# Newport Chartist mural to be demolished to make way for shopping centre



## teqniq (Feb 21, 2013)

WTF?







So it says here

Now I will admit I didn't know about this piece of Newport's history, but you would think they might want to keep it but apparently the great god of shopping and redevelopment trumps all and it's not the first time this has been on the cards.


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## butchersapron (Feb 21, 2013)

Not just a memorial to the chartists, but to an insurrection, to an attempted revolution.

edit: Which makes the stuff on the banners there ever so slightly wrong and more a general illustration of chartist demands


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## editor (Feb 21, 2013)

Fuck's sake.


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## ddraig (Feb 24, 2013)

https://twitter.com/SaveOurMural


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## junglevip (Mar 3, 2013)

Kill the bastards!


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## William of Walworth (Mar 4, 2013)

This is bonkers. Good luck with any campaigning.


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## ddraig (Oct 3, 2013)

watch the brutal and amateur demolition 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-24386566


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## StoneRoad (Oct 3, 2013)

Destroying that mural stinks .... such a shame, IMO about as bad as the Victorians digging up Hadrain's Wall to quarry out the Whinstone from underneath ...... I can't see the logic of not keeping something that commemorates important historical events. Basically I feel that the re-development should have been designed to incorporate the mural.


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## teqniq (Oct 3, 2013)

> ArgusLLea: Police hand out pieces of the mural http://t.co/ddBEoTYgu1



the council should be ashamed of themselves


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## ddraig (Oct 3, 2013)

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/local-news/chartist-mural-demolished-protesters-vent-6134407
more pics of people getting bits


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## ddraig (Oct 4, 2013)

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices...casual-act-of-cultural-vandalism-8858692.html
by Rob Williams


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## littlebabyjesus (Oct 4, 2013)

Is John Frost Square losing its name too? I guess it must be. Shame. It's quite a grotty bit of Newport, but that mural used to cheer me up when I saw it - it smacked of a sense of civic pride. Newport is pushing hard to be a 'centre of business and enterprise' nowadays. Tearing this down is pretty symbolic.


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## el-ahrairah (Oct 4, 2013)

fucking hell, the absolute bastards.  like lbj says, this is proper symbolic.  i assume that they haven;t allowed it to be redone in any form elsewhere?  perrhaps some people need to take it upon themselves to do it.


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## littlebabyjesus (Oct 5, 2013)

Mixed-up messages from the council. They say it's too expensive to preserve it after just getting one quote for the job, then that they'll do something new to commemorate the Chartists, then this: "The mural is a modern-day depiction of an historical event that happened in Newport and has served to remind us of Newport's past, but we must now focus on Newport's future."

No sense of civic pride there, it seems. They wanted rid.


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## ddraig (Oct 5, 2013)

ai
heathens


> In the aftermath of the demolition, meanwhile, the council issued a statement.
> 
> “The mural is a modern-day depiction of an historical event that happened in Newport and has served to remind us of Newport’s past, but we must now focus on Newport’s future.”
> 
> ...


http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/news-opinion/carolyn-hitt-irony-bulldozing-art-6140069


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## ddraig (Oct 5, 2013)

200 people today
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-24414165


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## ddraig (Oct 5, 2013)

insurrections aren't what they used to be - Paul Flynn
http://paulflynnmp.typepad.com/


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## treelover (Oct 6, 2013)

shocking just been sent a link to this, nothing can be done now though.

good turn out though


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## treelover (Oct 6, 2013)

> Looking at pics of Chartist mural, it isn't even attached to that wall...it could have been saved. Shame on you."


 
Swines, it was clearly a political act in the sense they don't want to be reminded of this seminal event


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## bendeus (Oct 6, 2013)




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## Maurice Picarda (Oct 6, 2013)

Does anybody feel that the mural had any artistic merit?


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## ddraig (Oct 6, 2013)

yes


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## Maurice Picarda (Oct 6, 2013)

Maybe it was more impressive in the flesh.


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## nogojones (Oct 6, 2013)

Silas Loom said:


> Does anybody feel that the mural had any artistic merit?



One of the nicest bits of Newport


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## ddraig (Oct 7, 2013)

not about PR but about Respect
http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/10720690.THE_NEWSDESK__This_isn__39_t_about_PR__it__39_s_about_respect/


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## farmerbarleymow (Oct 7, 2013)

ddraig said:


> not about PR but about Respect
> http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/10720690.THE_NEWSDESK__This_isn__39_t_about_PR__it__39_s_about_respect/


 
That's a pretty good article, especially given local papers are usually dire these days.  Good for them.

I think they should have saved it - it can't be that difficult to remove a mural from a wall, and even if it has to be broken up to do so, that can be fixed when it is installed somewhere else.  £600k sounds a bit steep too.

