New Passage is a hamlet in
South Gloucestershire
South Gloucestershire is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, South West England. Towns in the area include Yate, Chipping Sodbury, Thornbury, Filton, Patchway and Bradley Stoke, the latter three forming ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, on the banks of the
Severn estuary
The Severn Estuary ( cy, Aber Hafren) is the estuary of the River Severn, flowing into the Bristol Channel between South West England and South Wales. Its high tidal range, approximately , means that it has been at the centre of discussions in t ...
near the village of
Pilning
Pilning is a village in South Gloucestershire, England, close to Redwick and Severn Beach. Pilning is close to the M4, M49 and A403 roads, and has the South Wales Main Line railway running through it, with a minor station.
The civil parish ...
. It takes its name from the ferry service which operated between there and South Wales until 1886.
Ferry
History
![New Passage Ferry, Portskewett](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/New_Passage_Ferry%2C_Portskewett.jpg)
New Passage was for many years the location of a ferry crossing to and from South Wales, running from Chestle Pill near Pilning to
Black Rock at
Portskewett in
Monmouthshire. The route provided an alternative to the centuries-old
Aust ferry
Aust Ferry or Beachley Ferry was a ferry service that operated across the River Severn between Aust and Beachley, both in Gloucestershire, England. Before the Severn Bridge opened in 1966, it provided service for road traffic crossing betwee ...
two miles (3 km) upstream, known as the "Old Passage". The New Passage, which offered a more direct route to South Wales, was probably in operation from 1630, when the New Passage Ferry Company was formed.
[Northwick]
Bristol and Avon Family History Society, accessed 27-03-18
The ferry was said to have been discontinued between 1645 and 1718.
[ There is a tale, often repeated in 19th century and later guidebooks, that during the ]English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...
King Charles was chased across the river from Portskewett: the pursuing Roundheads
Roundheads were the supporters of the Parliament of England during the English Civil War (1642–1651). Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I of England and his supporters, known as the Cavaliers or Royalists, who ...
were drowned after being landed at low tide on the English Stones by the boatmen, after which Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...
ordered the ferries to cease operation. This story originated in a deposition given by Giles Gilbert of Shirenewton
Shirenewton ( cy, Drenewydd Gelli-farch) is a village and community in Monmouthshire, south east Wales. It is located 3 miles due west of Chepstow, 5 miles (8 km) by road. The village stands around 500 feet (154 m) above sea level, and has ...
during the course of a 1720s legal case regarding rights to operate the ferry, and which was later printed by William Coxe in his 1801 ''Historical Tour of Monmouthshire''.[Morgan, Octavius (1860) ''Notes on the ancient domestic residences of Pentre-Bach, Crick, Ty-Mawr, the Garn, Crindau, and St. Julian's'', v4, p.12] While Gilbert claimed to be "credibly informed" that a group of Parliamentarian soldiers had perished while pursuing the King, another witness in the same legal case gave evidence that the incident had in fact involved a group of twelve Royalists who "in haste to pass" in November 1644 had forced the boatmen to take them across at low tide.[Morgan (1860) p.13] The antiquary Octavius Morgan
Charles Octavius Swinnerton Morgan DL, JP, FRS, FSA (15 September 1803 – 5 August 1888), known as Octavius Morgan, was a British politician, historian and antiquary. He was a significant benefactor to the British Museum.
Background and e ...
, on investigating these stories, found that the ''Iter Carolinum'' and the diary of Richard Symonds proved that Charles had intended to use the Black Rock crossing to reach Bristol on 24 July 1645, but had been dissuaded. Morgan however noted a contemporary report that Charles had a "narrow escape of being taken near the Black Rock" in July 1645 and suggested that some of Charles's party had crossed the Passage on the evening of 24 July "probably sent purposely to mislead the enemy ..and the result was death by drowning of the pursuers".[Morgan (1860) p.13]
In 1718 the New Passage ferry service was restarted by the Lewis family of St. Pierre, Monmouthshire, allowing it to be used by mail and passenger coaches between Bristol and south Wales. For much of the century the ferry rights, fishery and the inn at New Passage were rented from the Lewis family by John Hoggard.[Williams (ed). (1971) ''John Wesley in Wales, 1739-1790'', UWP, p. 6] Amongst the travellers to use the ferry was Charles Wesley
Charles Wesley (18 December 1707 – 29 March 1788) was an English leader of the Methodist movement. Wesley was a prolific hymnwriter who wrote over 6,500 hymns during his lifetime. His works include "And Can It Be", "Christ the Lord Is Risen T ...
