Opening of Bishton Church Exhibition 

At the end of June a new historical exhibition in St Cadwaladr’s Church was launched and is now open daily to the public from 10am - 4pm. A team of four local Bishton residents researched and wrote the exhibition for the Church Project Group. The Living Levels Partnership provided professional support and obtained funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The exhibition covers the history of Bishton since the early medieval period, including its’ unique heritage of having a Celtic King as patron saint and founder, hosting a palace for the Bishops of Llandaff, and in modern times being a neighbour to what is now the Tata steel works.

It has taken almost 3 years from the initial concept to installation of the exhibition, and many hours of work by the local team. One of the team members, Rob Hepworth (who is also a Bishton Community Councillor) said

“The most satisfying aspect of the exhibition for me was allowing King and Saint Cadwaladr - a half- forgotten Welsh hero - to step out of the shadows. He reigned as King of Gwynedd, the dominant ruler in Wales in the mid 7th century, and his name was linked during his own era to our village whose original Welsh name was Llangadwaladr. As well as bearing a name which literally means “battle leader” he was also called “blessed” due to his pious reputation in the early medieval church in Wales. After his death Cadwaladr became a saint and mythical redeemer of Wales. The exhibition also reveals his close links with the origin of the Red Dragon - Y Ddraig Goch - as the national symbol of Wales. It was claimed to have originally been the Red Dragon of Cadwaladr, as a recent BBC news article noted.“

Other aspects of Bishton’s history captured in the exhibit are the coming of the railways, the former village school, the impact of the World Wars, and the lives of generations of people in a farming village on the edge of the Gwent Levels.

The Reverend Julian White, former parish priest in Bishton, who now ministers in Mathern, formally cut the ribbon to open the exhibition on 28 June 2019 and everyone is invited to take a look!

Bishton Project Group

Any inquiries to Rob Hepworth 07507 162147  rghepworth@gmail.com

Bishton Past and Present Day 29th January 2017

The Bishton Project Group and other local residents organised this exhibition in the Village Hall, which attracted about 100 visitors. The event is part of plans under the National Heritage Fund - Living Levels Project to establish a permanent historical exhibit in St Cadwaladr's Church, Bishton. Here are some photographs of the exhibits :

Bishton Community Council are undertaking a large community project in partnership with Active Underwood.

The first stage of the project is a large capital investment to increase the capacity of Underwood Community Centre and move Underwood Barbell into a new facility. This will create room for the service to expand and meet its growing demands in the community. The extension will also allow storage capacity to be improved which has become a big issue, especially for the Mum's and Tots group. The project will then move into the second stage which will see Underwood Barbell become the first "Community Business Enterprise" managed by Active Underwood. It is a community model which we hope will give the community ownership of the services in the area and allow them to have a big say in how services are used. In the future we hope to create a number of "Community Business Enterprises" through Active Underwood which will provide a service to the community and stream investment from profits back into it. 

Please see the dedicated project area via the website Home page which gives full details of the project, updated plans and ongoing project updates. 

We are lucky to have the countryside on our door step. For the sake of our physical and mental health not to mention the sheer enjoyment of being outside in the fresh air, we should try to take advantage of our environment.

A partnership of 12 organisations and local authorities in Wales, was awarded £321,100, with a further £2.5 million ‘ringfenced’, from the Heritage Lottery Fund to help recapture, enhance and tell the story of the unique Gwent Levels landscape – a patchwork of tranquil fertile fields and historic watercourses sweeping the Severn Estuary coastline between Cardiff and Chepstow.
Bishton and Wilcrick villages are within the project area.

Unlike most of Wales, this is a place of big skies and wide horizons. The landscape is one of the finest examples of a landscape crafted by man and is the largest area of coastal and floodplain grazing marsh in Wales. Reclaimed from the sea in Roman times, the maintenance of this ancient drainage system of field ditches is vital to protect communities from flooding - a threat which is becoming ever more pertinent with climate change and rising tides.

The project aims to reconnect the communities and visitors to the landscape by working with volunteers, farmers, local groups, businesses and communities to collectively showcase the historical heritage. It aims to bring the stories from this fascinating landscape to life, many of which are yet untold and promises to engage and captivate both old and new visitors to the Gwent Levels.

The Project wants to make sure that we celebrate all that the Levels has to offer; its wildlife, its people and its economy. In late August 2017, the Partnership submitted an application for the second phase of funding for the delivery of 24 different projects across a variety of themes, scheduled to commence in 2018 if successful. This includes a permanent exhibition proposed for Bishton church.

If you would like to find out more about the programme or relate a story about the Gwent Levels, please contact the the Partnership via their Twitter page or Facebook page, or telephone on 01633 292982.

Programme Partners: Buglife Cymru, Bumblebee Conservation Trust, Cardiff Story Museum ,City of Cardiff Council, Newport City Council, Gwent Archives, Gwent Wildlife Trust, Monmouthshire County Council, National Trust, Natural Resources Wales, RSPB Cymru, Sustrans.