Welsh Government M4 Corridor around Newport Environmental Statement Volume 3: Appendix 8.5 Newport Docks Historic Built Environment Assessment 2008 M4CaN-DJV-EHR-ZG_GEN-AX-EN-0002 At Issue | March 2016 Job number OXF 9046 CVJV/AAR 3rd Floor Longross Court, 47 Newport Road, Cardiff CF24 0AD Welsh Government M4 Corridor around Newport Environmental Statement Volume 3: Appendix 8.5 Newport Docks Historic Built Environment Assessment 2008 Statement of Use This report has been prepared by Wessex Archaeology Limited in 2008 on behalf of the Welsh Assembly Government (now Welsh Government). The work carried out was an assessment of the historic built environment of Newport Docks for the previously proposed M4 Relief Road from Magor to Castleton, Gwent. The contents of this report have been used to inform the baseline for Environmental Impact Assessment of the M4 Corridor around Newport (M4CaN) presented in the Environmental Statement. A brief reconnaissance visit to Newport Docks was undertaken in July 2015 with regard to the current Scheme. The aim of the visit was to review the present state of the buildings within the footprint of the Scheme in order to review any changes that may have occurred subsequent to the more detailed survey presented within this Appendix. The principal change recorded during the 2015 reconnaissance visit was with regard to the roofs of several of the historic locomotive running sheds and engineering buildings in the eastern part of the docks. Components 04a, 04b, 04c, 04d, 04e, 04h and 12 have all been recently reroofed using modern materials, replacing the material described in this Appendix. The interiors of the historic buildings were not examined in detail in order to compare with the record prepared in 2008 and presented in this Appendix. However, it was noted that the steam hammer within Component 4c, shown in the images within this report as being located centrally within the building, had subsequently been disconnected from the overhead pipes and placed within the corner of the building. The two adjacent forges were still in the locations recorded in 2008. It should also be noted that the conclusion presented within paragraph 5.1.7 of this Appendix (regarding the absence of any level of designation of the historic buildings within the docks and the consequent consideration of the level of importance of these buildings) does not reflect national policy and guidance on this issue. The level of importance or value of each of the historic buildings affected by the Scheme is described in the relevant sections of Chapter 8 of the ES prepared with regard to the Scheme. M4CaN-DJV-EHR-ZG_GEN-AX-EN-0002 | At Issue | March 2016 Page 1 \\EUR-MPFS\P&D\M4 CAN\9. ENVIRONMENTAL STATEMENT\5. ES REPORT\4. ES APPENDICES\CHAPTER 8 CULTURAL HERITAGE\APPENDIX 8.5\ES APPENDIX 8.5 COVER.DOCX WA Heritage Newport Docks Newport, Gwent Historic Built Environment Assessment Ref: 66830.07 September 2008 WA Heritage NEW M4 PROJECT NEWPORT DOCKS NEWPORT, GWENT Historic Built Environment Assessment Prepared for: Ove Arup & Partners 13 Fitzroy Street LONDON On behalf of The Welsh Assembly Government by WA Heritage Wessex Archaeology Portway House Old Sarum Park SALISBURY Wiltshire SP4 6EB Report reference: 66830.07 September 2008 © Wessex Archaeology Limited 2008 all rights reserved Wessex Archaeology Limited is a Registered Charity No. 287786 New M4 Project. Magor to Castleton Newport Docks, Gwent WA Heritage Historic Built Environment Assessment NEW M4 PROJECT NEWPORT DOCKS NEWPORT, GWENT Historic Built Environment Assessment Contents 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................... 1 1.1 Project Background ................................................................................... 1 1.2 Location and description of the Study Area ............................................... 1 2 METHODOLOGY .............................................................................................. 2 2.1 Aims and scope of the study ..................................................................... 2 2.2 Documentary and Cartographic Sources................................................... 2 2.3 Site visit .................................................................................................... 2 2.4 Structure of the Assessment report ........................................................... 2 2.5 Copyright .................................................................................................. 3 3 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE DOCKS ............................................. 3 3.1 Town Dock ................................................................................................ 