Girls pitch in with history society's bid to unearth Newport secrets
Young history buffs have been helping to measure shopfronts and learn about a town's medieval past.
Newport Girls High School history students Lucy Dover, Charlotte Gregory, Orla O'Byrne, and Carys Lloyd ventured out with archaeologist Wendy Haughton of Newport History Society on September 1.
They spent two Sundays with other volunteers measuring the frontages of the High Street, St Mary's Street and other streets to work out which parts of Newport were originally planned in the new town, and which might have been added later.
Linda Fletcher from the history society said: "The original plots were all 16ft 6 ins wide; this is a medieval measurement called 'a perch'. One of the plots which one wouldn't be surprised about was the Guildhall's left hand building, 1 High Street, is exactly a perch wide.
"The town council gave a grant to the Newport History Society to assist in analysing these frontages."
The society's high visibility tabards were purchased with money from town councillor Eric Carter's Community Pride Fund.
