Langstone, Newport
Langstone is an electoral ward and smaller village and community of the city of Newport, Wales. The area is governed by the Newport City Council. The community had a population of 3,279 in 2011. Location. Langstone is situated on the eastern edge of the city and is one of Newport's more affluent areas, less than a mile from Junction 24 (Coldra) of the M4 motorway. Some of the ward is hilly and heavily forested. It is bounded to the north and east by the city boundary, to the west by the Caerleon ward and to the south  west by the Ringland and Llanwern wards. Development. The original village was a small linear settlement along the A48 (Chepstow Road) and its offshoot, Tregarn Road. Since the 1990s, many have moved to the area because of its appeal as being rural, but also minutes away from the M4 motorway. This population influx in the '90s resulted in the construction of a large housing development at the bottom of Cat's Ash Road, together with developments of housing estates, big and small, along Tregarn Road and Magor Road. The ward contains the parishes of Penhow and Llanvaches, as well as  the parish of Langstone (population 2,770). The parish itself contains the hamlets of Llanbedr, Llandevaud and Llanmartin as well as Langstone itself. History. The actual village of Langstone (excluding the adjoining villages of Penhow-Parc Seymour, Llanvaches, Llandevaud, Llanbedr and Llanmartin) in 1801 had 126 inhabitants. By 1901 the population had risen to 206. The United Kingdom Census 2001 recorded the population as 3,905 people. In 1891 Kelly's Directory of Monmouthshire noted that Llanbedr was a hamlet, one and a half miles north-east of the parish, on the road from Newport to Chepstow. There were some remains of  a church there, being then used as a barn. In July 2018, after a long period of warm dry weather, crop marks of a prehistoric or Roman farm near the village were revealed. The site was recorded by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW) before it disappeared again with the next rains. The parish church has 13th-century origins. In 1622 the nave was extended after the south porch, which is probably 16th-century. The church was restored in 1907 and north and south chapels to the chancel probably date from this time. It  is a Grade II listed building. It is part of the Magor Ministry. It has no known patron saint. Scheduled Ancient Monuments. The Schedule of Ancient Monuments has 11 entries for the Langstone ward: Both Pencoed Castle and Penhow Castle fall within the boundaries of Langstone ward. Penhow Castle is privately owned. The area is also home to Penhow Quarry, owned by Hanson plc. Amenities. Langstone Primary School celebrated its 50th birthday in 2004, and currently has about 300 pupils. Until the 1970s the school intake stretched as far as Nash, Goldcliff, Whitson, Llanwern, Bishton and Llandevaud. The school it  is now well over capacity, however, serving simply Langstone and its surrounds. Pupils receiving a Welsh-medium education have the Welsh-medium as their local school. The Member of Parliament for Newport East, which includes Langstone, is Jessica Morden (Labour) who assumed office in 2005. The Member of the Senedd for Newport East is John Griffiths, who assumed office in 1999.