Newport Leasing

Did You Know?

Harry Houdini, He was the most famous magician who ever slipped free of a straight jacket, the Elvis Presley of escapology whose name became synonymous with mystifying sleights of hand and death-defying stunts. But what’s less known about Harry Houdini was his love of Newport, the Budapest-born, Dertroit-raised star choosing the city to kick off his very first international tour in 1905.

Newport's history appears to have begun in the 7th century AD, when St. Woolos Church was founded on the top of Stow Hill.

Newport is a thriving city in Gwent, South Wales. Newport was created after the Normans conquered Gwent in 1093. In the early 12th century they built a castle by a ford in the river Usk. Soon a little town grew up by the castle. In the Middle Ages towns often appeared by castles as the garrisons provided a ready market for the townspeople's goods. Soon a weekly market began in Newport and people would come from the surrounding countryside to buy and sell.

In 1402 Owain Glendower and his men burned the town of Newport. That was an easy task because most of the buildings in the town were made of wood with thatched roofs. However they could be easily rebuilt and the town soon recovered from the disaster.

Industries in Newport at that time included leather tanning, soap making and starch making. There were also the same craftsmen found in any town such as bakers, butchers, brewers, carpenters and blacksmiths.

In 1839 a dispensary opened in Newport where the poor could obtain free medicines. It began taking in patients and turned into an infirmary. Gwent hospital was founded in 1901. The first public library opened in Newport in 1871. From 1875 horse drawn trams ran in the streets. Horse drawn trams were replaced by electric trams in 1904. However they in turn were replaced by buses and the last tram in Newport ran in 1937.

Newport has been a port since medieval times, when the first Newport Castle was built by the Normans. The town outgrew the earlier Roman town of Caerleon, immediately upstream, and gained its first charter in 1314. It grew significantly in the 19th century, when its port became the focus of coal exports from the eastern South Wales Valleys.

In the 20th century, the docks declined in importance, but Newport remained an important manufacturing and engineering centre. It was granted city status in 2002. Newport hosted the Ryder Cup in 2010 and was the venue for the 2014 NATO summit.