Rogerstone (, meaning "Black house") is a large village 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 ...

(parish) in

Newport, Wales Newport ( ) is a city and Principal areas of Wales, county borough in Wales, situated on the River Usk close to its confluence with the Severn Estuary, northeast of Cardiff. The population grew considerably between the 2011 and the 2021 Unit ...

. The area is governed by Newport City Council. The village falls within the ancient parish of Bassaleg and historic county of

Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( ; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South East Wales, south east of Wales. It borders Powys to the north; the English counties of Herefordshire and Gloucestershire to the north and east; the Severn Estuary to the s ...

. The parish lies at the gateway to the Sirhowy valley, to the north of Newport on the eastern side of the Ebbw River. It is bounded by 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 ...

to the south, the Ebbw River to the west, the Henllys Vale to the east and the city boundary with

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 ...

county borough to the north. Rogerstone railway station is on the

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 ...

. It opened on 6 February 2008 and links Ebbw Vale to and via Rogerstone. Pye Corner railway station, to the south of the ward and on the same line, was opened on 14 December 2014.

History

The original settlement dates back to Norman times when Rogerstone Castle was built in the early part of the 12th century. The name is said to originate from Roger de Haia, the Norman Lord who was responsible for the building of the

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

, the remains of which are reduced to a low bush and tree covered

motte A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or Bailey (castle), bailey, surrounded by a protective Rampart (fortificati ...

adjoining the lower section of Tregwilym Road. The Welsh name for Rogerstone "Tŷ Du" translates to English as "Black House", though no one is entirely sure why it has this name. The larger parish of Rogerstone started as two distinct settlements of Tregwilym and Tydu, Tregwilym taking its name from the land owner, William de Berkerolle. These hamlets remained predominantly rural until the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...

. The population increased with the growth of the tin,

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

and

aluminium Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

industries which flourished near the

South Wales coalfield The South Wales Coalfield () extends across Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire, Swansea, Neath Port Talbot, Bridgend, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Merthyr Tydfil, Caerphilly, Blaenau Gwent and Torfaen. It is rich in coal deposits, especially in the South Wales ...

. At one point, the village boasted the longest aluminium-rolling mill in Western Europe and one of the largest marshalling yards on the

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, ...

network. The village played host to John Frost and his fellow

Chartists Chartism was a working-class movement for political reform in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom that erupted from 1838 to 1857 and was strongest in 1839, 1842 and 1848. It took its name from the People's Charter of ...

on their historic march from the valleys to Newport. The former Welsh Oak public house just north of the parish was one of the main meeting points for the protestors before they set off through the parish towards the Westgate Hotel and the events that culminated in 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 ...

. The parish sits astride the Crumlin branch of the

Monmouthshire Canal Monmouthshire ( ; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South East Wales, south east of Wales. It borders Powys to the north; the English counties of Herefordshire and Gloucestershire to the north and east; the Severn Estuary to the s ...

and plays host to the Fourteen Locks. The canal opened in 1798 but was dogged by water supply problems and competition from the railways and by 1930, it had finally succumbed. It has since been restored and is a popular local attraction. Rogerstone Library is part of Newport City Council's library service, and is officially titled Rogerstone Library and Information Centre. The building was opened in 1905 as a Carnegie Library. Rogerstone power station was commissioned in 1958 by the

Central Electricity Generating Board The Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) was responsible for electricity generation, transmission and bulk sales in England and Wales from 1958 until privatisation of the electricity industry in the 1990s. It was established on 1 Januar ...

, after only three years' work on the site. It comprised two C. A. Parsons 60 MW turbo-alternators with a net electricity output capability of 114 MW. The

Babcock & Wilcox Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises, Inc. is an American energy technology and service provider that is active and has operations in many international markets with its headquarters in Akron, Ohio. Historically, the company is best known for their stea ...

coal-fired pulverised fuel boilers produced 138 kg/s of steam delivered to the turbines at 62.1 bar and 482 °C. Cooling for the station was by water from the River Ebbw and two reinforced concrete

cooling tower A cooling tower is a device that rejects waste heat to the atmosphere through the cooling of a coolant stream, usually a water stream, to a lower temperature. Cooling towers may either use the evaporation of water to remove heat and cool the ...

s, each with a capacity of 2.25 million gallons per hour (2.84 m³/s). There was a single chimney. It was the first station in the UK to use aluminium cladding. The generating capacity and electricity output from the station was as follows. The station was decommissioned in the late 1980s, and the boiler house, cooling towers and chimney were demolished in 1991. The Afon Village housing development now occupies the site.