, who had a lucky escape in 1743, when his ship almost foundered in stormy weather. By the late 18th century the main mail coach route between Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
and Milford Haven used the New Passage and by the end of the century the crossing rivalled the Old Passage route.[
]
In 1825 the New Passage Association formed, using the 30-ton steamboat "St Pierre". However, the sponsorship by the Dukes of Beaufort
Duke of Beaufort (), a title in the Peerage of England, was created by Charles II in 1682 for Henry Somerset, 3rd Marquess of Worcester, a descendant of Charles Somerset, 1st Earl of Worcester, legitimised son of Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Som ...
of the Aust route, with faster boats and a pier, meant that by 1830 mail coaches were diverted there, and the New Passage declined. In the 1840s the ferry was purchased by the Bristol and South West Junction Railway company for use as a crossing, though in the event the company failed to raise the capital to build a railway. A subsequent scheme, surveyed and engineered by Brunel and completed by his assistant Brereton, was opened in 1863 as the Bristol and South Wales Union Railway
The Bristol and South Wales Union Railway was built to connect Bristol, England, with south Wales. The route involved a ferry crossing of the River Severn but was considerably shorter than the alternative route through Gloucester. The ferry wa ...
, using the New Passage ferry to cross the Severn to Portskewett. New Passage Pier railway station
New Passage Pier was the original terminus of the Bristol and South Wales Union Railway, located on the south bank of the River Severn at New Passage, South Gloucestershire, England. At New Passage, passengers would disembark from trains and u ...
, a rebuilt New Passage Hotel, a promenade, tea room
A teahouse (mainly Asia) or tearoom (also tea room) is an establishment which primarily serves tea and other light refreshments. A tea room may be a room set aside in a hotel especially for serving afternoon tea, or may be an establishment whic ...
s, and a railway pier, improved the facilities for travellers. One year earlier, an engineer engaged on building the pier had the idea of a tunnel under the river. In 1886, the Severn Tunnel
The Severn Tunnel ( cy, Twnnel Hafren) is a railway tunnel in the United Kingdom, linking South Gloucestershire in the west of England to Monmouthshire in south Wales under the estuary of the River Severn. It was constructed by the Great Western ...
opened and the New Passage ferry became redundant. The pier was dismantled within two years, though the beach, promenade and hotel remained popular with day trippers for many years afterwards.[
The railway tunnel passes under the ]River Severn
, name_etymology =
, image = SevernFromCastleCB.JPG
, image_size = 288
, image_caption = The river seen from Shrewsbury Castle
, map = RiverSevernMap.jpg
, map_size = 288
, map_c ...
from a point just south of New Passage.
Characteristics
The engineer Thomas Telford
Thomas Telford FRS, FRSE, (9 August 1757 – 2 September 1834) was a Scottish civil engineer. After establishing himself as an engineer of road and canal projects in Shropshire, he designed numerous infrastructure projects in his native Scot ...
