Newport Docks

Newport Docks is the collective name for a group of docks in the city of Newport, south-east Wales.

By the eighteenth century there were a number of wharves on the west shore of the River Usk; iron and coal were the principal outward traffic. The considerable tidal range and muddy banks made the wharves inconvenient, and as trade grew, in 1858 the Town Dock was opened. It was soon extended, and trade increased further.

The Alexandra Dock was established and opened a large dock of the same name in 1875, followed by a second dock ("The South Dock") in 1893. The South Dock itself was greatly extended in 1907 and 1914, and Newport Docks were said to have the largest extent of water in any dock in the world.

The Town Dock has been filled in, but the Alexandra Dock system is still in use, although the vast mineral export traffic has long since ended.

The area at the head of the Newport Valleys, from Tredegar to Pontypool, was rich in minerals: coal and iron, and limestone. The development of iron smelting processes in the eighteenth century led to a massive upsurge in industrial output, and the products of the industry needed to be transported to market. The roads and other communication systems in the eighteenth century were poor, and the minerals were conveyed to a watercourse on the backs of pack animals, at considerable expense. The watercourse closest at hand for the purpose was the River Usk at Newport, and it was to that point that the journey was made. Onward transport by ship from there was relatively easy.

The difficulty and expense of the overland part of the journey resulted in the promotion of the Monmouthshire Canal Navigation. This was authorised by Act of Parliament in 1792 and it was opened in stages from 1796. It extent was from Pontnewynydd, north-west of Pontypool, to Newport, and from Crumlin to Newport. Both arms of the canal were eleven miles long. The canal did not connect into the Usk at Newport, at Crindau, north of the town, and to a basin near Llanarth Street (close to the present-day Charles Street). The Canal Company or the coalowners and ironmasters using it were authorised to make tramroads from any pit within seven or eight miles of the canal, to bring their output to the canalside.

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