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. The City
of Newport, which includes rural areas as well as the built up
area, is governed by the unitary
Newport City Council, and has a
population of 140,200, making it the seventh most populous
unitary
authority in Wales. According to
Census 2001 data the population
of the core built-up area was 116,143, making it the third most
populous
city in
Wales.
History
- See also :Category:History of
Newport
Origins
Newport Castle
Bronze Age fishermen settled around the fertile
estuary of the River
Usk and later the Celtic Silures built hillforts
overlooking it. In AD 75, on the very edge of their empire,
the Roman legions built a Roman fort at Caerleon
to defend
the river crossing. According to legend, in the late 5th
century St. Woolos
Church was
founded by St.
Gwynllyw, the patron saint
of Newport and King of
Gwynllwg.
The church
was certainly in existence by the 9th century and today has become
St. Woolos
Cathedral
, the seat of
the Bishop of Monmouth.
The
Normans arrived from around 1088–1093 to
build Newport
Castle
and river crossing downstream and the first Norman
Lord of Newport was Robert
Fitzhamon.
The settlement of 'Newport' is first mentioned as
novo
burgus established by Robert, Earl of Gloucester in 1126. The
name was derived from the original
Latin name
Novus Burgus, meaning new borough or new town. The city
can sometimes be found labelled as
Newport-on-Usk on old
maps.
The
original Welsh language name for the city,
Casnewydd-ar-Wysg (pronounced ) means 'New castle-on-Usk'
(this is a shortened version of Castell Newydd ar Wysg)
and 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.
Around the settlement, the new town grew to become Newport,
obtaining its first charter in 1314 and was granted a second one,
by
Hugh,
Earl of Stafford in 1385. In the
14th century
friars came to Newport where
they built an isolation hospital for infectious diseases. After its
closure the hospital lived on in the place name "Spitty Fields" (a
corruption of
ysbytty, the Welsh for hospital). "Austin
Friars" also remains a street name in the city.
In 1402 Rhys Gethin, General for
Owain Glyndŵr, forcibly took Newport
Castle together with those at Cardiff, Llandaff, Abergavenny,
Caerphilly, Caerleon and Usk. During the raid the town of Newport
was badly burned and St. Woolos church destroyed.
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. By 1521 Newport was described as
having "....a good haven coming into it, well occupied with small
crays [merchant ships] where a very great ship may resort and have
good harbour."
Trade was thriving with the nearby ports of
Bristol
and Bridgwater
and industries included leather tanning, soap
making and starch making. The town's craftsmen included
bakers, butchers, brewers, carpenters and blacksmiths. A further
charter was granted by
James I in
1623.
In 1648
Oliver Cromwell's troops
camped overnight on Christchurch Hill overlooking the town before
their attack on the castle the next day.
A cannon-ball dug up
from a garden in nearby Summerhill Avenue, dating from this time,
now rests in Newport
Museum
.
Industrial Revolution
As the
Industrial Revolution took off
in 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.
Newport
was the focal point of a major Chartist
uprising in 1839, where 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: at
least 20 marchers were killed and were later buried in
St Woolos' Cathedral churchyard. John Frost was
sentenced to death for treason, but was this was later commuted to
transportion to Australia. He
returned to Britain (but not to Newport) later in his life. John
Frost Square, 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 became seen as "un-Welsh", a view
compounded by
ambiguity
about the status of Monmouthshire. In the 19th century, the St
George Society of Newport asserted that town was part of England,
and it was in Newport that the
Cymru Fydd
movement received its death blow in 1896, at a fractious meeting
where future
Prime Minister David Lloyd George was told that the
"Englishmen" of South Wales would never submit to "the domination
of Welsh ideas". In 1922 Lloyd George was to suffer a further blow
in Newport, when the
Conservative capture of the
recently-created Newport constituency in a by-election helped lead
to the end of his coalition government.
The late 19th and early 20th century period was a boom time for
Newport. The population was expanding rapidly and the town became a
county borough in 1891. The
dock system was completed in 1892: the
newly-built South Dock 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. Urban expansion took in Pillgwenlly
and Liswerry
to the south; this eventually necessitated a new
crossing of the river Usk, which was provided by the Transporter
Bridge
completed in 1906, described as "Newport's greatest
treasure".
