Newport, welsh name Casnewydd-ar-Wysg, its proper name is Newcastle-on-Usk a former town that leapt into international prominence as the export centre for the hinterland coalfield of Monmouthshire and the vast iron and steel productivity the 19-centruy developed.
In 1801, Newport's population was just 1,135 and one hundred and thirty years later it had leapt to 89,198. Its chief significance was as a port, and in 1842 the docks with 6-miles of quays were initiated. When Newport's boundaries were widened, the Alexandra Docks, acquired by the Great Western Railway, could claim to have the largest water-sheet held in by locks anywhere in the world: South Docks 95-acres, North Dock 29. The transporter Bridge had then been nearly thirty years in service. In 1938, Newport's exports of the range of products its hinterland supplied amounted to 3,250,000 tones, of which coal totalled over 3,000,000. By 1956, exports had dropped to 1,333,000 tons of which coal represented just under 1,000,000 tons. Imports in the same period rose from 354,500 tons to 1,350,000.
The town still has evidence of its origin in the attempt of the Normans to extend their Conquest into the West. Robert FitzHamon, the invader of |Glamorgan, with his following of twelve knights and their troopers, founded the castle in 1171. It survived the Border Wars well enough to be remodelled in the 14th and 15th centuries when England was at war within - The War of the Roses. Its siting is a monument to the planned tactics that attempted to push frontier of Powys and Gwent from the Rivers Severn to Wye and then to the Usk over which it stands.
Newport is Wales' youngest city, awarded in 2002 to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee.
In 2010 The Celtic Manor Resort will host the Ryder Cup.