England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Newport St Woolos

The Parish

The parish of Newport lies in southwestern Monmouthshire forming a lengthy stretch of the county's coastline with the outer Bristol Channel. Newport is located roughly 12 miles northeast of Cardiff and some 24 miles southwest of Monmouth and sits at the mouth of the River Usk. Newport is a place which has grown remarkably in the 19th and 20th century, prior to that growth it was merely a large regional market town and port. Today it is the largest settlement in the county and a city from 1921 when St Woolos was created a cathedral. It was St Woolos who is credited with first founding Newport in the 6th century but it was the creation of its first (of two) castle in the 11th or early 12th century that set Newport on its path to becoming a market town and borough, the first granted by Edward II and the latter granted in c1120. Newport's second castle was built in the 14th century earning it the Welsh name of Casnewydd, it was built to protect Newport's crossing over the Usk. The original centre of Newport was, therefore, a single long street connecting the church with that crossing. For most of its existence Newport was the regional market town for much of lowland Monmouthshire with a small fishing fleet exploiting the Bristol Channel even in 1801 it was described as a "long, narrow and straggling town". Newport's spectacular growth came in the early 19th century and followed the arrival of the Monmouthshire Canal in 1799 connecting Newport with the iron and coal producing centres in The Valleys such as Pontypool, Blaina and Ebbw Vale. Major dock improvements in 1842 and 1858 expanded the volume of coal and iron exported both within the UK and overseas and sparked spectacular growth in Newport on both sides of the Usk engulfing the neighbouring parish of Christchurch in the process. Industries developed within the city were distinctly maritime in nature, anchor chains, sails and general ship-building trades along with more normal businesses such as breweries and tanneries. Further modern developments arrived with Brunel's Great Western Railway together with lines to Abergavenny and Abertillery whist modern developments have seen the modern M4 motorway skirt the northern edges of the ever growing city. Modern housing developments have spread Newport's urban area to cover 5 miles from Bassaleg through to Langstone whilst urban development is contiguous through Risca along the Afon Ebbw's valley. The population, once measured in under 10,000 was estimated in 1996 to be just short of 140,000 illustrating Newport's growth. The Usk drains the parish the short distance into the outer Bristol Channel. Newport is sited from sea level to over 100 metres in the suburb of Ridgeway whilst land rises inland to over 200 metres on the tops above Risca. Covering over 4,900 acres Newport parish was extensive, as already mentioned for much of its history the population lay below 10,000 rising only significantly at the very end of the transcript period. Like most of Wales Newport is not mentioned in Domesday Book which has scant coverage for this county.

The Church

St Woolos' cathedral sits between Stow Hill and Clifton Road in a lozenge shaped churchyard. Whilst the church was dedicated pre-Conquest in the Saxon period and by the 11th century had become the premier church in the Cantref of Gwynllwg. The 5-bay Norman Romanesque nave is the church's most notable feature and as Pevsner states the "finest Norman parochial structure in the county". The rounded piers complete with scallop capitals with square abaci are characteristic of the Romanesque style. From the exterior, however, the age of the nave is masked by the Perpendicular extensions which complete the medieval church. To the west stands an impressive 15th century tower whilst the nave, itself is encased within Perpendicular aisles from a similar period. Connecting tower to nave is the 13th century Early English Gothic St Mary's chapel. Eastwards the traditional chancel is replaced here by a choir also of Perpendicular style. The main access to the cathedral is from thew west where Stow Hill and Clifton Road meet, here the fortunate may find parking, otherwise a city car park is recommended or short term parking in Clifton Road. The entrance is through a broad lychgate which only gently climbs to the highly elevated site, from most roadsides the churchyard sits well above road height. Sadly for the photographer the mixture of a highly constrained site, even Pevsner bemoans that the cathedral is too big for its site, and one filled with foliage from many trees, the whole makes for a very tricky challenge for the photographer to obtain adequate imagery.