Underwood is a settlement in the city of

Newport Newport most commonly refers to: *Newport, Wales *Newport, Rhode Island, US Newport or New Port may also refer to: Places Asia *Newport City, Metro Manila, a Philippine district in Pasay * Newport (Vietnam), a United States Army and Army of t ...

, South East Wales. It is an early 1960s

council housing Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council housing or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011, when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in social housing. D ...

estate that consists of houses, shops, a

leisure centre A leisure centre, sports centre, or recreation centre is a purpose-built building or site, usually owned and provided by the local government authority, where people can engage in a variety of sports and exercise, and keep fit. Typical facilit ...

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

and social club called "Iscoed Tavern" owned by the company red dragon pubs. There is a community centre which has a gym attached to it. The leisure centre is now up for sale.

Post-War development

The Underwood Estate was originally developed from the former

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Prisoner of War camp after the end of the war. A few surviving examples of the former PoW huts were still visible until the early 1990s when they were demolished. The original huts stood as early community buildings. In the early 1980s several huts and a water tower were also visible on the now Waltwood Park Drive area, this area belonged to the

General Post Office The General Post Office (GPO) was the state postal system and telecommunications carrier of the United Kingdom until 1969. Established in England in the 17th century, the GPO was a state monopoly covering the dispatch of items from a specific ...

and was used to house old telecommunications equipment until it was sold and demolished by

British Telecom BT Group plc (formerly British Telecom) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is the largest provider of fixed-li ...

who took over the site when BT was

privatised Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation wh ...

in the early 1980s. The land was subsequently sold to Westbury homes who built the Waltwood Park Drive Development of around 220 houses on the land. The estate is situated in a natural land formation within the falls of a wooded area on the south and north side and a small drainage ditch or

reen A rhyne (Somerset), rhine/rhyne (Gloucestershire), or reen (South Wales) (all pronounced "reen"; from Old English ''ryne'' or Welsh Language, Welsh ''rhewyn'' or ''rhewin'' "ditch") is a drainage ditch, or canal, used to turn areas of wetla ...

called "Monks Ditch" on the northern side of the development. Built in three phases, with the Waltwood Park Development being the last of the three phases. Many people believe that the Underwood Estate was created for the local steelworks at

Llanwern Llanwern is a village and community in the eastern part of the city of Newport, South East Wales. The name may be translated as "the church among the grove of the alders". Location and populace Llanwern is bounded by the M4 and Langstone t ...

, as it was constructed at the same time as the Richard Thomas and Baldwins "Spencer Works" was being built. This has some truth, as originally people moved into the huts after the war. However the local council at the time,

Magor and St Mellons Rural District Magor may refer to the following: ;Places * Magor, Monmouthshire, a village in Wales, United Kingdom * Magor with Undy, a community in Wales, United Kingdom * Magor Farm, a Romano-British villa near Illogan in Cornwall * Breton name for Magoar * Co ...

Council, created the housing estate with post-war initiatives for more housing, hence why the second phase of the housing development consists of rapid construction poured

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...

houses which are very sturdy in construction and much stronger than traditional

bricks-and-mortar Brick and mortar (or B&M) is an organization or business with a physical presence in a building or other structure. The term ''brick-and-mortar business'' is often used to refer to a company that possesses or leases retail shops, factory product ...

houses.

Amenities

The Leisure Centre was considered to be one of the best

s in the area, even though it has no swimming pool. In fact it was widely known as one of the first in

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. It was built from funding provided by Richard Thomas and Baldwins, when the steelworks was constructed, built on land donated to the community by local farmer, Mr. Weeks, and still covered by a covenant on the land by the original donor. However, there are moves to change this donation to build upon the land, of which the local residents are ardently opposed to. Within the Llanmartin area, a large man-made

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

is located. This reservoir is built on Waltwood Hill. It consists of four lagoons which contain

Grey water Greywater (or grey water, sullage, also spelled gray water in the United States) refers to domestic wastewater generated in households or office buildings from streams without fecal contamination, i.e., all streams except for the wastewater fro ...

. This water is used at the Llanwern steelworks. It remains private property and is off-limits to the public. Also, Pencoed Castle is situated nearby. A small hamlet of Llanmartin consists of farms and a number of houses — the Old Barn Llanmartin is an old circa 1800 barn converted to a local public house serving quality food and drink. Within St. Martin's

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is a tomb of the ancestors from Pencoed Castle.

References

* http://www.citypopulation.de/php/uk-wales.php?cityid=W37000219 {{authority control Villages in Newport, Wales