The Parrog's seafaring past

For centuries Newport's wealth, and particularly that of The Parrog revolved around the sea and seafaring. Coastal trading was important from early times. Alexanders and fennel grow in profusion around the harbour walls and along the estuary. These plants were introduced to Britain by the Romans as culinary herbs and are often thought to indicate the presence of an early trading harbour.

By the sixteenth century, George Owen was writing about the herring trade in Newport. Barrels of herring were exported as far as the Mediterranean. This trade died out by the mid nineteenth century, when herrings became scare but the harbour still saw exports of woollen goods and slate from the sea-quarries beyond Pencatman and imports of limestone, coal and culm (a mixture of anthracite dust and clay) from the south of the county. Limestone and culm were burned in the limekilns on The Parrog to provided slaked lime which was used to neutralised the local acid soils. Lime was also widely used in the building trade for lime mortar, rendering and whitewash, all of which were widely used on the nearby cottages. Most of Newport's buildings were whitewashed in the nineteenth century

Another important industry for The Parrog was shipbuilding, some of which was carried out close to Parrog Bach. This trade reached its peak in the nineteenth century when large vessels of around 150 tons were built.

Generations of Newport men were seafarers and by the nineteenth century, many were master mariners taking vessels all around the world from larger ports such as Swansea and Liverpool, often via Cape Horn. Their cargoes were often hazardous. Many commanded the "copper barques" carrying Welsh coal from Swansea to South America, returning with copper ore for the copper smelting industry in Swansea. The coal was prone to spontaneous ignition in damp holds and many vessels burned, others capsized in stormy weather when cargoes shifted. The stormy seas around Cape Horn were notorious and claimed many ships. Other seamen died falling from the rigging. The gravestones in St Mary's churchyard in Newport tell many of their stories and it's a shame that there is no other monument to these men who brought the wealth to the town to build the big houses of the Parrog which are so sought after today. Fred Nicholls' novels "Master Under God" and "The Dark Ocean and the Light" give a good insight into the lives of these Newport seafarers.

By the time the photograph above was taken in around 1910, the sea trade was already dwindling, although ships continued to unload cargoes until the 1930's. There was a new trade along The Parrog now and that was tourism. Early holiday makers came from the mining towns of the valleys. This was the era when some of the large guest houses such as Swn y Don were established and when the miners on a Sunday would gather at the Cwm to sing hymns. In the post cards, the holiday makers are always in their Sunday best, the boys in this photo with their Eton collars, the women often in wide brimmed hats.

The photograph was taken by Chas. Edwards who produced many of the local post cards of that era. He had several studios around Fishguard from 1891 to 1926 and, I believe set up a studio in Cambria Terrace in Newport.

For further information about specific mariners, try Reg Davies' excellent database. I am indebted to Reg for much of my knowledge of the history of the Parrog and also to Rex Harries and Tyrone Williams but I take full responsibility for any errors. There is also a good summary of the history of the Nevern estuary here.