Newport, Caerleon and the Chartists

Newport, in Welsh Casnewydd, is the third city of Wales after Cardiff and Swansea. It lies at the mouth of the River Usk, in the south-east of the country, close to the English border, and has about 160,000 inhabitants. It officially became a city in 2002. A port for the coal and iron of the Welsh valleys in the 19th century, Newport holds unexpected treasures: at Caerleon, on its doorstep, are the remains of one of the three great Roman legionary fortresses of Britain, with an amphitheatre that legend links to King Arthur's court; in the city you can see a rare transporter bridge of 1906 and the best-preserved 15th-century merchant ship in Europe, found in the mud of the river. Here, in 1839, the last large-scale armed rebellion in Britain took place, the Chartist Rising.

Trains from Cardiff take a quarter of an hour, from Bristol about half an hour and from London Paddington about an hour and forty minutes.

Romans and knights: Caerleon

A few kilometres north-east of the centre, the village of Caerleon stands on the site of Isca Augusta, the fortress founded by the Romans around AD 75 for the Second Augustan Legion, one of the three great legionary bases of Britain together with Chester and York. You can visit the amphitheatre, one of the best preserved in the country, which could hold about six thousand spectators, the remains of the barracks, the only Roman legionary barracks on view in Europe, and the fortress baths, covered by a modern building with projections showing soldiers swimming in the pool. The National Roman Legion Museum displays weapons, jewellery, coins and tombstones found in the excavations, and is free to enter.

In the Middle Ages the writer Geoffrey of Monmouth made Caerleon one of the seats of King Arthur's court, and the grass-covered amphitheatre was called "the Round Table" by local people. The poet Alfred Tennyson stayed here to find inspiration while writing his Arthurian poems. See also our page on following in King Arthur's footsteps.

Coal port and the Chartists

In the 19th century Newport grew rapidly as the port from which coal and iron from the mining valleys of South Wales were shipped, carried first by the Monmouthshire Canal and then by rail. On 4 November 1839 thousands of miners and workers led by John Frost, a former mayor of the town, marched on Newport to demand the vote for all men and the other reforms of the People's Charter. Soldiers stationed in the Westgate Hotel opened fire: around twenty protesters were killed. Frost and other leaders were sentenced to death, later commuted to transportation to Australia. The Chartist Rising is remembered in the city with monuments, murals and plaques, and it was said that bullet marks could still be seen on the pillars at the hotel entrance.

The transporter bridge

The city's symbol is the Newport Transporter Bridge, opened in 1906: a transporter bridge, one of the few left in the world, with two steel towers more than seventy metres high from which hangs a gondola carrying cars and pedestrians from one bank of the Usk to the other, leaving the way clear for ships. It was built this way because the riverbanks are low and the tide is very high: the Usk has one of the largest tidal ranges in the world, and an ordinary bridge would have needed extremely long ramps. The bridge has undergone a major restoration with a new visitor centre; when it is open you can climb the towers and walk along the high walkway.

The Newport Ship

In 2002, during excavations for the new riverside theatre, workers found in the mud the remains of a large 15th-century wooden merchant ship: the Newport Ship, built around 1450 in the Basque Country and abandoned here during repairs. It is the best-preserved ship of its period in Europe, and objects from on board were found next to the hull, including Portuguese coins and pottery. Local people campaigned to save it, and today its timbers, recovered one by one, are being conserved and reassembled; the dedicated centre opens to visitors on certain days.

What to see in Newport

The cathedral and the centre

St Woolos Cathedral, on a hill above the centre, has very ancient origins: it stands where in the 5th century the Welsh king and saint Gwynllyw founded a church, and it keeps a Norman arch and nave. The centre is crossed by the main pedestrian street, with Newport Market, a recently restored Victorian covered market that has become a space for food, crafts and small businesses, and the modern Friars Walk. On the bank of the Usk, the Riverfront Theatre hosts drama, dance and concerts. Next to the city bridge stand the ruins of 14th-century Newport Castle.

Tredegar House

On the western edge of the city is Tredegar House, one of the finest 17th-century red-brick houses in Britain, home for centuries of the powerful Morgan family. Now owned by the National Trust, it offers decorated state rooms, kitchens, walled gardens and a park with a lake. Its last owner, the eccentric Viscount Evan Morgan, threw legendary parties and kept a small private zoo.

Fourteen Locks and the canal

North-west of the city, the Fourteen Locks are a spectacular flight of fourteen locks on the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal, built at the end of the 18th century to lift coal barges about fifty metres in less than a kilometre. Today a visitor centre and towpath trails let you discover this masterpiece of hydraulic engineering.

