Transport by Paddle Steamer - Anne Dunton

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 Anne Dunton writes about travelling by paddle steamer from Newport

Who has memories of childhood trips to Clevedon, Penarth, Weston or Ilfracombe? Do you have any photos to share? Do you remember the gentle trip down the river, then finally reaching ‘the sea’? And watching and listening to the churn of the paddles. From the late 19thcentury until the 1950s paddle steamers of the White Funnel Line sailed during the summer from D. B. wharf near the old Art College.

Steamers then could pass easily under the Transporter Bridge and up to Newport Bridge, but the town’s new bridges prevent ships coming so far upstream. In the 1970s when the Waverley and Balmoral came into service they had to moor at Newport Docks.

Take a walk along the river bank from the castle to the Transporter, spotting the creosote soaked timber stumps of the wharves and disused dry docks, as a reminder of the days when the Usk was busy with shipping and workers. Now it’s a nostalgic urban stroll, where two memorials remind us of lives lost by mariners during World War II.

These photographs are from Newport Past.

0224 paddle steamer at the landing stage
just below Newport Bridge



0330 Paddle steamer loaded with passengers at a landing stage



0229 Glen Avon. The wharf is on the east bank
with the art college in the background


0395 SS Albion with Newport town and St Woolos Cathedral
on the hill in the back ground




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