Village street at Little Newcastle - geograph

Casnewydd Bach (English: ''Little Newcastle'') is a village,

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

and former

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

in the

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, ...

of Puncheston in Pembrokeshire, Wales. A map of 1578 shows the parish as ''Newcastle''.

Bartholomew Roberts

The village has attracted attention as the birthplace of the

pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

Bartholomew Roberts ) , type=Pirate , birth_place = Casnewydd Bach, near Puncheston, Pembrokeshire, Wales, Kingdom of England , death_place = At sea off of Cape Lopez, Gabon , allegiance= , serviceyears=1719–1722 , base of operations= Off the coast of the Americ ...

(Barti Ddu), who was born in the village in 1682. Roberts is the most successful pirate of the

Golden Age of Piracy The Golden Age of Piracy is a common designation for the period between the 1650s and the 1730s, when maritime piracy was a significant factor in the histories of the Caribbean, the United Kingdom, the Indian Ocean, North America, and West Africa ...

, and is noted for creating a

Pirate Code A pirate code, pirate articles, or articles of agreement were a code of conduct for governing pirates. A group of sailors, on turning pirate, would draw up their own code or articles, which provided rules for discipline, division of stolen goods, ...

, and adopting an early variant of the

Skull and Crossbones A skull and crossbones is a symbol consisting of a human skull and two long bones crossed together under or behind the skull. The design originated in the Late Middle Ages as a symbol of death and especially as a ''memento mori'' on tombstones. ...

flag. There is a monument to him in the village.

St Peter's Church

St Peter's Church has medieval origins, but was heavily restored in 1870. It is now notable for its collection of modern stained glass windows, commissioned from 1990 onwards. The church is now part of the United Benefice of West Cemaes.

References

External links

{{commons category-inline, Little Newcastle
Historical information and links on GENUKI
Villages in Pembrokeshire Puncheston