Newport Castle

The first castle at Newport — “Castell Newyd ar Uysc”, the new castle on the River Usk — was a Norman motte possibly raised by William Rufus around 1075. Its site is uncertain; the common theory places it at Stow Hill, close to St Woolos Church and about half a mile south-west of the later castle. James Matthews, writing in 1910, found the first mention of a castle at Newport in 1126. William, Earl of Gloucester established a garrison there in 1171, and the following year the castle was destroyed by Iorwerth. The Brut y Tywysogion records Henry II visiting Castell Newyd ar Uysc in about 1172, and the royal accounts for 1185 show six pounds fourteen shillings and sixpence spent on repairs to the castle of Novi Burgi, its buildings and its bridge.

Henry III restored the castle in 1249. It was held in 1265 by the Earl of Leicester, and in the same year occupied by Prince Edward, who as king ordered improvements and repairs in 1295. It was ceded to Hugh le Despenser, 1st Earl of Winchester, in 1320; two years later Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, attacked it, carried off its furnishings and set it alight. Three hundred trees were needed for the rebuilding.

The second castle — the one whose ruins remain — was built in the 14th century, possibly by Hugh de Audley, 1st Earl of Gloucester, after he took control of the Despenser lands in 1326, or, more probably, by his son-in-law and successor Ralph, Earl of Stafford. Jeremy Knight and other historians place the work between 1327 and 1386; an 1845 excavation of the site turned up a coin struck in the reign of Edward III.

It commanded an imposing position above the Usk, controlling the river crossing and the trade upstream, and Newport became the centre of the lordship of Wentlooge. The castle was river-oriented, with no special fortification on the roadside portion of its walled court: three tall towers stood along the bank, linked by straight walls, and a vaulted audience chamber sat above the watergate, “a fortified gate... for use of people and supplies arriving by boat”. Its first purpose was administrative, an adjunct to the lordship's main estate for collecting rent and dues from local tenants; it was rarely used as the lord's residence.

The castle was sacked in 1402 in the rebellion of Owain Glyndŵr, and first appears in the documentary record in 1405, when it was repaired. Around 1435 Humphrey Stafford, Lord of Newport, undertook further work, adding “a series of luxurious” apartments, those used by the lord lying in the south tower. Owen Tudor was held prisoner within the castle in 1460.

The castle was seized by Henry VIII in 1521 and held by the Crown until 1547, passing then to Edward VI. It was already reported to be in disrepair by 1522 and suffered from lack of upkeep from that date. William Herbert of St Julian took a lease in 1548, beginning a three-hundred-year tenure by the Herbert and Morgan families.

In 1645, during the Civil War, Colonel Henry Herbert established a garrison of fifty troops in the castle. It was taken by Oliver Cromwell's forces in 1648. By 1743 the castle was a ruin.

The scanty remains of the Norman castle were probably buried by spoil from a railway tunnel dug in 1846. Through the 19th century the buildings inside the ruin housed a tannery and then a brewery; the hall's traceried windows were destroyed in the same century, and the brewery burned down in 1883. The south tower came into the ownership of the Corporation in 1891 and the rest of the castle was bought by Lord Tredegar in 1899. The Office of Works was guardian from 1930 to 1950, when the stonework was refurbished.

The castle has been a Grade II* listed building since 26 July 1951 and is a scheduled monument. Railway building, the railway bridge and finally the inner ring road of 1970 destroyed most of the inner bailey and removed the moat; the courtyard is gone and only the east side of the castle survives. Cadw owns and operates the site. The ruins were permanently fenced off in 2003, the public footpath was closed in 2006, and the castle itself was closed on safety grounds in 2011.