Governance

Prior to 2022 Rogerstone was also an

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 ...

, represented by three councillors on Newport City Council. Following a local government boundary review, Rogerstone was divided into three wards, namely Rogerstone East (1 councillor), Rogerstone North (1 councillor) and Rogerstone West (2 councillors).

Modern-day Rogerstone

The designation of the Rogerstone section of the canal as part of the

National Cycle Network The National Cycle Network (NCN) was established to encourage cycling and walking throughout the United Kingdom, as well as for the purposes of bicycle touring. It was created by the charity Sustrans who were aided by a £42.5 million N ...

(route 47) and more recent efforts to restore parts of the canal have made the site a popular tourist attraction. Funding for this work was provided by the Heritage Lottery Fund. The site houses the Fourteen Locks Canal Centre, which was the subject of an arson attack in 2011 that ruined the inside of the centre. It has now been fully refurbished and is open to the public. The area contains a number of other popular open spaces including the Welfare Grounds and the Mescoed Mawr woodlands. Rogerstone was traditionally an industrial, working-class village, but housing developments such as Afon Village, on the site of the former

power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electr ...

and Jubilee Park, on the site of the former Novelis

works, have added more than 2,000 dwellings and an ever-increasing middle-class population. This has been influenced by its proximity to the

and the

. In 2005, Warburtons opened a new bakery in the village, to supply bakery products across South Wales. However, after the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

, in 2010, the company announced the closure of the facility, and the loss of 140 jobs. The plant was later bought by local family owned Brace's Bakery. Brace's sold the site to another bakery in 2017. The Tiny Rebel

microbrewery Craft beer is beer manufactured by craft breweries, which typically produce smaller amounts of beer than larger "macro" breweries and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as emphasising enthusiasm, ne ...

is based in Rogerstone and opened their £2.6 million brewery and bar at the Wern Industrial Estate in 2017. Planning permission was given in 2019 for the addition of a new distribution centre at the site. There are four primary schools within Rogerstone; Rogerstone Primary, Mount Pleasant Primary, High Cross Primary and Jubilee Park Primary. Secondary education for the area is largely provided at Bassaleg School in the neighbouring Graig ward. In 2014,

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

and

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister Advice (constitutional law), advises the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, sovereign on the exercise of much of the Royal prerogative ...

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron, Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton (born 9 October 1966) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016. Until 2015, he led the first coalition government in the UK s ...

visited pupils at Mount Pleasant Primary as part of the events surrounding the 2014

NATO summit A NATO summit is a summit (meeting), summit meeting that is regarded as a periodic opportunity for head of state, heads of state and head of government, heads of government of NATO member countries to evaluate and provide strategic direction ...

at the nearby

Celtic Manor Resort Celtic Manor Resort is a golf, spa and leisure hotel and resort in the city of Newport, South East Wales. Owned by Sir Terry Matthews, the resort is located on the south-facing side of Christchurch Hill in eastern Newport, near Junction 24 o ...

. To commemorate the event, one of the streets at the nearby Jubilee Park housing development was subsequently named Obama Grove. On 4 November 2019, a smaller replica of the Chartist Mural was installed on Cefn Road, Rogerstone. The original mosaic mural was created in 1978 near John Frost Square in Newport to commemorate the Chartist rising of 1839 and demolished in October 2013. The replica was created by Oliver Budd, son of the original mural's creator, Kenneth Budd. It was unveiled exactly 180 years since the Chartist rising. The panels include an information board telling the history of Chartism.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Districts of Newport, Wales Former wards of Newport, Wales Communities in Newport, Wales