It was another short hop this month to our neighbouring city of Newport.  We began the day by introducing ourselves to the wealthy landowner Sir Charles Morgan who did a lot to shape industrial Newport but whose first love was actually farming.

Around the corner from that we saw the Westgate Hotel, scene of the violent Chartists Uprising of 1839   the nearby sculpture commemorating the event.

After that it was a stroll through the renovated Newport Market and down to the remains of Newport Castle and we tried to imagine it as it was depicted in one of Turner’s paintings with boats tied up outside.

As we headed down the riverbank we imagined the coal wharfs, canal and railway tracks that would have packed the area a mere century or so ago. The Usk has for a long time been important to maritime commerce as proved by the discovery of the Newport Medieval Ship. A visit to that and the Transporter Bridge will have to be at another time.  Today was looked at some sculptures and statues, large and small.

As well as seeing the sights we learnt about three people who came from Newport: Jonny Morris the animal impressionist and children’s TV presenter, Perce Blackborow who was a stowaway on one of Shackleton’s voyages to Antarctic and ended up having his toes amputated but took it all in good spirit and Margaret Haig Mackworth (Lady Rhondda) the suffragette campaigner who set fire to a local post box and Prime Minister Asquith by jumping on his car.

We concluded our excursion with a visit to the interesting Newport Museum and Art Gallery tucked away in the library building.

If you couldn’t make the trip fear not.  Here are our notes from the day.

Thanks to Gwyneth for the photos.