Newport Wetlands

South of the city, along the Severn estuary, the Newport Wetlands reserve is a wetland created to compensate for the construction of the Cardiff Bay barrage: reed beds, lagoons and salt meadows are home to herons, avocets, marsh harriers and thousands of migrating birds. On its edge stands the little East Usk lighthouse, and on clear days you can see the English coast across the Bristol Channel.

A border city

For centuries it was not clear whether Newport was in Wales or England. The old county of Monmouthshire, to which it belonged, was long treated by the law as a special case, and official documents referred to "Wales and Monmouthshire"; only in 1974 was the question settled and the county assigned definitively to Wales. Newport is still the Welsh city where the least Welsh is spoken, but signs are bilingual, Welsh-medium schools are increasingly in demand and the city feels fully Welsh, especially on rugby days. For more, see our page on the languages of the United Kingdom.

Eating and drinking

In Newport you can try Welsh specialities: cawl, a lamb and vegetable soup, Welsh cakes, little griddle cakes with currants and sugar, laverbread, a seaweed purée eaten at breakfast with bacon and cockles, and vegetarian Glamorgan sausages, made with cheese and leek. The city also has a much-awarded craft brewery, Tiny Rebel, founded here in 2012, with a pub in the centre. The Victorian market is the ideal place for a quick lunch among stalls serving food from all over the world.

Music and street culture

In the 1990s Newport had such a lively music scene that the music press went as far as calling it "the new Seattle". The most famous venue was TJ's, a small club where hundreds of bands played, which closed in 2010; according to an unconfirmed legend, it was there that Kurt Cobain proposed to Courtney Love. Newport is also home to Goldie Lookin Chain, a group that sends up hip hop with local dialect and humour. Today the city is full of murals and street art, many dedicated to the Chartists and working-class history.

Events

Every November the Newport Rising festival remembers the Chartist march with a night-time torchlit procession retracing the protesters' route to the Westgate Hotel, along with concerts, readings and performances. In summer the Caerleon Festival fills the Roman village with wooden sculptures, art and music, while the Big Splash street arts festival brings acrobats, theatre and free family shows to the centre. Dragons rugby matches at Rodney Parade are a celebration for the whole city.

The Severn bridges

East of Newport the Severn estuary is crossed by two great bridges linking Wales with England: the Severn Bridge, a suspension bridge of 1966, and the Prince of Wales Bridge, a cable-stayed bridge of 1996 more than five kilometres long. Since 2018 the crossing has been free, bringing Newport even closer to Bristol.

A day in Newport

A possible itinerary: the morning at Caerleon, for the amphitheatre, barracks, baths and Roman museum. After lunch return to the centre for the cathedral, the Victorian market and a walk along the Usk to the transporter bridge. The afternoon can end at Tredegar House or the Fourteen Locks, or among the reed beds of the Newport Wetlands at sunset.

Sport and famous people

Newport is a rugby city: the Dragons, the regional team, play at Rodney Parade, and Newport RFC is one of the oldest clubs in Wales, famous for beating the mighty New Zealand All Blacks in 1963. The nearby Celtic Manor resort hosted golf's Ryder Cup in 2010 and in 2014 the NATO summit with the Alliance's heads of state and government. The poet W. H. Davies, author of The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp, which tells of his life as a tramp in the United States, was born in Newport.

Around Newport

• Cardiff, the capital of Wales, a quarter of an hour by train.
• Chepstow, with one of the oldest stone castles in Britain, and Tintern Abbey, in the Wye valley, painted by Turner and celebrated by Wordsworth.
• Blaenavon, an industrial town and UNESCO World Heritage Site, with the Big Pit coal mine, where you go underground with former miners.
• The Brecon Beacons national park, now called Bannau Brycheiniog, less than an hour away.
• Bristol, half an hour away across the Bristol Channel.

Living in Newport

Newport has a growing economy, with semiconductor and technology companies, services, logistics and a campus of the University of South Wales. Its closeness to Cardiff and Bristol and the abolition of tolls on the Severn bridges in 2018 have attracted many commuters and new residents. Homes cost less than in Bristol and Cardiff. The centre is changing after years of decline, but some neighbourhoods remain poor.

Getting there and getting around

• By train: from London Paddington about an hour and forty minutes; frequent services to Cardiff, Bristol, Swansea and the north of England.
• By air: Cardiff Airport is about forty minutes away by car, Bristol Airport about an hour.
• By car: the city lies on the M4 motorway.
• In the city: the centre is walkable; buses serve Caerleon, Tredegar House and the Wetlands.

For travel around the rest of the country see trains and transport, for the region our guide to Wales, and for other cities British cities.

Tips for your visit

• How long: one day for Caerleon and the centre; another for Chepstow, Tintern or Blaenavon.
• When to go: May to September; in summer Caerleon often hosts Roman re-enactments, with legionaries marching through the village.
• A tip: check the opening times of the transporter bridge and the medieval ship centre in advance, as they are not open every day.

Newport on the map

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