Bassaleg (Welsh: Basaleg) is a suburb on the west side of Newport, Wales. It is in the Graig electoral ward and community.

Thatched cottage, Bassaleg

Bassaleg is located two miles northwest of Newport city centre. Bassaleg is bounded by the A467 road (A4072) to the east, the railway spur to Lower Machen (the former Brecon and Merthyr Railway) to the north, the St Mellons Road (B4288) to the south and Rhiwderin to the east. The Ebbw River runs through the area. The A468 road passes through towards Caerphilly and junction 28 of the M4 motorway is less than a mile to the south.

St Basil's Church

St Basil's parish church

The parish church of St. Basil's is a Grade II* listed building.[1]

It has been suggested that 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, a term used in early Christianity 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.[2] The church is part of the Rectorial Benefice of Bassaleg.[3]

Communications

Bassaleg Viaduct, a four-arch stone bridge with metal bracing
Bassaleg Viaduct
Bassaleg Junction railway station in 1962
Bassaleg Station in 1962

Bassaleg lies near the junction of the Brecon and Merthyr Railway and Great Western Railway and used to have two stations (Bassaleg and Bassaleg Junction). Both were victims of the Beeching Axe 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.[4][5] Served by the existing Ebbw Valley Railway service between Cardiff Central and Ebbw Vale Town, the station is operated by Transport for Wales. 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.[6]

Bassaleg Viaduct

Bassaleg Viaduct is Wales's oldest operational railway bridge or viaduct and was built over the Ebbw River for the Rumney Railway in 1826.[7][8] It is also the second oldest world-wide, after the Skerne Bridge, in Darlington, County Durham, which opened in 1825.[9]

Schools

Bassaleg School is one of the most notable local educational institutions in the South East Wales education consortia and in particular the Newport local authority. Known for its sporting and academic prowess, past students include:

History

Best kept village sign, Bassaleg

Bassaleg's earliest known inhabitant is Saint Gwladys, a hermit and wife of St. Gwynllyw or Woolos, who founded her own hermitage at Pencarnu, supposedly the site is at Pont Ebbw.[16] While there she bathed in the Ebbw River and the Lady's Well at Tredegar 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, and he was a friend to the famous Welsh bard, Dafydd ap Gwilym. There have been many poems written about him, and for the sadness of the state of his manor now. One such poem is an englyn, written by 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.[17]

The most important local influences was the local estate of the Morgans, Lords Tredegar, at Tredegar House many of whom are buried in the churchyard.

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

Notes

  1. ↑ Stuff, Good. "Church of Saint Basil, Graig, Newport". britishlistedbuildings.co.uk.
  2. ↑ Miranda Aldhouse-Green and Ray Howell (eds.), Gwent In Prehistory and Early History: The Gwent County History Vol.1, 2004, ISBN 0-7083-1826-6
  3. ↑ "BB Psychology".
  4. ↑ Caio Iwan (14 December 2014). "Newport's £3.5m Pye Corner rail station opened in record time". South Wales Argus. Retrieved 15 December 2014.
  5. ↑ "Now and then: Bassaleg station". South Wales Argus. 6 October 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  6. ↑ "Arriva Trains Wales - Timetables". Arriva Trains Wales. 14 December 2014. Archived from the original on 29 January 2015. Retrieved 15 December 2014. Timetable 3: West Wales, Swansea, Maesteg and Gloucester to Cardiff: pp 60–61 Ebbw Vale Parkway to Cardiff Central
  7. ↑ "Heritage Locations". www.nationaltransporttrust.org.uk.
  8. ↑ "Bassaleg Viaduct, Rumney Railway, Bassaleg". Coflein. Retrieved 24 March 2022.
  9. ↑ "Skerne Bridge, Non Civil Parish - 1475481 | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  10. ↑ Thomas, Simon (3 July 2015). "Which Wales legend went back to his old school". WalesOnline.
  11. ↑ "The skinny kid from Bassaleg now set to take on the Boks". South Wales Argus.
  12. ↑ "Best foot forward for Alix". WalesOnline. 7 July 2006.
  13. ↑ Thomas, Simon (30 December 2021). "Stuart Barnes was supposed to be JPR's Wales successor before letter he wrote". WalesOnline.
  14. ↑ Barnes, Stephen Jones, Stuart. "From the All Blacks to Bassaleg Under-13 – rugby's greatest giant killings ranked" – via www.thetimes.co.uk.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  15. ↑ "Bishop John's profile". Diocese of Swansea and Brecon. Church in Wales. Archived from the original on 14 February 2017. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
  16. ↑ Lifris, 'Vita sancti Cadoci', Vitae sanctorum Britanniae et genealogiae, ed. and trans. A. M. Wade-Evans (1944), 24–141
  17. ↑ "ffynnon.com". www.afternic.com.

51°34′41″N 3°03′02″W / 51.57805°N 3.05053°W / 51.57805; -3.05053

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