Caldicot, Monmouthshire

Caldicot
Monmouthshire
Caldicot town centre
Location
Grid reference:	ST475885
Location:	51°35’28"N, 2°44’57"W
Data
Population:	11,248  (2010)
Post town:	Caldicot
Postcode:	NP26
Dialling code:	01291
Local Government
Council:	Monmouthshire
Parliamentary constituency:	Newport West

Caldicot is a small town in Monmouthshire, located between Chepstow and Newport, just off the busy M4/M48 motorway corridor. The site adjoins the Caldicot Levels, on the north side of the Severn estuary. Caldicot has easy access by motorway and rail to Newport and Cardiff, and across the Severn Bridges and Severn Railway Tunnel to Bristol. The population of the town is now around 11,000. It has a large school, Caldicot Comprehensive School, and is known for its mediæval castle.

History

There was considerable activity in the area during the Bronze Age. Excavations near the Nedern Brook beside the castle revealed a plank from a boat and complex wooden structures in the former river bed. The boat probably traded across the Severn with the farmers and traders of Somerset. Later, in Roman times, it is likely that trading vessels sailed up the Nedern Brook to Caerwent. The discovery of kilns also shows that coarse pottery was produced in the village during Roman times.

In 1074, following the Norman Conquest, the manor of Caldicot was given to Durand, the Sheriff of Gloucester. Caldicot is recorded in the Domesday Book in 1086. Its entry reads, 'Durand the Sheriff holds of the King, one land, in Caerwent, called Caldicot. He has in demesne there 3 ploughs, and 15 half villeins, and 4 bondmen, and one knight. All these have twelve ploughs. There is a mill worth ten shillings.'

The name 'Caldicot' is usually stated to derive from the Old English phrase calde cot meaning 'cold hut'. A cold hut is an exposed shelter used by either humans or animals.

One of the oldest buildings in Caldicot, Llanthony Secunda Manor, was built around 1120 as a monastic grange for monks from Llanthony Secunda Priory in Gloucester.

In 1158 the manor of Caldicot passed to Humphrey II de Bohun, who was responsible for building the stone keep and curtain walls of the present-day castle. In 1376 it passed to Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester, third son of King Edward III, when he married Alianore de Bohun. It began to fall into ruins around the 16th century.

The parish church of St. Mary was founded in the Norman period, but is mainly built in the Perpendicular style of the late 14th and 15th centuries.

By the mid-19th century, Caldicot was a small farming village. However, the opening of the South Wales Railway brought London and Cardiff within relatively easy reach (although Caldicot station itself was not opened until 1936). The railway attracted industry, and 1862 Henry Hughes of Tintern opened a wireworks next to the railway, becoming the village's major employer and attracting many new workers. In 1880 it became a tinplate works for the canning industry. In 1879 work began on the Severn Tunnel, which was opened in 1886. Its construction brought hundreds of workers to Caldicot, roughly doubling its population.

Court House was the home of baker Henry Jones, the inventor of self-raising flour, from 1864 until his death in 1891. He is buried in the churchyard.

During the first half of the 20th century, Caldicot continued to grow steadily, but unspectacularly, reaching a population of 1,770 in 1951. Early in the 1950s, however, Chepstow Rural District Council decided that the village should be allowed to expand to approximately 3,000. Shortly after this decision, the government decided to build a new steelworks at Llanwern. Caldicot was designated as a suitable home for the thousands of steelworkers, and expansion plans were revised upwards. Llanwern steelworks opened in 1962, and by the end of the decade Caldicot was occupied by over 7,000 people.

The growth of the community was furthered by the opening of the Severn Bridge in 1966. With Caldicot now being part of the "M4 corridor" new industries such as Mitel Telecom came to the town, compensating for the contraction of the steel industry and the railways.

Attractions

Caldicot is the location of Caldicot Castle and lake. The area has popular waymarked footpaths along the Caldicot Levels and the coastal path can be walked. Nearby are Caerwent and Wentwood. To the north-west, Dewstow House dates from c.1804. Extensive gardens and grottoes built after 1895 have been undergoing restoration since 2000 and are now open to the public.

Caldicot is the nearest town to the Monmouthshire side opening of the Severn railway tunnel, although the nearest station serving the line through the tunnel, Severn Tunnel Junction, is at Rogiet, a village which was developed in modern times largely to service the railway.

Caldicot Leisure Centre is a sports centre with facilities including an indoor swimming pool, squash courts and both indoor and outdoor games pitches. A new Astro Turf pitch is intended to be built in 2013. According to the Free Press, this new build will cost £610,000.

Twinning

Caldicot is twinned with Waghäusel, Germany and Morières-lès-Avignon France.

Outside links

• Caldicot Community Website
• History of Monmouthshire - Volume IV Part II, The Hundred of Caldicot - J.A. Bradney
• Genuki info on Caldicot with historical links
• Kelly's 1901 Directory of Monmouthshire on Caldicot