Greedy builders disregard bye-laws, an hour's heavy slogging, a gaudily attired woman, a fire on Commercial Street, a PC disappears for five hours whilst on duty, unruly children in Park Square and a poem about a grand fete on the Marshes.
A single 1850 edition of the Monmouthshire Merlin reveals a fast-paced, shifting Newport. Explore the human stories behind the high-status shops of Commercial Street, the grand vanished estates, the private academies of Stow Hill, and the stark realities of dockside crime.
Step back into late-Victorian Newport through original archival adverts to discover a world of "monster" cheeses, elaborate "Cosaque" crackers, and the grueling festive rush that defined the local Christmas period in the late 19th century.
The Picturedrome was an ambitious cinema focused on entertainment and education in a safe and modern theatre. It ran between 1911 and 1914 and was located where Nationwide is today.
In June 1846, White's Roman Amphitheatre toured south Wales visiting Cardiff, Bridgend, Cowbridge and also Newport. The show took place at the New Cattle Market on June 18th, 1846 with one in the afternoon and one in the evening and featured horses, lions, tigers and leopards.
Step back to 1860 Newport as Dock Street Chapel’s fiery preacher takes aim at 291 beer houses, poverty, quackery, and the town’s moral decline.
The Newport Clothing Club of the 1840s was run by women, combining penny savings and philanthropy to keep working families warm.
The Old English Fair at Newport’s Albert Hall turned the hall into a Tudor-style street with stalls, music, and performances to raise funds for the Infirmary and Free Library. Opened by the Duke of Beaufort, it drew huge crowds, with costumed volunteers and lively attractions boosting local support.
Almost a year after the Newport Uprising took place on November 4th, 1839, two men from Bath held an open air meeting about the People's Charter in Baneswell. With outdoor meetings being restricted, the two men were apprehended shortly after and taken to court.
The Tabernacle Centenary Bazaar was a grand event which took place at the Drill Hall, Stow Hill in 1922 and featured a recreation of the Newport High Street in 1822 complete with the names of all the shops and offices.
In September 1842, an American animal trainer arrived in Newport as part of his Welsh tour. He displayed an elephant, Bengal tiger, lion and several leopards in a field off Caerleon Road near Clarence Place.
In 1842, Mr Cornwall's Royal Olympic Circus visited Newport and over the period of around a month entertained residents of Newport including the Morgan's at an arena in Clarence Place.
On Tuesday 24th November, 1896 a Benz motor car was exhibited at the Tredegar Show and it may have been the first car to appear in Newport.
For six decades Robert Powell toured the country with his fire eating show where he would eat hot coals as if they were bread, eat a soup of brimstone and lead and even broil beef over a hot coal on his tongue. In 1753 and 1766 he visited the King's Head in Newport.
Back in 1731, an advertisement for the Bull Inn, Caerleon mentions a bowling green being available, but where exactly was it?
Greedy builders disregard bye-laws, an hour's heavy slogging, a gaudily attired woman, a fire on Commercial Street, a PC disappears for five hours whilst on duty, unruly children in Park Square and a poem about a grand fete on the Marshes.
An omnibus incident near St Julian's Inn, assault with a cabbage, robbing a bread cart, pickpockets at High Street station, a gas explosion at the Queen's Hotel and Sanger's Mammoth Equestrian, Zoological, and Military Hippodrome visits the new Cattle Market.
The poor of Pillgwenlly, a highway robbery, a man falls off the high pavement on Stow Hill, Whitby Place, an English Slave Driver, crimes in 1838 and a gravedigger keeping graves open to fit more bodies in.
A Grand Evening Concert, The Storm King's Dream at the Theatre Royal, diseased meat, beer house offences, telling lies, robbing a sister, and Prince Arthur visits Caerleon.
The state of the footpath between Caerleon and Newport in 1848, police, or the lack of police, in Pill, the Newport Journal of Gems, a gaudy nymph, salubrious and desirable Maindee and the 'Friars Field Cannibal'.
A brawl on Commercial Street, stealing a pig's cheek, the Market Gate, Brynglas House for sale in 1842, the Friars house for sale in 1793, the disgraceful state of the streets and the dangerous docks.
