Principal area · Wales
Newport
Explore Newport’s Roman, medieval and maritime history alongside its parkland, canal heritage and bird habitats.
Quick facts
- Type of place
- Principal area
- Nation
- Wales
- Official identifier
- gss:W06000022
- Part of
- Wales (Nation)
Overview
This profile covers Newport’s principal area in Wales. Its local history ranges from the Roman legion at Caerleon to a transporter bridge and the remains of a medieval ship. Houses, museums, wetlands and canal sites add different perspectives on the wider council area.
Newport is a principal area in Wales.
Population and demographics
- Land area
- 190.44 km²
-
Figures for . ONS EW MYE25 workbook geography: Notes April 2024; landing edition 2023 boundaries.
Office for National Statistics · ons-mid-2025 · MYE5!D365 (binary spreadsheet decimal rounded to 6 dp). Released 29 July 2026.
Open Government Licence v3.0 · Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0
- Population
- 168,584 people
-
Figures for . ONS EW MYE25 workbook geography: Notes April 2024; landing edition 2023 boundaries.
Office for National Statistics · ons-mid-2025 · MYE2 - Persons!D365. Released 29 July 2026.
Open Government Licence v3.0 · Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0
Population density: 885.3 people per km²
Calculated from the population and land area for 30 June 2025, using figures from the same release and covering the same boundaries.
Roman heritage, houses and collections
Caerleon housed the Roman Second Augustan Legion. St Woolos Cathedral preserves a different part of the area’s history: a twelfth-century Norman church within later medieval work, followed by Victorian restoration and a modern east end. Tredegar House is a seventeenth-century mansion surrounded by parkland. Newport Museum and Art Gallery began collecting material about local history, culture and the environment in 1888, providing another way to explore the area’s past.
Waterways, engineering and wildlife
The Transporter Bridge dates from 1906. Beside the Usk, the Medieval Ship’s timbers were discovered in 2002. These are separate examples of Newport’s maritime and engineering history. The wider area includes canal heritage at Fourteen Locks and bird habitats at Newport Wetlands. The wetlands provide places for birds to feed, nest and shelter, adding a landscape perspective to the profile’s buildings and collections.