Newport

"NEWPORT, a sea-port, market town, and parish, in the hundred of KEMMES, county of PEMBROKE, SOUTH WALES, 19 1/2 miles (N.E. by N.) from Haverfordwest, and 242 (W. by N.) from London, containing 1798 inhabitants. . . It stands on the high road from Cardigan to Fishguard, and is pleasantly situated at the mouth of the river Nevern . . . it consists of numerous small streets irregularly formed, neither lighted nor paved, but naturally well supplied with excellent water. The houses, with some few exceptions, are indifferently built, but, from intermixture of numerous trees with the buildings, the town has, at a small distance, a pleasingly rural appearance; and the surrounding scenery, in which its venerable church and the picturesque remains of its ancient castle form prominent and interesting features, renders the distant view of it strikingly beautiful. The trade principally carried on is the working of some extensive quarries of slate, with which the neighbouring coast abounds, and of which great quantities are shipped to various places . . . The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is an ancient and venerable cruciform structure, partly in the early style of English architecture, with a square tower at the west end . . . There are places of worship for Baptists, Independents, and Calvinistic Methodists. A school conducted on the National system is supported here on the foundation of the late Mrs. Bevan, for the gratuitous instruction of poor children . . ." [From A Topographical Dictionary of Wales (S. Lewis, 1833).]