, after surveying the crossing, described it in his report as "one of the most forbidding places at which an important ferry was ever established - a succession of violent cataracts formed in a rocky channel exposed to the rapid rush of a tide which has scarcely an equal".[Rolt, LTC (1985) ''Thomas Telford'', p.146] The river between New Passage and Black Rock was 11,200 feet wide at high water and 8,600 feet at low water, in comparison to figures of 6,800 and 4,700 feet for the Old Passage route.["Minutes of Evidence Taken Before the Select Committee on Post-Office Communication" (1842), ''Parliamentary Papers: 1780-1849, Volume 9'', p.153] The crossing was complicated by the fact that, apart from six hours a day around high tide, two-thirds of the passage was through a channel between the English Stones and the Dun sandbank through which the ebb tide flowed so quickly that "a passage ould notbe made against it except in strong and favourable winds".[ Even after leaving this channel the ferries had to then cross the head of another channel, the Shoots, through which the current was so strong that they were often pulled down it by the ebb tide: all these difficulties meant that the passage was uncertain for around five hours a day.][ It was these irregularities in the service that led to the General Post Office eventually transferring mail back to the Old Passage: by 1834 it was found that mail coaches were arriving late at Swansea four times out of five, "almost wholly caused by delays at the New Passage".][Williams, H. (1977) ''Stage Coaches in Wales'', p.111] Nevertheless, the ferry was compared to the Aust crossing the most direct route into South Wales.[
]
Second Severn Crossing
In 1996 the Second Severn Crossing
or cy, Pont Tywysog Cymru, label=none, italic=unset
, carries = M4 motorway (6 lanes)
, crosses = River Severn
, locale = South West England / South East Wales
, maint = National Highways
, architect ...
road bridge was completed, virtually along the same line as the Severn Tunnel. The bridge, the longest in the UK, carries M4 motorway traffic.
New Passage Hotel
The hotel was opened in 1863 to serve railway passengers, replacing the earlier New Passage House inn. When the ferry closed it continued to prosper as a privately owned public house. In 1921 the hotel was the location of experiments by the inventor H.G. Matthews in the projection of moving films with a sound track.
The hotel was closed in 1973. It was then sold by the Bracey family, and the building was left empty, until ravaged by the elements and neglect, it was finally demolished in the late 1970s. A small luxurious housing development was created on the resulting land.
Ecology
As of 2009, 31 species of seabird
Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same enviro ...
had been recorded in the Severn Beach / New Passage area, including Cory's shearwater
Cory's shearwater (''Calonectris borealis'') is a large shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. It breeds colonially of rocky islands in the eastern Atlantic. Outside the breeding season it ranges widely in the Atlantic. It was formerl ...
, Sooty shearwater
The sooty shearwater (''Ardenna grisea'') is a medium-large shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. In New Zealand, it is also known by its Māori name , and as muttonbird, like its relatives the wedge-tailed shearwater (''A. pacificus ...
and Balearic shearwater
The Balearic shearwater (''Puffinus mauretanicus'') is a medium-sized shearwater in the seabird family ''Procellariidae''. ''Puffinus'' is a New Latin loanword based on the English "puffin" and its variants, that referred to the cured carcass of ...
s, white-bellied storm petrel
The white-bellied storm petrel (''Fregetta grallaria'') is a species of seabird in the family Oceanitidae. It is found in Angola, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, French Polynesia, French Southern Territories, Maldives, Namibia, New ...
(1st British record), 4 species of Diver including Pacific Diver
The Pacific loon or Pacific diver (''Gavia pacifica''), is a medium-sized member of the loon, or diver, family.
Taxonomy and etymology
The Pacific loon, previously considered conspecific with the similar black-throated loon, was classified as ...
, all four Northern Hemisphere skua
The skuas are a group of predatory seabirds with seven species forming the genus ''Stercorarius'', the only genus in the family Stercorariidae. The three smaller skuas, the long-tailed skua, the Arctic skua, and the pomarine skua are called ...
s, seven species of tern
Terns are seabirds in the family Laridae that have a worldwide distribution and are normally found near the sea, rivers, or wetlands. Terns are treated as a subgroup of the family Laridae which includes gulls and skimmers and consists of e ...
and five species of alcid.
References
External links
A drawing of the New Passage hotel in 1789 by Samuel Grimm
British Library
Further reading
*
{{South Gloucestershire
Villages in South Gloucestershire District