Bassaleg () is a village on the west side of Newport,

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. It is in the Graig

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...

and

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

. Bassaleg is located northwest of Newport city centre. It is bounded by the

A467 road List of A roads in zone 4 in Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the ...

(A4072) to the east, the railway spur to

Lower Machen Lower Machen () is a small hamlet of 19 houses on the A468 road at the very western edge of the city of Newport, South Wales. Machen itself lies further west in the county borough of Caerphilly, although both lie within the historic boundaries ...

(the former

Brecon and Merthyr Tydfil Junction Railway The Brecon and Merthyr Tydfil Junction Railway (B&MR) was a railway company in Wales. It was originally intended to link the towns in its name. Finding its access to Merthyr difficult at first, it acquired the Rumney Railway, an old plateway, an ...

) to the north, the

St Mellons St Mellons () is a district and suburb of eastern Cardiff, the capital city of Wales. Prior to 1996 St Mellons was the name given to the community largely north of Newport Road (B4487) which included the old St Mellons village. After 1996 the o ...

Road (B4288) to the south and

Rhiwderin Rhiwderin () is a small village in the west of the city of Newport, South Wales. It lies in the community parish and electoral district (ward) of Graig. The original village lies across a level crossing alongside the Ebbw Valley Railway and ...

to the east. The

Ebbw River The Ebbw River (; ) is a river in South Wales which gives its name to the town of Ebbw Vale. The Ebbw River is joined by the Ebbw Fach River ( Welsh: Afon Ebwy Fach; meaning 'little Ebbw river') at Aberbeeg. The Ebbw Fach is itself fed by a left ...

runs through the area. The

A468 road The A468 is a principal road from Newport to Nantgarw. The current route begins at the A467 in Bassaleg then passes through Rhiwderin, Machen, Trethomas, Bedwas and Caerphilly, terminating on the A470. History Originally the A468 began at ...

passes through towards

Caerphilly Caerphilly (, ; , ) is a town and community (Wales), community in Wales. It is situated at the southern end of the Rhymney Valley and separated from the Cardiff suburbs of Lisvane and Rhiwbina by Caerphilly Mountain. It is north of Cardiff an ...

and junction 28 of the

M4 motorway The M4, originally the London-South Wales Motorway, is the third longest motorway in the United Kingdom, running from west London to southwest Wales. The English section to the Severn Bridge was constructed between 1961 and 1971; the Welsh ele ...

is less than a mile to the south.

St Basil's Church

The parish church of St Basil's is a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. It has been suggested that the site of the church was originally dedicated to Saint Gwladys. Historians have suggested that Bassaleg is the only British place whose name derives from the word ''

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica (Greek Basiliké) was a large public building with multiple functions that was typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek Eas ...

'', a term used in

early Christianity Early Christianity, otherwise called the Early Church or Paleo-Christianity, describes the History of Christianity, historical era of the Christianity, Christian religion up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Spread of Christianity, Christian ...

for a church containing the body of a saint. Until the mid-19th century, a grave chapel for St. Gwladys survived close to the church.

Miranda Aldhouse-Green Miranda Jane Aldhouse-Green, (''née'' Aldhouse; born 24 July 1947) is a British archaeologist and academic, known for her research on the Iron Age and the Celts. She was Professor of Archaeology at Cardiff University from 2006 to 2013. Until ab ...

and Ray Howell (eds.), ''Gwent In Prehistory and Early History: The Gwent County History Vol.1'', 2004, The church is part of the Rectorial Benefice of Bassaleg.

Communications

Bassaleg Junction Station 1769026 46feab79

Bassaleg lies near the junction of the Brecon and Merthyr Railway and

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, ...

and used to have two stations (Bassaleg and

Bassaleg Junction Bassaleg () is a village on the west side of Newport, Wales. It is in the Graig electoral ward and community. Bassaleg is located northwest of Newport city centre. It is bounded by the A467 road (A4072) to the east, the railway spur to Lower ...

). Both were victims of the

Beeching Axe The Beeching cuts, also colloquially referred to as the Beeching Axe, were a major series of route closures and service changes made as part of the restructuring of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain in the 1960s. They are named ...

in the 1960s. Pye Corner station, built close to the site of Bassaleg Junction station on the former GWR line, opened on 14 December 2014. Served by the existing

Ebbw Valley Railway The Ebbw Valley Railway () is a branch line of the South Wales Main Line in South Wales. Transport for Wales Rail provides an hourly passenger service each way between Ebbw Vale Town railway station, Ebbw Vale Town and Cardiff Central railway s ...

service between Cardiff Central and Ebbw Vale Town, the station is operated by

Transport for Wales Transport for Wales (TfW; ; ) is a not-for-profit company owned by the Welsh Government and managed at arms length by its appointed board. TfW oversees the Transport for Wales Group (TfW Group) consisting of itself and its subsidiaries: Trans ...

. Trains run hourly Monday-Saturday and 2-hourly on Sundays. The journey time to Cardiff Central is 19–22 minutes, and is around 38 minutes to Ebbw Vale Town.

