The Mansion House was the

official residence An official residence is the residence of a head of state, head of government, governor, religious leader, leaders of international organizations, or other senior figure. It may be the same place where they conduct their work-related functions. ...

of the Mayor of Newport, South Wales until 2009. It also offered hospitality and accommodation to official visitors to the city from overseas. It is located in Stow Park Circle, a short distance west of the centre of Newport. In 2010 plans were approved to convert the Mansion House for use as a

register office A register office or The General Register Office, much more commonly but erroneously registry office (except in official use), is a British government office where births, deaths, marriages, civil partnership, stillbirths and adoptions in England ...

and it duly opened in July 2011 after a major refurbishment.

History

The present grounds of the Mansion House were bought in four lots by John Liscombe, leather merchant and sadler of

Commercial Street, Newport Commercial Street is a 700-yard (660-metre) long main shopping street leading from the city centre of Newport, South Wales. History and description Commercial Street and Commercial Road were created in 1810 across open pasture land which had t ...

, between 1886 and 1889. He built the House in the early 1890s and used it as his personal residence until his death in November 1914. John Liscombe was Mayor of Newport in 1905 and his portrait can be seen at the bottom of the stairs in the hall. The portrait was given to the Mansion House by the original leather merchants and saddlers firm which still operates in Newport. After a period of ownership by Sir Garrod Thomas of

Clytha Park Clytha Park, Clytha, Monmouthshire, is a 19th-century Neoclassical country house, "the finest early nineteenth century Greek Revival house in the county." The wider estate encompasses Monmouthshire's "two outstanding examples of late eighteenth ...

, the house was bought by Newport Corporation in March 1939 for £3,250 for use as judges' lodgings. Until 1940 the Monmouthshire Assizes were held at Monmouth, some 25 miles from Newport via a slow winding road. The

quarter sessions The courts of quarter sessions or quarter sessions were local courts traditionally held at four set times each year in the Kingdom of England from 1388 (extending also to Wales following the Laws in Wales Act 1535). They were also established in ...

were held at the

Sessions House, Usk The Sessions House at Usk, Wales, is a Victorian courthouse by Thomas Henry Wyatt of 1877.''The Buildings of Wales: Gwent/Monmouthshire'', p. 593 It is a Grade II* listed building as of 4 January 1974. The court is of mauve sandstone with dre ...

some 11 miles from Newport. As most of the business for the assizes and quarter sessions was provided by the inhabitants of Newport, there were many complaints about the inconvenience to witnesses and to the legal profession of the courts being located at Monmouth and Usk. In 1936 Newport Corporation decided to build a new

Civic Centre A civic center or civic centre is a prominent land area within a community that is constructed to be its focal point or center. It usually contains one or more dominant public buildings, which may also include a government building. Recently, the ...

. At the time Newport had its own police force and was also responsible for providing

magistrates' court A magistrates' court is a lower court where, in several jurisdictions, all criminal proceedings start. Also some civil matters may be dealt with here, such as family proceedings. Courts * Magistrates' court (England and Wales) * Magistrate's Cou ...

s. It was therefore decided to add two courtrooms to the Clytha Park Road wing of the new building in order to enable the assizes and quarter sessions to be held in Newport. A condition of the consent of the

Lord Chancellor The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. Th ...

to this proposal was that Newport should provide judges' lodgings, and this was the reason for the purchase of the Mansion House. Arrangements were made at the time of the purchase of the Mansion House for it to be used by the mayor during the times in which it was not required by the judges. The Courts Act 1971 abolished assizes and quarter sessions and introduced the single national Crown Court. The government included a clause in schedule 3 of the Courts Act to the effect that local authorities would cease to be under obligation to provide judges' lodgings after January 1975. From 1975 until 2009, it was used exclusively by the council as the official residence of the mayor. It was refurbished in 2011 and re-opened as the city's

in July of that year.

Gallery

File:The Mansion House is Newport's new Register Office - geograph.org.uk - 2522595.jpg , Newport's new Register Office File:Mansion House, Stow Park Circle, Newport - geograph.org.uk - 717175.jpg , Stow Park Circle, Newport, Wales

References

External links

Newport City Council
{{City of Newport History of Newport, Wales Houses in Newport, Wales Mayors' mansions in the United Kingdom