Whitson

(A description written in 1891)

A Parish on the shore of the Bristol Channel, 7 miles south-east-by-east from Newport and 2.1/2 miles south from Llanwern station, on the South Wales section of the Great Western railway; in the Southern division of the county, lower division of Caldicot Hundred; Petty Sessional division, Union and County Court district of Newport; western division of the rural deanery of Netherwent, archdeaconry of Monmouth and diocese of Llandaff.

A sea-wall has been erected on the coast.

The Church (name unknown) is an ancient building of stone, in the early English style, consisting of chancel, nave, south porch and a western tower containing a 2 bells; the nave has been restored and the chancel substantially rebuilt; there is a handsome Norman font; a stained glass memorial east window was erected in 1884 by the family of the late vicar, Rev. John Beynon; there are 100 sittings. The register of Baptisms dates from the year 1744; Marriages, 1729; Burials, 1728. The living is a vicarage, £134 yearly vicarial tithe rent-charge with 49 acres of glebe and residence, in the gift of Eton College and the Chapter of Llandaff alternately, and held since 1882 by the Rev. Edward Davies M.A. of Jesus College, Oxford, who is also vicar of Goldcliff.

A great quantity of land formerly waste, which extends through the parish, on both sides of the roads has been inclosed at the cost of the landowners, On the west, the parish is bounded by Monksditch Pill (Welsh 'pwll', a pool or inlet), formerly made by the monks of Goldcliff Priory, the bed of which is above the surface of the Level: through this pill the water that comes down from the hills above is conveyed to the sea to prevent it overflowing the Level.

Schools:

The children of this parish attend Whitson & Goldcliff school.

Post Office: John Keyte, receiver. Letters from Newport arrive at 9.20 a.m.; dispatched at 4.20 p.m. The nearest money order & telegraph office is at Maindee.

The principal landowners are the Provost & Fellows of Eton College, who are lords of the manor, St. John Knox Rickards Phillips Esq., J.P. and the Misses Rous and Mrs. Dowle

The soil is good loam; subsoil, clay. The land is nearly all pasture. The area is 1,073 acres; rateable value, £1,679; the population in 1881 was 93.

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