A house of the Friars Eremites of St Augustine (Austin
Friars) was founded in Newport by Hugh, second earl of Stafford,
in 1377. Stafford died in 1386 at Rhodes, on a pilgrimage
to Jerusalem.
The Austin Friars claimed to have been originally founded
by St Augustine of Hippo in the fourth century and were
organised as an order in 1245. The friary at Newport appears
to have been the only Augustinian friary in Wales, and to
have been established on the site of a chapel dedicated
to St Nicholas. The first prior was Thomas Leche,
who probably came from a house of friars in Staffordshire.
When appointed he promised "to promote the welfare
of the Stafford souls, and to pay a pension of one mark
yearly to the vicar of the parish church (St Woolos) as
compensation for revenue lost through the establishment
of a friary". It was endowed with 31 burgages (land
holdings) and one "free place" (probably a chapel)
in Newport. It later received more burgages, bringing the
total to sixty, but the friary was always a small establishment
and was destroyed by Owain Glynd?r in 1402 but re-established
by the duke of Buckingham in the middle of the 15th century.
(i)
Very few records of the friary exist. In 1495 Jasper Tudor
bequeathed 20 shillings to the Austin Friars at Newport.
In about 1535 John Leland refers to "a house of religion
by the key beneath the bridge". The last prior, Richard
Batte, surrendered the friary to the agent of Henry VIII
on 8 September 1538, during the dissolution of the monastic
houses in England and Wales. A survey of 1567 refers to
the "spittelhouse" or hospital which stood in
the neighbourhood of Corn Lane. Other references to the
"spittelhouse" occur in 1570.
Considerable confusion has arisen between the House of
the Austin Friars (near the river) and "The Friars"
(SMR reference 00159g ST 3308 1872) of Stow Hill (at
the top of Belle Vue Park). In 1859 the local historian
Thomas Wakeman claimed that a Priory of Friars Preachers
or Black Friars granted to Sir Edward Carne in AD 1543 was
on the site of "The Friars". This is also shown
on Ordnance Survey maps as the site of a Friary and is recorded
on the Sites and Monuments records for Newport as the site
of a friary of the White (sic) Friars. This reference to
the White Friars comes from a mistake by William Coxe who
in 1801 wrote: "There was another religious house for
white friars, near the church of St Woolos, on the left
of the lower road leading to Tredegar. No vestige at present
exists, and a private house occupies the original site,
which in memorial of its ancient state, is still called
the Friars". (ii)
The original confusion seems to have been caused by another
mistake, in the first financial accounts for the Newport
Austin Friars after the suppression. These accounts refer
to "The House Late of the Black Friars of Newport"
instead of the Austin Friars. In 1538-1539 Morice Baker
was holding tenure for one house, with two rooms, one hall,
a kitchen and a garden, together with 6 acres of arable
land for a total rent of 13 shillings and 6 pence. (iii)
There appears to be no further evidence for a second friary
in Newport apart from the name "The Friars". It
is not known why the Tudor scribes made a mistake. Clearly
it was no longer a matter of concern after the Reformation
what the Friary site had been previously called. It may
be that the Augustinian Friars were confused with the Austin
Canons, also known as the Black Canons, who were another,
separate order.
In 1801 William Coxe also refers to the site of the Austin
Friars, near the banks of the Usk, below the bridge, and
refers to "several detached buildings containing comfortable
apartments, and a spacious hall, with gothic windows, neatly
finished in freestone". He remarked that "the
body of the church is dilapidated; but the northern transept
is a small elegant specimen of gothic architecture. It is
now occupied by a cider mill, and the press is placed in
a small recess which was once a chapel, separated from the
transept by a bold and lofty arch. The gardens are enclosed
within the original walls". (iv)
The friary stood in a field called Friars Field, which
is clearly marked on 18th century maps of Newport. The friary
itself stood in the area that is now Newport Bus Station.
Friars Field stretched down to the river and the northern
edge ended by an inlet where the Riverfront Theatre now
is and where the Newport Ship was discovered in 2002.
The friary building survived into the 19th century and
there is a fine engraving of it published in 1859 (see above).
A watercolour by Joshua Gosselin dated 28 July 1784, wrongly
accredited to the 'Blackfriars' shows two buildings, later
described on the Ordnance Survey maps as a Friary and a
Friars Refectory. (v) In 1860 the Newport Corporation purchased
the site and raised the building to the ground. The Monmouthshire
Building Society had their offices on the site and during
the redevelopment of John Frost Square in the 1960's removed
a Victorian stone plaque depicting the friary to their new
premises. A stone lintel from the friary building is in
the collections of Newport Museum.
(i) Thomas Wakeman The Monastery of Austin Friars at
Newport (1859) See
full transcript and print.
(ii) William Coxe An Historical Tour in Monmouthshire
(1801) page 57
(iii) 'The Houses of the Friars at Cardiff and Newport'
in South Wales and Monmouth Record Society Publication
No.4. (1957) page 56.
(iv) William Coxe (1801) page 56
(v) Julian Mitchell 'Joshua Gosselin in Monmouthshire' in
The Monmouthshire Antiquary Volume XIX (2003) page
105. Available as a reprint with colourplates.
©
Bob Trett 2007