On 2 July 1909, during construction of Newport's Alexandra Dock,
supporting timbers in an excavation trench collapsed, instantly
burying 46 workers. The rescuers included 12-year-old paper boy
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. 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
The King 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.
The Modern Era
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
30s.
St. Woolos Cathedral
The
post-war years saw renewed prosperity, with St. Woolos
Cathedral attaining full cathedral status in 1949, the
opening of the modern integrated steelworks at Llanwern
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 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 a 'hotspot' 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 bank of the Usk
during the construction of the Riverfront Arts Centre
. The ship has been dated to some time
between 1445 and 1469 and it remains the only vessel of its type
from this period yet discovered anywhere in the world.
Key dates in Newport's history
Governance
Newport Civic Centre
Newport has long been the largest town in the historic county of
Monmouthshire and became a
unitary
authority in 1996, although it was also a
county borough between 1891 and 1974. The
Local Government Act 1972
removed ambiguity about the legal status of the area by including
the administrative county of Monmouthshire and the county borough
of Newport into all acts pertaining to Wales, and in 1974 the
borough was incorporated into the new local government county of
Gwent. Gwent itself was abolished in
1996 but remains in use for ceremonial functions as a
preserved county.
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 due to population growth.
The city is traditionally industrialised with a large working-class
population and a strong support for the
Labour party, but the
Conservatives have a significant
minority especially in the more middle-class areas in the west.
There has been a sharp increase in the numbers of
Liberal Democrat voters in recent
elections. In the
2005 general election,
the Liberal Democrats pushed the Conservatives into third place in
Newport East with Labour still holding on to a sizeable majority
but in Newport West the Conservatives gained a sizeable swing on
Labour's lead, with a significantly reduced majority. Labour also
suffered in the
local elections in
2008, losing control of the council to a Conservative-Lib Dem
coalition.
| Position |
Current Representatives |
| Members of
Parliament |
Jessica Morden, Labour, elected 2005 Paul Flynn, Labour, elected 1987
|
| City Council
Members |
David Atwell, Conservative John Bird, Conservative
Bob Bright, Labour Michael Brunnock, Plaid Hugh Clark, Liberal
Democrats Paul Cockeram, Labour Andew Cooksey, Conservative
Margaret Cornelious, Conservative Ken Critchley, Labour Peter HC
Davies, Conservative Valerie Delahaye, Labour Valerie Dudley,
Conservative Jeff Evans, Liberal Democrats Matthew Evans,
Conservative Charles Ferris, Conservative Gill Ford, Liberal
Democrats John Fortey, Liberal Democrats David Fouweather,
Conservative Gail Giles, Labour John Guy, Labour Michael Hamilton,
Liberal Democrats David Hando, Liberal Democrats Ibrahim Hayat,
Labour Mozadul Hussain, Liberal Democrats Glyn Jarvis, Labour Roger
Jeavons, Labour Angela Jones, Conservative Ron Jones, Labour
Stephen Jones, Conservative Martyn Kellaway, Conservative Les
Knight, Conservative Simon Lane, Independent Bill Langsford, Labour
Malcolm Linton, Labour David Mayer, Labour Allan Morris, Labour Bob
Poole, Labour Ken Powell, Labour John Richards, Labour William
Routley, Conservative Thomas Suller, Conservative Herbie Thomas,
Labour Carmel Townsend, Liberal Democrats Ed Townsend, Liberal
Democrats Noel Trigg, Independent Ray Tuman, Labour Mark Whitcutt,
Labour Richard White, Conservative Debbie Wilcox, Labour David
Williams, Conservative
|
|
Coat of arms
Newport City Council'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: "(arms) 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."
Freedom of the City
The title of
Freedom of the City
is a ceremonial honour, given by the city council to those who have
served in some exceptional capacity, or upon any whom the City
wishes to bestow an honour. Recipients include (in chronological
order):
Geography
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 are also low-lying. The eastern outskirts of
the city are characterised by the gently rolling hills of the Vale
of Usk. 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, mainly near the main roads, giving the
suburban sprawl of the city an irregular shape. Several out-of-town
shopping centres have been built to cater for the needs of these
suburbs. 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.
