William
Coxe records in 1801 that:
The
pivots belonging to the hinges of the east gate, near the
bridge, are discernible in the walls.
The
West Gate is still commemorated by the Westgate Hotel building
on its site. The 15th century gate crossed the road between
High Street and Stow Hill (Commercial Street not existing
at that time) and was demolished in 1799. It was replaced
with a hotel, and this in turn was replaced by the present
building in 1884. The proprietor of the Westgate Hotel at
that time was Mr Samuel Dean. He recorded that:
In
excavating underneath the old (former) Westgate Hotel, preparing
the foundations of the present building, the workmen came
across an old spiral stairway, and at the bottom a stone
porch, forming the entrance into a subterraneous passage
or subway, was discovered, leading under the road (Stow
Hill).
In
a 1570 survey of rents in Newport owed to the Earl of Pembroke,
there is a reference to "Crooks Gate", which appears
to be the West Gate, and probably refers to a prison in
the gate. In 1801 William Coxe refers to the West Gate as
having been used as the town prison, and that it had lately
been taken down. He called it an ancient structure in the
gothic style, built of red grit stone, with a shield charged
with a chevron on each side. The shield was probably from
the coat of arms of the earls of Stafford, later dukes of
Buckingham, who were lords of Newport from 1347 until 1521.
The
Middle Gate could not be identified in Coxe's time, and
it has been suggested that it stood in the middle of the
High Street. However a logical position would have been
in Thomas Street. (4
on the conjectural view of Medieval Newport) This
street no longer exists but used to go from alongside the
old Post Office building in High Street, opposite the Kings
Head Hotel, towards the present Queensway and the Railway
Station. This street provided access from the north of the
town.
In
addition to these three gates there appear to have been
other gates. Newport Castle had both a north and south gate
in its curtain walls, and there are records of a Paynes
Gate, which gave access to Baneswell.
Of
course these gates may not have been defensive structures,
and James Matthews even refers to the old West Gate as a
Toll Booth. There is also the Public House called the Murenger
House, in High Street, which allegedly belonged to the Murenger
(an official responsible for town walls and for collecting
money for their maintenance). However the Murenger House
is Tudor in date, after the assumed walls were no longer
effective. It is believed to have been built as a town house
for Sir Charles Herbert, High Sheriff of Monmouthshire,
and in the 18th century was a public house called the 'Fleur
de Lys', not 'The Murenger'. It would appear that the name
was introduced at a much later date than the existence of
any walls. In any case in 1324 the then lord, Hugh Despenser,
obtained freedom for the burgesses of a number of towns,
including Newport, from payment of "murage" tax,
so presumably there would have been no need for a murenger.
However
there is at least some documentary evidence to Newport having
town walls. A 12th century charter by William, earl of Gloucester,
refers to granting the Priory of Goldcliff property "outside
the walls in Newport". In the Gwent Record Office is
a deed dated 1433 in which Humphrey, earl of Stafford, granted
John of Newport the right to erect and maintain a tenement
"situated on the walls of the town adjacent to Gervey's
Gowte". The origin of "Gervey" is probably
the personal name Gervais, but "Gowte" means gate,
often associated with sluice gates used in drainage.
This
is little to go on, but there are many references to the
Great Bailey and the Small Bailey of the town. The term
'bailey' usually refers to the external wall surrounding
the outer court of a castle, or to the spaces between the
circuits or walls of a castle. Yet in the case of Newport
these baileys contain a number of properties, which in the
1570 survey were all paying rents to the Lord.
During
the Middle Ages the town of Newport was divided by the Town
Pill and it is clear from this survey that the Great Bailey
was in the area between High Street and the River Usk, around
Market Street, Griffin Street and part of Kingsway. The
Small Bailey was to the south of the Town Pill and included
the area around Skinner Street and what is now the Riverfront
Theatre (where the Newport Ship was found). This would suggest
that the town was once defended, but whether by a wall or
just a ditch is not known.
Further
clues come from looking at early property boundaries, and
in particular at a 'Trigonometrical Survey of Newport' published
in the early 1850's. Newport Castle once had a curtain wall
behind the surviving frontage. This was noted by William
Coxe and a small part of the north curtain wall was standing
until 1970 when it was removed during road widening.
However
in 1885 the antiquarian Octavius Morgan produced a plan
of the castle. The ward within the curtain wall was sub-rectangular.
The south curtain wall was at a right angle to the main
castle range alongside the river, but the north curtain
wall was at an odd angle, slanting slightly to the south.
There
appears to be no obvious reason for this, but by looking
at the Trigonometrical Survey it is possible to line up
the north curtain wall of the castle with old property boundaries,
now mostly gone. These property boundaries cross Thomas
Street, where the street is shown as widening out and where
there is a likely position for a Middle Gate. (see
plan) With a few gaps the property boundaries
continue west, then curve around the back of High Street
and continue to the vicinity of the West Gate. Across the
other side of the West Gate property boundaries to the south
of Skinner Street continue in a curve until the older boundaries
are obliterated by the construction of the old Monmouthshire
Canal. However by looking at 18th century maps of Newport
it is possible to reconstruct a boundary continuing to the
river, where an old pill or inlet once existed containing
the Newport Medieval Ship.
There
is much more that could be said for or against there being
a town wall around Newport. One serious problem is that
it would appear that no physical evidence of a strong stone
defensive wall has ever been discovered. I would counter
that with the fact that when I was Curator of Newport Museum
there were only a handful of medieval objects known from
the whole of Newport - at least until the ship was discovered.
Most of these consisted of two shoe boxes of late medieval
or Tudor pottery from Newport Castle, some 14th century
pottery from the National Provincial Bank (now NatWest)
opposite the Westgate Hotel, and some Tudor or later pottery
from the Murrenger House. In addition there were two Medieval
tiles from St Woolos (outside the town) and part of a 15th
century stone cross found in the river. With the 19th and
20th century rapid expansion of Newport little was saved,
and most of the Medieval town was obliterated without record.
However
the present stone castle is known to have been built in
the 14th and 15th centuries - so a town wall, if it existed,
would have been there already. What if the castle north
curtain wall was originally part of the town wall, and then
incorporated into the new castle? It would certainly explain
the odd angle! Another possible clue is that in 1447-1448
the north curtain wall of the castle was raised by 3 feet
(or according to one account by 6 feet). It is interesting
to speculate whether this was the old town wall being improved
in order to match the rest of the curtain wall of the castle.
The west and south wall would have been newer and purpose
built.
It
is likely that the early defences of the town would have
consisted of a timber palisade and a ditch, protected by
a timber castle and there is still no definitive proof that
a stone town wall did exist or when it was built. Without
proper archaeological work in Newport we may never know.
©
Bob Trett 2007
