Newport Ship Newport Ship The Newport Ship is a mid-fifteenth-century sailing vessel discovered by archaeologists in June 2002 in the city of Newport, South East Wales. It was found on the west bank of the River Usk, which runs through the city centre, during the building of the Riverfront Arts Centre; from which process it sustained some damage. The official name of the vessel is now the Newport Medieval Ship, to help distinguish it from other medieval vessels found in the area. The ship was originally around long and has been estimated to be of 161 tons burden - that being the
Newport, Wales Around the settlement, the new town grew to become Newport, obtaining its first charter in 1314 and was granted a second one, by Hugh Stafford, 2nd Earl of Stafford in 1385. In the 14th century friars came to Newport where they built an isolation hospital for infectious diseases. After its closure the hospital lived on in the place name "Spitty Fields" (a corruption of "ysbyty", the Welsh for hospital). "Austin Friars" also remains a street name in the city. During the Welsh Revolt in 1402 Rhys Gethin, General for Owain Glyndŵr, forcibly took Newport Castle together with those at Cardiff,