Bassaleg Viaduct

Bassaleg Viaduct is Wales's oldest operational railway bridge or viaduct and was built over the

for the

Rumney Railway The Rumney Railway in Wales was a plateway built to connect the ironworks at Rhymney to the Monmouthshire Canal Company's tramroad near Newport, providing a connection the wharves at the Newport Docks. The line was opened in 1826. It was l ...

in 1826. It is also the second oldest world-wide, after the

Skerne Bridge The Skerne Bridge is a railway bridge over the River Skerne in Darlington, County Durham. Built in 1825 for the Stockton and Darlington Railway, it carried the first train on the opening day, . It is still in use, being the oldest railway bridge ...

, in

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

, County Durham, which opened in 1825. It is

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

Schools

Bassaleg School Bassaleg School () is a comprehensive secondary school for pupils aged 11 to 18 years, situated in the suburb of Bassaleg on the western side of the city of Newport, South Wales, United Kingdom. The present buildings of the school range in age ...

is a notable local educational institution, known for its sporting and academic prowess. Former students include: *

Ryan Jones Ryan Paul Jones (born 13 March 1981) is a Wales former international rugby union player who played at number eight, blindside flanker or second row. He was involved in three Grand Slam wins, in 2005, as captain in 2008, and 2012. He is one ...

and

Aaron Wainwright Aaron James Wainwright (born 25 September 1997) is a Welsh professional rugby union player who plays as a Number 8 (rugby union), number eight for United Rugby Championship club Dragons RFC, Dragons and the Wales national rugby union team, Wales ...

, current Wales and Lions rugby players *

Alix Popham Alix Jon Popham (born 17 October 1979) is a Welsh former rugby union player who played as a number eight or flanker. Born in Newport, he began his career with Newport RFC in 1998, before moving to Leeds Tykes in 2002. He spent three years in E ...

, former Wales and Lions rugby player *

Stuart Barnes Stuart Barnes (born 22 November 1962 in Grays, Essex) is a former English rugby union footballer, and now rugby commentator for Sky Sports. Barnes played fly-half for Newport RFC, Bristol, Bath; and represented England at international level. ...

, former England and Lions rugby player and current

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...

rugby commentator * Stephen Jones, current rugby correspondent for ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'' * John Davies, former

Archbishop of Wales The post of Archbishop of Wales () was created in 1920 when the Church in Wales was separated from the Church of England and disestablished. The four historic Welsh dioceses had previously formed part of the Province of Canterbury, and so came ...

History

Bassaleg's earliest known inhabitant is Saint Gwladys, a

hermit A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Chr ...

and wife of St.

Gwynllyw Gwynllyw Filwr or Gwynllyw Farfog (), known in English in a corrupted form as Woolos the Warrior or Woolos the Bearded (; 450 – 500 CE) was a Welsh king and religious figure. He was King of Gwynllŵg in South Wales and is the legendary found ...

or Woolos, who founded her own hermitage at Pencarnu, supposedly at a site at Pont Ebbw. While there she bathed in the

and the Lady's Well at

Tredegar Tredegar (; ) is a town and community situated on the banks of the Sirhowy River in the county borough of Blaenau Gwent, in the southeast of Wales. Within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire, it became an early centre of the Industrial R ...

may have been dedicated to her. It has been suggested that site of St. Basil's church was originally dedicated to her. In the 14th century (fl. c. 1320 - 1360/1380), a Welsh lord, Ifor Hael (real name, Ifor ap Llywelyn) lived in Gwernyclepa manor near Bassaleg. He was a well known promoter of

poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

, and he was a friend to the famous Welsh bard,

Dafydd ap Gwilym Dafydd ap Gwilym ( 1315/1320 – 1350/1370) is regarded as one of the leading Welsh poets and among the great poets of Europe in the Middle Ages. Dafydd’s poetry also offers a unique window into the transcultural movement of cultural pract ...

. There have been many poems written about him, and for the sadness of the state of his manor now. One such is an

englyn (; plural ) is a traditional Welsh short poem form. It uses quantitative metres, involving the counting of syllables, and rigid patterns of rhyme and half rhyme. Each line contains a repeating pattern of consonants and accent known as . Ear ...

, written by 18th-century poet Evan Evans (Ieuan Fardd): :: Llys Ifor hael, gwael yw'r gwedd, - yn garnau :: mewn gwerni mae'n gorwedd; :: drain ac ysgall mall a'i medd, :: mieri lle bu mawredd. A direct translation from the englyn form is unavailable as due to the differences between the English and Welsh languages. :: The hall of Ivor the generous, poor it looks :: A cairn, it lies amongst alders :: Thorns and the blight of the thistle own it :: Briars, where once there was greatness The englyn is a part of a longer poem, which was traditionally sung. The most important local influences was the local estate of the Morgans, Lords Tredegar, at

Tredegar House Tredegar House (Welsh language, Welsh: ''Tŷ Tredegar'') is a 17th-century Charles II of England, Charles II-era mansion in Coedkernew, on the southwestern edge of Newport, Wales. For over five hundred years it was home to the Morgan family, late ...

many of whom are buried in the churchyard. During the

Newport Rising The Newport Rising was the last large-scale armed rising in Wales, by Chartism, Chartists whose demands included democracy and the right to vote with a secret ballot. On Monday 4 November 1839, approximately 4,000 Chartist sympathisers, under ...

of 1839 the Chartist marchers passed through this area heading into Newport.

Notes

External links

*
Photos of Bassaleg and surrounding area on geograph.org.uk
{{Authority control Districts of Newport, Wales Villages in Newport, Wales