The city boundaries include a number of villages in the rural areas
surrounding the built-up area.
Divisions and districts
- See also :Category:Districts of
Newport
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. The following table lists
city council wards, communities and associated geographical areas.
Communities with a
community
council are indicated with a '*':
| Ward |
Communities (Parishes) |
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 , Stelvio, St.
Davids |
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, Kemys, Coldra,
Llanbedr |
| Llanwern |
Bishton , Goldcliff *, Llanwern*, Redwick * |
Underwood,
Whitson , Uskmouth , Summerleaze, Wilcrick , Saltmarsh, Milton, Porton |
| Liswerry |
Liswerry, Nash * |
Broadmead Park, Moorland Park, Broadstreet Common |
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, Mount
Pleasant |
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 |
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 it 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, Atlantic storms give
significant rainfall in the autumn, these gradually becoming rarer
towards the end of winter. Autumn and summer have often been the
wettest seasons in recent times.
Snow falls
nearly every winter and usually settles on the ground several
times, but it is often light and usually melts immediately or after
a few days. Newport records few days with
gales
compared to most of Wales, again due to its sheltered location.
Frosts are common from November to
April.
On 20 March 1930, the overnight temperature fell to -16.1 °C (3 °F)
– the coldest temperature for the whole of the UK during that year,
and the latest date in spring the UK's lowest temperature has been
recorded.
Demography
| 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. In census
2001, 93 per cent of residents described themselves as White
British and 2 per cent as Asian, with Pakistanis the largest single
non-white group.
Religion
In 1850 Newport was recognised as the chief centre of
Roman Catholicism in Wales when the town
became the seat of the bishop of Newport and
Menevia; however Newport
lost its bishop with the creation of the
Archdiocese of Cardiff
in 1916.
In 2001, 71.9% of Newport residents considered themselves
Christian, 2.6%
Muslim, 1%
other religions (mainly
Hindu and
Buddhist), 16.8% were non-religious and 8.1% chose
not to answer the non-compulsory religion question on the
2001 census. The city is home to
16 per cent of the Welsh Muslim population.
Newport has more than 50 churches (including Welsh, Chinese and
Urdu speaking services), 7 mosques, and one
synagogue; the nearest
Gurudwara is in Cardiff.
Economy
Newport's
Travel to Work Area incorporates
much of south Monmouthshire; the new 2001-based area also includes
Cwmbran
. The city itself 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 is the
biggest employer in the city.
Organisations based in the city 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; the headquarters of the
UK
Office for National Statistics; the headquarters of
the
United Kingdom
Intellectual Property Office (formerly known as 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.
In 1997, Newport secured what was then thought to be Europe's
largest-ever inward investment when the
LG
Group announced a £1.7 billion project creating 6,100 jobs, and
supported by public sector grants. Facilities were built on the
Celtic Lakes business and science park, but market conditions led
to the semiconductor plant never opening, and the
CRT plant eventually closed in 2003. In
2005 Irish radiator manufacturer Quinn Group bought the former LG
Phillips building, which became its European base.
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. Permission has been
granted to transform the 600-acre former steelworks site into a
£1bn mixed-use development comprising housing, office and
industrial space, public open space and a range of community
facilities.
Newport Cattle Market, in the Pillgwenlly area of the city,
recently closed and has now been demolished to make way for a new
supermarket.
Regeneration
The city is undergoing a major regeneration programme led by
Newport Unlimited.
Infrastructure
The first stage of regeneration involves improving the city centre
road network, including turning Kingsway and Queensway into
boulevards.A new foot and cycle bridge
called the
Newport City
footbridge opened in 2006, linking the east and west banks of
the river together. Further downstream, the
Southern Distributor Road to the
south of the city opened in 2004, including a
new road bridge over the Usk, improving access
and opening up new areas for development.
In the longer term, a new M4 bypass skirting
the southern edge of the urban area of Newport is to be built,
reducing the congestion on the existing motorway and making Newport
and the surrounding areas more accessible (although this has
prompted oppostion from Nash and
neighbouring villages).
There are 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, although
plans for a barrage across the
River Severn would reduce the need for an Usk
barrage.
The bus and railway stations are being extensively redeveloped.