Makes me grateful that the People's History Museum has survived the budget cuts here in Manchester - we can and should preserve things like this, simply because they are important historically if nothing else.  If they do nothing else, hopefully they will remind people of the fights that our ancestors had to get the rights we deserved, and that has to be a good thing.


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## shygirl (Oct 13, 2013)

What a violation. And so sad.  Cardiff City Council wanted to sell thousands of very old and rare books a couple of years ago.  Luckily, protests succeeded in reversing that decision.  The sneaky bastards in Newport destroyed as quickly as they could, for I imagine they feared a similar outcome if the campaign to save the mural grew stronger.


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## shygirl (Oct 13, 2013)

Even the photos of workmen who destroyed it picking up the pieces are poignant.  I bet they will have some sleepless nights.


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## nogojones (Oct 15, 2013)




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## ddraig (Oct 15, 2013)

oh.dear


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## ddraig (Oct 15, 2013)

so there was a downfall parody and someone thinks it's so good whoever created it should get a bafta and job in the marketing department at Newport council 
ffs
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/newport-council-lampooned-over-destruction-6185362
they do know it is just dubbed over don't they?  don't they? 


> "Whoever did it should at least get a Bafta," he said.
> 
> "If not they should be up for an Oscar for the script. And the lighting is exceptional!"
> 
> ...


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## teqniq (Oct 15, 2013)

What a bunch of fucking losers.


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## spacemonkey (Oct 15, 2013)

ddraig said:


> so there was a downfall parody and someone thinks it's so good whoever created it should get a bafta and job in the marketing department at Newport council
> ffs
> http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/newport-council-lampooned-over-destruction-6185362
> they do know it is just dubbed over don't they?  don't they?



YOU DON'T EVEN LIVE HERE. YOU LIVE IN FUCKING CARDIFF.


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## ddraig (Oct 18, 2013)

Michael Sheen not happy about it either
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-24578061


> "Firstly, the vicious irony of something that was created to celebrate those who risked much for the good of all, being wiped out without consulting the people themselves, and under the auspices of a Labour led city council serving the needs of profit above all else, is both absurd as well as tragic," he said.


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## ddraig (Oct 23, 2013)

great letter pointing out the errors and failures of not listing and or moving


> *Save Newport Mural* ‏@SaveOurMural4m
> Check out this stinging letter: http://bit.ly/20thCenturyLetter2CultureMinister… - # JohnPontiusPilateGriffiths... http://fb.me/2JS9w4iEc


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## teqniq (Oct 23, 2013)

I think persons within the council/business community just wanted it gone, come what may. As a consequence Cadw may have been compromised in furtherance of this, though this would be next to impossible to prove.


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## ddraig (Nov 6, 2013)

letter justifying the destruction
https://www.facebook.com/SaveOurMural/posts/485458098235262


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## teqniq (Nov 6, 2013)

Will Godfrey is very good at meaningless waffle.


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## butchersapron (Oct 6, 2014)

175TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE1839 CHARTIST RISING: SOME EVENTS IN NEWPORT

FREE at Newport Museum & Art Gallery
Visitors can see on the first  floor the outstanding permanent Chartist displays opened 2010 and from 18 October with a chance to see original Chartist broadsheets, lithographs, posters and bills from the collection.

*Tuesday 28 October 7.00pm* - Lecture in the Art Gallery with Prof. Chris Williams (Head of History at Cardiff University):
“Sir Thomas Phillips - The Great Hero of the Newport Rising”

*Saturday 1 November:*
10.0 -16.00: 8th Annual Newport Chartist Convention at Newport City Campus:
AM Session: What was the 1839 South Wales ‘Rising’? Three history professors lead discussion: Malcolm Chase (Leeds), Owen Ashton (Staffordshire) and Chris Williams (Cardiff)

PM Session: Women and the Vote, Merthyr Rising 1831 – Val Williams (Chance Encounters Theatre) Chartism & Women - Joan Allen (Newcastle University) Newport Suffragettes - Ryland Wallace The Bird in the Cage - Winding Snake Production. Animation film about Lady Rhondda

*Tuesday 4 November*
3.00pm at the Murrenger,High Street:
This month’s Newport Museum’s Down Your Local is going to be a Chartist Rising special. Paul Busby, local historian will be talking about Thomas Prothero, the arch enemy of John Frost, followed by discussion about the 1839 events.

*Saturday 8 November:*
Chartist Day at the Museum & Art Gallery:
Activities for all ages, discover the story behind what happened at the Westgate 1839

For information about more events surrounding the anniversary request a copy of Chartist Magazine from its editor:   les.james22@gmail.com


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