The Rogerstone Directory - History Articles

Rogerstone Viaduct

The growth of the iron and coal industries further up the valleys was instrumental in the coming of the Railway through Rogerstone. Right from the beginning Tydu was a significant Holt.

1885 saw the coming of Nettlefolds to the area. They purchased over forty acres of land and erected two distinct works at Tydu and lower Tregwilym Road. The 'nail' works at Tydu was connected to the 'iron & steel' works lower down on Tregwilym Road by an internal rail system. A private siding and rail link to the G.W. R. system was provided over a substantial stone viaduct of ten arches. Height was needed for the new "Bessemer" system of steel manufacture, the raw materials being fed into high melting cupolas. According to an article by Mr Edgar Brown, a former steel company executive, "the height of the G.W.R. lines layout above the old track into the 'old Rogie' works really determined the height of the road bridge, that also suited the 'charging' Platform for the 2 cupolas."

In the 1930s a new GKN plant was built at Cardiff and GKN in Rogerstone was closed by 1938.

With the threat of war, the Air Ministry approached The Northern Aluminium Company in 1939 to supervise construction of and manage an aluminium sheet and extrusion factory on behalf of the British Government. One of the instrumental factors for choosing the Rogerstone site was that the railway link was still intact.

Although the rail system continued to be used as part of the firms internal transport system, by the 1960s there was no longer a connection to the main railway line.

The limited height of the bridge across the main road was becoming a traffic hazard. With headroom of only 13' 3", further reduced by the arch-shaped brickwork, a number of accidents involving buses and high vehicles had occurred. Buses had to pull out into the middle of the road when passing under the bridge to avoid hitting the structure.



On 17th July 1969 "more than twelve people, mainly young children, narrowly escaped death when the top of their double-decker bus was sliced off as it went under a bridge at Rogerstone" the South Wales Argus reported.

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