Bassaleg

including Duffryn, Graig, High Cross & Rogerstone

(A description written in 1891)

A Parish on the Ebbw Vawr river, 162 miles from London, 2.3/4 west from Newport, in the Southern division of the county, Hundred of Wentloog; Petty Sessional division, Union and County Court district of Newport; Newport rural deanery, Monmouth archdeaconry and Llandaff diocese.

The Monmouthshire Canal runs through the parish and the Great Western and Brecon & Merthyr railways form a junction here. There are four railway stations in the parish: two at Bassaleg, Rhiwderin station and Tydee station.

The church of St Basil, situated on an eminence is a building of stone, in the Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave, south aisle, south porch, and an embattled western tower containing 6 bells: in 1879 the church was re-seated and restored at a cost of £900, and has 400 sittings. The register of Baptisms and Burials dates from the year 1768: Marriages, 1754. The living is a vicarage, yearly value from tithe rent-charge £334; gross income £250, with residence and 1.3/4 acres of glebe, in the gift of the Bishop of Llandaff, and held since 1878 by the Rev. John Jones B.D. of St David's College, Lampeter. Parish Clerk: Joseph Gilford

There are Baptist, Congregational and Wesleyan chapels at Bassaleg, Baptist and Wesleyan chapels at Tydee [Rogerstone] and a Congregational chapel at Rhiwderin.

The charities amounting to about £21.10s. yearly, are distributed in bread, money and kind.

On an eminence about a mile from the village, is a circular entrenchment, supposed to have been a Saxon camp, about a mile from which is another earthwork, called Pen-y-Park, Newydd.

Tredegar Park is the seat of the Right Hon. Lord Tredegar D.L., J.P. who is lord of the manor and principal landowner. The soil is clay and sand; subsoil, limestone and clay. The chief crops are wheat, oats and barley, and a little pasturage. The area is 6,955 acres; rateable value, £26,615.

Population in 1881: 2,514

 

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DUFFRYN

is a Hamlet 1 mile south; rateable value, £4,607;

Population in 1881: 263

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GRAIG

is a Hamlet, three-quarters of a mile west; rateable value, £4,588;

Population in 1881: 949

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ROGERSTONE

 

is a Hamlet, including the village of Tydee, 1.1/2 miles north-west, with a station on the Western Valleys section of the Great Western railway;

rateable value, £15,420;

Population 1881: 1,302

St John's church, is a Chapel of Ease to St Basil, Bassaleg, and is a building of blue stone with Bath stone dressings in the Early English style, erected in the year 1888, at the cost of £2.370: it consists of chancel, nave, south porch and a western turret containing one bell; there are 310 seats, all free.

Here are the remains of an ancient castle.

Post: M.O. & T.O. & S.B., Bassaleg: William Taylor, postmaster.

Post Office, Tydee: Mrs Ruth Stephens, receiver

Post Office, Rhiwderin: Mrs Elizabeth Williams, receiver. Bassaleg is the nearest money order & telegraph office. Postal orders are issued here but not paid.

County Constabulary:

William James Pettitt, constable in charge

Places of Worship:

St Basil Church: Rev. John Jones B.D.

St John's, Rogerstone

Baptist (Bethel), Bassaleg

Baptist, Cefn, Tydee: vacant

Wesleyan, Tydee: Rev. Benjamin Stanley, minister

Congregational, Bassaleg

Congregational, Rhiwderin: Rev. R. Mon Evans, minister

Wesleyan, Bassaleg: Rev. B Stanley

Schools:

Duffryn & Graig School Board, consisting of 5 members was formed in 1874.

Rogerstone & Henllyss School Board of 5 members was formed in 1874.

Bassaleg School, endowed by Rowland Morgan Esq, to the amount of £20, built in 1880, for 70 children, & enlarged at times to hold 250; average attendance, 170; Thomas William Gould, master

Board School, Tydee, built in 1877, for 300 children; enlarged in 1889, for 600 children; average attendance, 106 boys; 106 girls & 84 infants; Artemus Llewellyn, master; Miss Catherine Morgan, mistress; Miss Sarah Elizabeth Hanmer, infants' mistress

Board School, Rhiwderin, built in 1877, for 210 children; average attendance, 60 boys; 47 girls & 56 infants; Edmund Grainger, master; Miss Mary Hanmer, infants' mistress

Railway Stations:

Brecon & Merthyr: Frances Henry Shepherd, station master

Western Valleys: Edwin Dowdeswell, station master

Rhiwderin: John Rotheroe, station master

Tydee: Henry Mallett, station master

(extracts from Kelly's 1891 Directory of Monmouthshire, transcribed by J. Doe)

 

 

 

 

 

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