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Welsh History































The Two Cities - Newport, Welsh  Culture

The Newport Rising was the last large-scale armed rebellion against authority in Great Britain when, on 4 November 1839, somewhere between 1,000 and 5,000 Chartist sympathisers, led by John Frost, marched on the town of Newport, Monmouthshire. The men, including many coal-miners, most with home-made arms, were intent on liberating fellow Chartists who were reported to have been taken prisoner in the town's Westgate Hotel. About 22 demonstrators were killed when troops opened fire on them. The leaders of the rebellion were convicted of high treason, and were sentenced to transportation for life.

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Newport Ship

The Newport Medieval Ship was discovered in the banks of the River Usk in June 2002 during construction of the Riverfront Theatre.

The ship was excavated by a team of archaeologists and lifted from the ground timber by timber.

Initially supported by a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund and now mainstream funding from Newport City Council, a team of specialists are recording and conserving all 2000 ship timbers and the artefacts discovered during the excavation.

The work is uncovering new and exciting information about the ship allowing us to learn much more about the Newport ship, including its original size and shape, where it was built, the different parts of the world it sailed to, and what its cargo was.

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Transporter Bridge

The remarkable Newport Transporter Bridge is one of only six operational transporter bridges left world wide from a total of twenty constructed.

The bridge opened in 1906 and has dominated the Newport skyline ever since.

A transporter bridge is basically a suspended ferry that can operate more efficiently than a conventional ferry.

A high level boom that allows ships to pass underneath is suspended from towers at each end.

The boom carries a rail track on which a moving carriage or ‘traveller’ runs.

A gondola or platform is suspended from the carriage and can be pulled from one side of the river to the other by means of a hauling cable.

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