Friends of Newport Transporter Bridge

Have you visited the Exhibition relating  to Newport Transporter Bridge in Newport Museum  and Art Gallery?     The ongoing Exhibition in Newport Museum Museum on the Mezzanine Floor Born out of Newport’s huge success and growth in the late 1800s, the Transporter Bridge has dominated the skyline of the city for 110 years. Built to accommodate the tallest sailing ships, yet also transport motor cars, the Transporter Bridge is one of the last structures of the days of sail but one of the first of the motor age. Today, the Transporter Bridge is a working monument to Newport’s rich maritime and industrial heritage. Described by Cadw as ‘a structure of exceptional interest’, the bridge is the best example of a transporter bridge in Britain and one of only eight historic transporter bridges left in the world. The exhibition features a range of items and images from the construction and operation of the Transporter Bridge and artworks inspired by it. Highlights i...

  Drawing inspiration from our Bridge! Since the beginning of the year, the Bridge Team have been building an amazing working relationship with Coleg Gwent. From Illustration and Photography courses through to the Performing Arts, the students are already creatively helping to bring our iconic Bridge to life! This week, a contingent of brave students from the Foundation Degree Illustration Course descended upon us and ascended the Bridge, working on an exciting brief to create a series of eight illustrations representing key wildlife species found around the structure and River Usk below. Species will include salmon, common sandpiper, black-headed gull and otter, each including elements or views of the bridge, depending on the individual species’ habitat.   Course Leader Kelly Rogers says: “Our Foundation Degree Illustration learners are excited to be working on a live brief for the Newport Transporter Bridge Project. We hope this artwork will aid public awareness of t...

  Newport Transporter Bridge AGM 2022 Here are some photographs of the 2022 AGM which took place on  25th Feb at 7pm at the Seafearers' Mission at the Dock Gates. David Hando the out going chairman gave his report and Dame Rosemary Butler chaired the meeting The Treasurer, Isailo  Dimic, provided his report Emma Newrick, (Transporter Bridge Client Project Manager)  talked about the progress of the Project Councillor David William,  Newport's  389th  Mayor, mentioned the  importance of the Bridge   and his two charities.  T he money raised from the raffle money was  shared with the Mayor's charities. They were Newport Mind  and  the Friends of Gwent Music Martin Bell's talk followed the formal AGM Professor Martin Bell is an archaeologist who has given many lectures locally about the Usk and its links to industrial heritage. He is a really engaging speaker and has recently led walks and mini excavations on the Gwent Le...

  Gavin Jones, Community Engagement Officer and the one in the middle. On either side of Gavin is Norman Liversuch and his daughter Rhiannon.  Gavin writes:- Hi everyone, my name is Gavin Jones and I will soon be joining the Newport Transporter Bridge team as the Community Engagement Officer. For the past six years, I have been with the Living Levels Landscape Partnership, working across the Gwent Levels on which the bridge is such a stunning presence. I have over 25 years of experience in community engagement and am very excited about being part of an amazing project for such an iconic Newport landmark. I have been a big fan since first discovering the bridge – in fact, before that, my only previous encounter with a transporter bridge was via the TV programme ‘ Auf Wiedersehen Pet’ . One of the first things I did in my present job was to insist that the partnership lined up for a photo along the top, complete with a poor photographer who was afraid of heights! For the pas...

Margaret Lovett tells us why she wanted to walk along the top of the Transporter Bridge a week before she had her hip operation. This was a visit arranged by the Friends of Newport Museum and Art Gallery of which Margaret and her husband Colin are members. It took place on 16th July 2019 and Emma Newrick was our guide.  Margaret writes:- I wanted to do it because I love a challenge and had been meaning to climb to the top ever since I moved to South Wales nearly 50 years ago. I had learned that the bridge was one of only a tiny number still operational in the world. Of course there is only one other in the UK. ( The Tees Transporter Bridge, also referred to as the Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge.) It was closed for ten years in 1985 and then again for 2 years in 2008, so my opportunities were dwindling! I had an upcoming hip replacement op the following week and the outcome was far from certain so "carpe diem"!  As I am very inquisitive, and like to know the ...

  A Transporting Interlude In the years 1966 and 1967 I was a fresh faced, cocky, and somewhat naïve college student.    My father, then an accountant with Newport Borough works department, viewed me with a jaundiced eye.    Economically non-viable, a trifle on the spend thrift side and all in all a drain on the bank balance.    Particularly in the vacations when I could be found spending the mornings / afternoons in bed and the evenings with friends in the local.    Solution? Find the wretch a holiday job.    So it was that in the Christmas and Easter vacations of those years I was to be found labouring away as a relief conductor on the Transporter Bridge. In those days the bridge was still busy, even with the George Street Bridge and motorway being newly available.    It provided an easy and short route from Pill to places of work on the other side.    Notably the Orb steel works and the two Uskmouth power stat...

    The Development of  Newport Docks  At the moment Newport Museum and Art Gallery has a photographic exhibition about the development of Newport Docks and it ends with photographs of the Newport Dock Disaster of 1909. The Newport Ship Newport's riverside wharves and jetties have existed at this major trading port since at least the fifteenth century, as evidenced by the discovery of The Newport Ship trading vessel dating from 1465-6. See David Jordan's painting below. Approaching Newport” by David Jordan  The Monmouthshire Canal The town's industrial significance was established in 1799 with the opening of the Monmouthshire Canal (nprn 85125). Subsequent development made Newport docks the the outlet for all iron and coal production of the Monmouthshire Valleys of Rhymney, Ebbw, Sirhowy and Afon Llwyd.  The Monmouthshire Canal Company with its canal and tramroads was responsible for the growth of Newport, which became the third largest coal port in Britain...