£200
million development of the bus station is underway, whilst Platform
4 of Newport
railway station
was opened in July 2007. The railway
station's connection with the
Ebbw
Valley Line is due to be completed by 2009.
There are plans to
reopen many suburban stations in the near future - as part of phase
one of the Ebbw Valley reopening, Rogerstone
was re-opened in February 2008.
Phase two
will see Pye Corner
re-opened, and four others are planned in the
city's Unitary Development
Plan.
A state-of-the-art hospital is planned to be built.
Many local residents
have suggested that the new District General Hospital be built at
the Whiteheads
site now the old Corus facility has closed, but no
final site has been approved. A new £11 million five-star
Ramada Plaza hotel will be built at Celtic
Springs Business Park in the west of the city.
Commercial and residential
As part of the Newport Unlimited master plan, 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 is designed to show a strong
urban form along the river front, emphasised with tall landmark
buildings The first phase will be known as City Vizion. Also on the
east bank, next to Newport Bridge, permission has been granted to
turn the
Grade II-listed former
Newport Technical College into luxury apartments.
A new £210 million city centre shopping complex known as
Friars Walk including a
Debenhams department
store and multiplex
cinema, will
be created in time for the 2010
Ryder Cup
in Newport. This new complex will form the heart of the regenerated
city centre and has been designed so that the Newport City
footbridge leads right into the southern entrance. The development
will also include 281 apartments in a 20-storey tower.
This complex will
complement the adjacent Kingsway Shopping Centre
, which is undergoing its own £20 million
refurbishment and expansion, due to be completed by the end of
2007.
The
Cambrian Centre on Queensway
Boulevard, near Newport railway station, will be redeveloped to
include a 30-storey, 101 metre (332 ft)-tall block of 238
apartments and four-star hotel, and a 10-storey office block. The
shopping experience of Cambrian Road and Queensway Boulevard will
be improved with retail uses on the first two floors. The extension
of Railway Street through the complex to rejoin with Cambrian Road
will improve the permeability of the area - that is, the ease of
pedestrian access - for shoppers. The new buildings will be known
as City Spires.
The Old Town Dock area is one of the main areas for residential
development in the masterplan. At the extreme northern end of this
area, a £50 million riverside University campus will be constructed
adjacent to the new footbridge.
One of the old University campuses in
Allt-yr-yn, will be transformed into high quality
housing.Just to the south of the new campus a 441-bed
student block is already under construction as of September 2007
and is due to be finished in September 2008.Adjacent to this site
is "The Edge", a development of 227 apartments, including a
21-storey tower containing duplex apartments and
penthouse.Further south is the "Newhaus"
development of 154 riverside apartments.At the southern end of the
site, the "Alexandra Gate" development will eventually see 300
homes and riverside apartments built adjacent to the City Bridge. A
124-bed Ramada Encore hotel is also planned for the intersection of
the Southern Distributor Road and Usk Way.
Further east, 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.
The two main projects Friars Walk and City Spires have now been
delayed due to Modus failing to secure funding for the projects.
The chances of these projects being finished in time for the Ryder
Cup in 2010 are now highly unlikely.
Leisure
The
Riverfront
Arts Centre was the first structure to be built as part of
Newport's regeneration by Newport
City Council. It stands on Kingsway Boulevard on the west
bank of the Usk
adjacent
to the Friars Walk development site.On the east bank, a
new stadium and sports and
entertainment complex having a capacity of 15,000 will be built on
Rodney
Parade
. It will be home to the
Newport RFC and
Newport Gwent Dragons rugby teams. The
stadium can also be used for other purposes, such as music concerts
and is planned to be complete in 2010.
A marina is planned to be built at
Crindau, just off
Heidenheim Drive.
The Marina would be
the southern terminus of the Monmouthshire canal
and would provide opportunities for new housing,
shops and leisure facilities.
To the
south-east of the city lies the extensive Newport
Wetlands Reserve
, opened in March 2000 as a mitigation for the loss
of mudflats caused by the building of the Cardiff Bay
Barrage
.
Transport
- See also :Category:Transport in
Newport
The
M4 motorway comes within a mile
(1.6 km) of the city centre, and Newport can be accessed from
six junctions (from 24-28 inclusive).
