City’s history recalled on a smaller scale
ABOUT this time eight years ago, one Welsh city was in the midst of one of its biggest-ever controversies.
In October 2013, hundreds of people gathered in John Frost Square, in Newport, as workmen began demolishing one of its best-known monuments, the Chartist mural.
Located on a walkway near the square, the 35-metre mosaic of 200,000 pieces of tile and glass, created by artist Kenneth Budd, had stood since 1978 as a bold and historic symbol of one of the city’s most famous stories.
Politician and activist John Frost led a march of 3,000 Chartists – a workingclass movement advocating voting reform – into the centre of Newport on November 4, 1839.
Here he discovered that a number of Chartists had been taken captive in the Westgate Hotel in Commercial Street.
British Army troops then opened fire on the marchers, resulting in the killing of 22 people, with more than 50 injured.
More than 170 years later, the work was being torn down just weeks after Wales’ heritage body, Cadw, said the artwork did not meet its “special architectural interest” criteria for listing.
This paved the way for Newport City Council to press ahead with demolishing the mural to make way for the multimillion-pound Friars Walk shopping centre, which opened in late 2015.
For weeks during and after the mural’s demolition, the council faced a backlash from campaigners and locals who ferociously fought against its removal.
Newport council released a statement at the time saying it “[recognised] how important the Chartist history is to Newport” but that the mural was located in a “very precarious position, as it is attached to the wall of the multi-storey car park which is extremely unsafe”. It said the decision from Cadw not to list the mural meant it could be removed, and that it was “committed to commissioning an alternative solution to commemorate the Chartist movement”.
For many years after there was no sign of this. Then, in April 2019, a proposal for a new Chartist mural was recommended for approval by council planning officers.
Unveiled later that year in Rogerstone, the new piece of art, a smaller replica of the original, was created by Oliver Budd, the son of the man behind the original.
Oliver Budd said then that he was “delighted that this facsimile of the original is back in Newport”, adding that it was 10% the size of the original, at a metre high and 8.5 metres long.
The new version also contains some timelines detailing the history of Chartism, something he felt was important.
While it might not be the original, the new mural stands today as an important reminder of Chartism’s role in Newport’s history.