Exploring Newport

We took off in the morning and went back to Magor where we got some photocopying done. As we walked back to the car, we peered into the Ebenezer Baptist Church window and a woman asked if we'd like to see inside. Val got the key to the church and gave us a complete tour. She explained that the Llanvaches church was the Mother Church to their church. She also told us of satellite churches, one in Undy. Evidently, church members could opt to be buried at the Bethany Cemetery, at one of the satellite church cemetery or at the Magor cemetery next to the Church of St. Mary. She mentioned that in order to be legal, everyone needed to be married in the Church of Wales.

After our unexpected tour of the church, we hurried back to Cardiff to meet with Geoff and Kate. Kate opted to stay home while we made our way to Newport to look at the various Pearce properties.

We attempted to find the properties sequentially, but the streets of Newport were an absolute maze. We found a number of the old family homes. One was close to a cattle market- the smells would have made life there quite interesting.

We drove to Church Street to locate one of the two foundries of Britannia Works of Pearce and Richards, We found the building and it is currently in use. The former owner was GKN and had used it as a foundry.

After driving through the maze of one way streets, we finally found Graham Street and located 45 Graham Street. Parked in front of the house was a van, "Stephanie Roberts Mosaic artist". Stephanie and her husband and two children rent the property and were happy to take us into the house. This house, in the 1861 census, showed Joseph (46), Susannah (42, Elizabeth (21), James (20), Edwin (16), Charles (13), Josiah (9), Anne (4), Albert (2). It was hard to imagine 9 people living in this tiny house (made all the more difficult by Stephanie's 'housekeeping' – the house was filled to capacity with stuff, piled on the floors, running up the steps.

It was a bit like a huge scavenger hunt and we actually did pretty well. At last, it was back to Cardiff to pick up Kate and head for dinner. We drove to 'the mountains' to a thatched roof restaurant called Traveler’s Rest. We had a hearty Welsh dinner – a beef and Guiness pot pie with mashed potatoes and gravy and the traditional English peas. No need to eat more than one meal a day with this cuisine.