THIS picture shows The Cross Inn, Caldicot.

In 1837, Caldicot had a population of about 450, virtually all of whom were engaged in farming or in trades serving the agricultural community. The village was dominated by the castle and the church.

There was no school, the only formal education being provided by a widow in her cottage. She was paid by a local charity to teach poor children to write and to read the Bible.

But, in 1847 St. Mary’s Church School opened, largely as a result of the efforts of the vicar, Edmund Turberville Williams.

In 1850 Caldicot entered the Railway Age, a development which was to fundamentally change the nature of the village and to form its character for the next century and more. The opening of the South Wales Railway brought London, Cardiff, even Ireland within relatively easy reach. The railway attracted industry.

In 1862 Henry Hughes of Tintern opened a wireworks next to the railway at Caldicot Pill. It soon became the village’s major employer, attracting many new workers. Some of these were housed in a row of cottages built next to the factory, known as Forge Row.

In 1877 the Wireworks was sold and in 1880 it reopened as a Tinplate Works, producing tinplate for the canning industry. In 1879 work began on the shaft for the Severn Tunnel, which was built primarily to transport coal from South Wales to England. The construction work brought hundreds of navies to the village.

After it was completed, many of them left, but the presence of the marshalling yards at Severn Tunnel Junction meant Caldicot was now firmly a railway village.

During the first half of the 20th century Caldicot continued to grow steadily, the government decided to build a new steelworks at Llanwern and Caldicot was designated as a suitable home for the thousands of steelworkers. Expansion plans were revised upwards.

Llanwern steelworks opened in 1962 and by the end of the decade Caldicot was occupied by more than 7,000 people and was still growing. The village was fast becoming a town.

The growth of the community was furthered by the opening of the Severn Bridge in 1966, strengthening the ties between Caldicot and the Bristol region.

Courtesy of Caldicot and District Historical and Archaeological Society.