3 3.2 Alexandra Dock......................................................................................... 4 3.3 The South Dock ........................................................................................ 5 3.4 Shipping Trade ......................................................................................... 7 4 ASSESSMENT OF COMPONENTS OF THE HISTORIC BUILT ENVIRONMENT ................................................................................................ 8 4.1 Assessment of individual components ...................................................... 8 4.2 Assessment of significance or special interest .......................................... 8 4.3 Summary of Assessment of Components ................................................. 9 5 DISCUSSION .................................................................................................. 12 5.1 Overall Summary of Significance ............................................................ 12 5.2 Sensitivity to Development Impact .......................................................... 13 6 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................. 15 Appendix 1. Component data sheets List of Figures Figure 1 Site location and plan of Port Figure 2 Site plan showing component reference numbers Figure 3 Extract from site plan showing component reference numbers Figure 4 Ordnance Survey map, 1887 Figure 5 Plan of the Alexandra (Newport) Docks, c.1900 Figure 6 Plan showing the existing Docks and Extensions, 1907 Figure 7 Alexandra (Newport & South Wales) Docks and Railway; General Plan, 1912 Figure 8 Ordnance Survey map, 1921 Figure 9 British Transport Commission Plan of the Alexandra Docks, 1950 i WA Project No. 66830.07 New M4 Project. Magor to Castleton Newport Docks, Gwent WA Heritage Historic Built Environment Assessment List of Plates Plate 1 Coal shipping from West Quay, North Dock, c.1906 (© ANDR) Plate 2 Storage of general cargo on East Quay, North Dock, 1910 (© ABP) Plate 3 The collapsed excavation trench, July 1909 (© ABP) Plate 4 The rolling bridge under construction, December 1908 (© ABP) Plate 5 The South Lock under construction November 1909 (© ABP) Plate 6 A cargo of Russian timber being unloaded at South Quay, c.1930 (© ABP) Plate 7 The North Dock, c.1906 (© ANDR) Plate 8 General view of the North Docks c.1922, showing swing bridge over Junction Cut at far left (© John Cornwall) ii WA Project No. 66830.07 New M4 Project. Magor to Castleton Newport Docks, Gwent WA Heritage Historic Built Environment Assessment NEW M4 PROJECT NEWPORT DOCKS NEWPORT, GWENT Historic Built Environment Assessment Summary WA Heritage was commissioned by Ove Arup & Partners on behalf of the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) to carry out an assessment of the historic built environment of Newport Docks, which will inform the preparation of an Environmental Impact Assessment of the route of the proposed M4 Relief Road from Magor to Castleton, Gwent. Newport Docks are situated on the Gwent Levels, between the lower courses of the Rivers Ebbw and Usk, to the south of the town of Newport. The proposed new motorway will be carried across the two rivers and the intervening docks by means of a long viaduct supported on 23 land-based piers and two larger piers supporting the bridge across the River Usk. Preliminary design information indicates a requirement for seven support piers (nos. 5 to 11) within the area of the docks. Construction of the Alexandra Docks (now Newport Docks – the Study Site) began in 1865 when the capacity of the Town Docks proved inadequate for the volume of trade passing through the port. The docks were designed to provide the infrastructure for coal shipping on one side of the dock basin, and general cargo berths on the opposite side, and this configuration was retained through the three phases of extension of the dock’s capacity, which eventually provided an open water area of some 50ha (125 acres). Shipping access to the dock basins was originally from the River Usk, but the large extension to the South Dock allowed the construction of a large sea lock providing access directly from the Bristol Channel in 1914. In its heyday in the 1920s and 1930s, the port was exporting coal from the South Wales coalfields at the rate of almost 7 million tons a year, but the docks increasingly also exported goods from the large manufacturing firms of the Midlands. Contemporary photographs show a port bustling with activity, with hundreds of railway wagons delivering coal to the large coaling hoists, and travelling hydraulic cranes working the other quays. Most of this infrastructure has now gone, leaving only 11 quayside cranes and 3 mobile harbour cranes, and the level of activity at the waterside is a shadow of its historic past.