew in response to the tin

Tin

Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...

, iron

Iron

Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...

 and aluminium

Aluminium

Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....

 industries which flourished near the South Wales coalfield

South Wales Coalfield

The South Wales Coalfield is a large region of south Wales that is rich with coal deposits, especially the South Wales Valleys.-The coalfield area:...

. At one point, the village boasted the longest aluminium rolling mill in Western Europe and one of the largest marshalling yards on the Great Western Railway

Great Western Railway

The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...

 network.

The village played host to John Frost

John Frost (Chartist)

John Frost was a prominent Welsh leader of the British Chartist movement in the Newport Rising....

 and his fellow Chartists

Chartism

Chartism was a movement for political and social reform in the United Kingdom during the mid-19th century, between 1838 and 1859. It takes its name from the People's Charter of 1838. Chartism was possibly the first mass working class labour movement in the world...

 on their historical march from the valleys to Newport, the Welsh Oak

Welsh Oak (pub)

The Welsh Oak is a pub located in Pontymister, Caerphilly County Borough, Wales.This was the final meeting place of John Frost, Zephaniah Williams and William Jones, all members of the Chartist movement in South Wales in the 1830s prior to and during the Newport Rising of 1839.Each man headed up a...

 public house just north of the parish being one of the key meeting points for the protestors before they set off through the parish towards the Westgate Hotel and turmoil.

The parish sits astride the Crumlin branch of the Monmouthshire Canal

Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal

The Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal is a small network of canals in South Wales. For most of its length it runs through the Brecon Beacons National Park, and its present rural character and tranquillity belies its original purpose as an industrial corridor for coal and iron, which were brought to...

 and plays host to the Fourteen Locks

Fourteen Locks

Fourteen Locks is a series of locks, also known as the Cefn Flight, on the Crumlin arm of the Monmouthshire Canal at Rogerstone in Newport, South Wales. The flight of locks was completed in 1799 and raises the water level 160 ft in just 800 yd...

 . The canal opened in 1798 but was dogged by water supply problems and competition from the railways and by 1930; it had finally succumbed and has since fallen into disrepair.

Modern-day Rogerstone

The designation of the Rogerstone section of the canal as part of the National Cycle Network

National Cycle Network

The National Cycle Network is a network of cycle routes in the United Kingdom.The National Cycle Network was created by the charity Sustrans , and aided by a £42.5 million National Lottery grant. In 2005 it was used for over 230 million trips.Many routes hope to minimise contact with motor...

 (route 47) and more recent efforts to restore parts of the canal have made the site a popular tourist attraction.

Rogerstone was traditionally an industrial, working-class village, but recent expensive housing developments such as that on the site of the former power station

Power station

A power station is an industrial facility for the generation of electric energy....

 has added more than 1,000 dwellings and an ever-increasing middle-class population. This has been influenced by the improved transport links.

In 2005, Warburtons

Warburtons

Warburtons is a British baking firm based founded by Thomas Warburton in 1876 in Bolton, then in Lancashire, now in Greater Manchester, England. For much of its history Warburtons only had bakeries in Lancashire and it remains a family-owned company....

 opened a new bakery in the village, to supply bakery products across South Wales. However, after the 2008 economic crisis, in 2010 the company announced the closure of the facility, and the loss of 140 jobs. The plant was later bought by local family owned Brace's Bakery.

There are three primary schools within Rogerstone; Rogerstone Primary

Rogerstone Primary School

Rogerstone Primary School is a school situated in Rogerstone on the western side of Newport, South Wales.The current headteacher is Miss Samantha Yeoman....

, Mount Pleasant Primary and High Cross Primary.

Newport golf club and Tredegar Park golf club are located at Rogerstone.