The Great Western main railway line also
passes through the heart of the city, stopping at Newport
railway station. Newport is well linked with the capital,
Cardiff, with
approximately six rail and five bus services between the cities
every hour.
Road
The principal east—west roads are the M4 motorway and
A48. The A48 serves as an alternative to the M4 for
travelling east–west.
It is also the primary road for travelling
to Monmouthshire and Gloucestershire
.
The principal north—south roads are the
A467 and
A4042 and
A449 trunk
roads. The A467 and A4042 connect the surrounding valleys to
the city and motorway network, and the A449 connects Newport to the
English Midlands. All are high-speed
dual carriageways.
Bus
Bus services are primarily provided by the council-owned
Newport Transport under the
Newport
Bus brand. Other operators include
Stagecoach in South Wales, Francis
Drake Travel,
Veolia Transport
Cymru and
Cardiff Bus.
Newport bus
station
is to be redeveloped as part of the Friars Walk
shopping complex. National
Express operate cross-country coach services from the city.
Rail
Newport
railway station is connected directly to the South Wales Main Line branch of the
Great Western Main Line,
Welsh Marches Line and Gloucester to Newport
Line. The connection of Newport station to the
Ebbw Valley Line is due to be reopened in
2011.
The services calling at Newport station are:
The station is currently undergoing a £22 million refurbishment
programme, due to be completed in time for the Ryder cup in Autumn
2010. The project will introduce a futuristic new passenger
terminal and bridge, whilst restoring the 19th century features of
the site.
The new complex, west of the existing station nearer Bridge Street
will include two terminals, new terminal buildings and a public
footbridge, a new passenger footbridge, a new taxi area and short
stay car park, and a 250-space passenger car park.
Air
The
nearest airport is Cardiff Airport
, 30 miles (48 km) south west of
Newport.
In 2003,
a proposal for a new Severnside airport near Newport was rejected
by the Department for Transport
. The airport would have featured runways on
a man-made island in the
Severn
Estuary.
Education
- See also :Category:Education in
Newport
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.
Newport School of Art,
Media and Design was one of the first Art Schools to be awarded
degree status in 1963 and enjoyed a high reputation in
painting,
Fine Art and
sculpture throughout the 1960s and 1970s. It is
still highly regarded however, especially in
Documentary Photography.
Plans have been granted for the first phase of a new £60 m 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,
Media 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.
Newport now has two Welsh medium primary schools Ysgol Gymraeg
Casnewydd in Hartridge and Ysgol Gymraeg Ifor Hael. (Named after
Ifor ap Llewelyn, second son of Llewelyn ap Ifor and Angharad of
Tredegar)in Betws. Newport Council have conducted recent
consultations on demand for Welsh medium education within the city
and a third primary school is expected in the near future, as well
as plans for a Secondary school at some stage.
Culture and arts
- See also :Category:Culture in
Newport
Newport
Transporter Bridge is one of the few remaining working bridges of its
type in the world and featured in the film Tiger Bay. Visitors can travel on
the suspended cradle most days and can walk over the top of the
steel framework on bank holidays.
The only other British example is
Middlesbrough Transporter
Bridge
.
Newport
has a modern purpose-built theatre and arts venue, the Riverfront
Arts Centre and regular productions at the Dolman Theatre. The city has many
works of civic art, including the giant steel Wave on the banks of
the Usk, tiled murals at the Civic Centre
, Old Green Interchange and John Frost Square plus a
number of statues dotted around the city centre including one
commemorating the work of poet W. H.
Davies.
Newport
has two major museums: Newport Museum and the Roman Legionary Museum
at Caerleon. In July each year an Arts festival is held
in Caerleon and Roman Military re-enactment in the
amphitheatre, the largest restored amphitheatre in Britain.
The remains of the Roman baths and barracks can be seen at
Caerleon.
Set in a
beautiful 90 acre (360,000 m²) 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 girls' 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 also has one of the leading
male voice choirs in the region - City of
Newport Male Choir
[43151] - meeting twice weekly at the YMCA building.
Under the direction of Mr Frank Jones, the choir is gaining
popularity and has even discussed touring with the
Diversions the Dance
Company of Wales company.
