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Pontnewydd
Pontnewydd maps
Historic maps of Pontnewydd and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Pontnewydd maps
Pontnewydd photos
We have no photos of Pontnewydd, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Cwmbran| Sebastopol| Llantarnam| Pontypool| Caerleon| Abersychan| Cwmcarn| Pontymister| Risca| Pontywaun| Crumlin| Newbridge| Allt-Yr-Yn| Llanhilleth| Garndiffaith| Newport| Six Bells| Aberbeeg| Bassaleg| Usk| Abertillery| Chain Bridge| Machen| Cwmtillery
Pontnewydd area books
Displaying 1 of 3 books about Pontnewydd and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Pontnewydd
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Pontnewydd.
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Pontnewydd as A Child From London on Holiday
As a child, up to the age of about twelve, we visited our grandparents at Godfrey Road during the summer holidays. This was probably between 1952 and 1960. My father, Ernest William Smith, was born in Godfrey Road but had moved to London in the 1930's. My strongest memories were of an allotment at the back of the house. I can remember the maroon bus pulling up towards Upper Cwbran and the hills beyond. We often went for walks along the canal with two children that we befriended next door. I wonder now how we all slept in that terraced house: the two sons, my mum and dad, uncle and aunt and grandmother and grandfather. My grandfather had worked at the steel works and I remember that there were green steam trains that were in the works.
Pontnewydd Church School
As I remember, the discipline there was tough, but at least you knew right from wrong and if you did something wrong you could expect punishment - nearly always the cane. We all had to attend the church for assembly once a week and were marched there from our lines in the playground. At other times, except in bad weather when the interior glass panelled walls were pushed back to form a huge hall, we stood in our class lines in the yard and sang our hymn - the words for which were on a colourful roll of material suspended from the high windows. Lessons were generally silent. The teacher would explain what was to be done in that lesson; give three examples on the blackboard, then tell us what page to turn to in our 1920's text books and told to get on with it. Each day two boys were dispached to deliver the milk, in third of a pint bottles, to each classroom. Once, after my return to the classroom, I... Read more
Commercial Street
I lived at number 36 from 1936 for 11 yrs. and saw the changes that World War 11 brought to our village. I remember the milkman and his horse-drawn cart and mam asking for a gill as she searched her purse for the coin to pay for it. Someone would always rush out to collect the horse droppings for use on their garden. The blackouts and the sound of enemy aircraft overhead as they followed the mountain range from Blaenavon to Twyn Barllwm their dropping point for the bombs aimed at Newport Docks. The arrival of the Yanks based at Llantarnam and rides in jeeps to the Mountain Air pub when soldiers took our house neighbours' daughters out for runs. Jeff Saunders and the Rogers boys who lived opposite (where the OAP home is now). Jones and Porters shop at the top of the street and the Bridgend pub. The street party after VE Day. Charles' Funeral Site next to the canal and Tommy Arundle who drowned in the... Read more
Gwent memories
Pontrhydyrun - Avondale Road
I am Roger Davies of 11 Avondale Road, DOB 19.09.43. Went to Sebastopol Infants school 1948 and then to Griffithstown Junior Mixed - Bryn Jones prior to 11+ ! West Mon 1954. - Harrison, Garnet, et al. Recall Pontnewydd and Cwmbran as was and have some photos. Recall Sebastopol and Pontrhydyrun stations functioning and accidents when tall vehicles hit railway bridge at Pontrhydyrun. Percy Pritchard was our neighbour and another Trevor John worked at Gwent Pipes. Recall the building of the 'New Town'. My good friend is Ernie Bradford - The Mountain Air - visited pub with my father in the 1940's - Ernie was there then and is now. I have some photographs showing pupils at Sebastopol and Griffithstown in my years. My uncles Jack & Ken Jones ran Jones Fashion Shop, George Street, Pontypool and Broad Street Blaenavon. Jack later had The Helmaen, near Usk. What say anyone ?
Ty-Pwca Road, Upper Cwmbran
Born in Church Rd, Pontnewydd, in 1935 we moved to Ty-Pwca Rd in 1947. I attended Upper Cwmbran School and well remember the fun we had there. Gardening lessons with the Head, Mr Jones - "Clear the weeds boys and sow the seeds carefully in straight rows", he would say. The friends made then are still friends though some have, sadly, departed this life. Siloam Chapel, the golf links, Slippery Path, the Mountain Air pub and games with friends in the wood behind Ty-Pwca Rd. The fun we had as the steel houses were erected. The arctic winter of '47/8 and having to walk along a single track in the snow of four feet deep up Trappers Hill and into Pontnewydd village centre to buy bread. Many,many,many memories. Those were good, 'honest' days. Are there any more of the '47/8 school rugby team still with us? I have the team photo, but my scanner's on the blink at the moment.
Station Road
Hi, I used to lived in Tynewydd Road as a small child. My name is Hook. I then moved to number 28 Station Road, I lived next door to Mr and Mrs Gazzi who ran the coffee bar in Pontnewydd. My father's name was Brinley Charles Hook(deceased) and my mother's name is Alice. My grandparents were Betty and William Charles Hook, my grandfather was known as Charlie (both deceased).
My brother's name is Nigel, he still lives in London and has his own business as a theatrical designer, my sister's name was Sharon (she sadly died in 2007) and my baby sister is Tracy who lives next door but one to me in Southville area.
I can remember the station in Pontnewydd, and playing in the fields at the back of Station Road/ Tynewydd Road as a child, I think there is a complex on the area now.
Growing up in Croesy
I grew up in Croesyceiliog at Raglan Court next to the playing fields and I went to Abyschan Grammer School. There was no bypass road then, and the railway was still was bringing coal from the valleys down to the docks in Newport. I used to lie in bed as a child and hear the train shunting past. In summer was the sun was still high and, though it was bed time, it was too light to sleep. I used to lay in my bed and listen to the sounds of people still up and playing in the fields outside.
I remember the woods in spring and the bluebells. My grandmother used to love the bluebells and my siblings and I would pick them for her. Mountains of them, of course.
My usual childhood troubles were often met by an escape to the woods, and I still can see the sunlight shining through the trees, filtering through the wooded paths I used to know so well.
Its been such a... Read more
