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Scwrfa Road, TREDEGAR, NP22 4DU

The Chartist leader Zephaniah Williams lived at no. 10. He was leader of the local Chartists who marched to Newport in November 1839. This led to a number of the Chartists being shot and killed by soldiers. He was convicted for high treason and sentenced to death by hanging, drawing and quartering but this was later commuted to transportation to Australia. Image Image Image Image

John Rees 'Jack the Fifer' (1815-1893). For more on the life of Jack the Fifer and the Chartist Uprising see "The Man from the Alamo" by John Humphries. The inscription reads: John Rees, better known as Jack the fifer (a fife was a small high-pitched flute), was a mason by trade. He was heavily involved in the Chartist Rising of 1839. In 1835 jack fought in the Texan War of independence before returning to Wales. It was his military experience in having been part of an ill-equipped group of fighters that captured San Antonio from regular Mexican soldiers that led him to be chosen to lead the Chartist attack, on the Westgate Hotel in Newport, at the head of a column of Tredegar pikemen and gunmen. At 7pm on 3rd November 1839 an estimated 5 to 6,000 men had assembled here, at Twyn-y-Star, ready for the march to Newport via Ebbw Vale. The attack on the Westgate ended in failure but Jack evaded capture and escaped to Texas where he re-joined the army before heading west to California to join the gold rush. The Chartist lodge in Dukestown was the oldest in the Sirhowy Valley; here, Zephaniah Williams lived before moving to Blaina in early 1839. Its headquarters was the Star Inn, (Twyn-y-Star) . Many meetings of the rebel command were held here during 1839 before the rising and the Star field (now built over) was the site of one of the largest public gatherings anywhere in Wales during the 19th century. On 12th August 1839, Chartist speakers called upon Queen Victoria to dissolve Parliament and accept the People's Charter as the basis for electing a new Government for the country.

This was the area where the earliest Chartist lodge was formed in 1839. In May 1839 a rally of almost 5000 people gathered in a nearby field. One of the leaders of the Chartists lived nearby http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3191009. A memorial to some of those who died in the uprising is situated near to the bus stop on the right.

Bilingual memorial to three Chartists who were killed in Newport during the uprising of 1839 http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3191442 . For information on the local Chartists see http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3191171 . For a contemporary report of the event see http://www.newportpast.com/nfs/strands/frost/report.htm .

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3191425

The trail marker for John Rees 'Jack the Fifer', who was one of the leaders of the Chartist Uprising in 1839, is on the right http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3613034 . The Chartist Memorial is on the left http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3191425 .

This OS cut mark can be found on the wall of Merion House, St Lukes Road. It marks a point 336.685m above mean sea level.

This OS cut mark can be found on the east angle of the RC Church. It marks a point 319.504m above mean sea level.

Construction of a new Cemetery Road bridge over the A465. The existing bridge on the left will be demolished. See http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3880338 for this site one month earlier.