The city is known for its night-life, containing many pubs
[43152], bars and nightclubs. The most famous of these
is probably
T.J.'s, an alternative music club
where
Kurt Cobain of
Nirvana 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
City Live Arena and Newport Leisure Centre
are popular concert venues.
Newport hosted the
National
Eisteddfod in 1897, 1988 and 2004.
Local media
Newport's local newspaper is the South Wales Argus, which is published in
the city and distributed throughout the historic county of Monmouthshire area. Local analogue radio broadcasting
licences cover the Cardiff/Newport area; the FM licence is held by
Cardiff Broadcasting Co. Ltd., broadcasting as
103.2 & 97.4 Red Dragon and
the AM licence is held by Capital Radio plc, broadcasting as
Capital Gold. The local
DAB ensembles are Cardiff and Newport (11C) and
South Wales and Severn Estuary (12C).
Parks and playing fields
- See also :Category:Parks in
Newport
The main
municipal parks in Newport are Tredegar
Park, Belle Vue
Park
and Beechwood Park
. The major municipal playing fields are
located at Tredegar Park, Coronation Park, Glebelands, Pillgwenlly sports ground, Kimberley Park, Shaftesbury Park and
Caerleon Broadway.
Twinning
Newport has four international
twinning links:
Sport
- See also :Category:Sport in
Newport
The city
is home to the Celtic Manor Resort
, a 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 and was the venue for the
All*Star
Cup celebrity golf tournament.
The exploits of
Newport RFC were once
world-renowned. 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. Since the regionalisation of
Welsh club rugby in 2003, Newport RFC play in the
Welsh Premier Division and operate as
a
feeder club to
Newport Gwent Dragons who play in the
Celtic League.
Eight
other rugby union teams playing in the Welsh League are based in
Newport; Newport Saracens,
Pill
Harriers
, Newport High
School Old Boys, Bettws, Caerleon,
Hartridge, St Julians High School Old Boys and
Whiteheads.
Newport's rugby
league club are called the Newport
Titans and play in the Welsh
Conference Premier.Newport's Rodney Parade will be home to the Crusaders Rugby League(formerly
Celtic Crusaders) in 2010.
Newport's best known
association
football club is
Newport
County, who were formed in 1912 and joined the
Football League in 1920. Although currently
playing in the
Football
Conference, Newport County have played in the second tier of
English football and spent 68 consecutive years in the Football
League, reached the last 16 of the
FA Cup and
the quarter finals of the
European
Cup Winners' Cup. They were relegated from the
Football League in 1988 and went
bankrupt the following year, only to be reformed at
a lower level.
Newport is also home to four teams that play in the
Welsh Football League:
Caerleon,
Newport YMCA,
Llanwern and
Newport Civil Service. The city
has its own league, the
Newport and District
Football League which is part of the
Welsh football league system.
Lovell's Athletic were a
fairly well-known team in the mid-20th century – due to the
suspension of League football during the Second World War they were
the premier team in the city, as Newport County did not field a
side. During this period they managed to reach the 3rd round of the
FA Cup in the
1945-46
season.
The city
has a speedway track, Hayley
Stadium
, home to the Newport
Wasps speedway team. The venue is located in Queensway
Meadows industrial estate and provides a model for new-build
stadia.
From 1964 to 1977 speedway was staged at
Somerton
Park
. The Newport
International Sports Village
at Liswerry includes the Wales
National Velodrome
, of the few indoor velodromes in Britain, a tennis Centre, swimming
pool and facilities for cricket, squash and badminton.
Newport
Leisure Centre is in the city centre and includes a swimming pool
and squash courts.
Newport
is one of three main cities where British Baseball is still played - the
others are Cardiff and Liverpool
- and the city hosts a Wales-England
international match every four years at Coronation
Park.
Newport has a thriving
Squash Club with four courts situated in the
grounds of
Newport RFC.
Newport's boxing club, St. Joseph's Amateur Boxing Club, is
situated on George Street and is the home club of
Yemeni born
Commonwealth bronze medallist Mo
Nasir.
The city is currently home to a number of annual sporting events,
including:
Notable people
See also
References
External links
destroyed.
.
- Reading
- Bristol Parkway
- Newport - Cardiff Central (- Bridgend
- Port
Talbot
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- Swansea
)
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since 1980
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