My earliest memories of Pill begin in about 1928. Having been born at No.3 Courtybella Street in 1925, I can vaguely recall looking through the railings outside my house at the engines pulling, pushing and shunting trucks forwards and backwards along what appeared as a mass of railway lines that separated Courtybella Street from Courtybella Terrace.
Before the age of four years I moved with my parents and older sister to Malpas. However, between 1930 and 1935 I was taken on regular visits to my grandparents who, by then were living at No.23 Alexandra Road. I listened avidly to stories of their early days in Pill.
Before the first World War my grandparents owned a fish and chips bar in Commercial Road opposite the Plaza cinema, one of Pill's three cinemas. My father, Harry, at 13 years of age was quite an accomplished pianist, and was occasionally asked to play music to accompany the silent films being shown at the Plaza. Such occasions arose when the 'regular' pianist either failed to arrive or was too drunk to play.
Pill was always an exciting part of Newport, mainly because of its extensive thriving docks and the constant arrivals of cargo ships from every part of the world, bringing also a colourful variety of crew members.
It was not unusual to see five or six or more 'coolies' wearing Tommy Cooper-style fez's on their heads walking through Pill in single file on a shopping spree. One of their popular purchases were lengths of check patterned linen.
During school holidays I often spent a week or more with my grandparents. It was always a thrill to cycle alongside my grandfather, accompany him to the docks where he worked as a chief stevedore. I was allowed to spend the day watching him standing on the upper deck of a ship controlling the loading or unloading of its cargo. This he did by voice and hand-signals to the crane driver and the men working in the ship's hold fifteen or twenty feet below.
Almost anywhere I looked beyond the ship I could see numerous other ships being loaded or unloaded by many cranes with their jibs, carrying huge hooks raising and lowering, and swinging around from ship to shore and back again.
My grandfather originally came from a sea-faring Devonshire family. In addition to four sisters he had five brothers; all yachtsmen. He had sailed twice around the world in sailing ships before he was 21. I have fascinating letters sent to him by his brother, Harry, between 1896 and 1900 from Finland, and Italy.
It wasn't until 1950 that I discovered that his cousin, Tom Diaper, (born in 1867) had been a famous skipper of Sir Thomas Lipton's yachts competing in the Americas Cup races. My mother discovered his book, "Tom Diaper's Log" in a local library. It had been compiled from detailed diaries he had kept throughout his life. In it he refers to his visits to Newport to see his granddaughter Doreen.
It is difficult for me to drive through Pill now without a degree of nostalgia, accompanied by attempts to recall what stood where new buildings dominate the new environment. I did so recently, and just beyond St Stephen's Church discovered the Pillgwenlly Heritage Centre. There I was able to refresh my memory of "Old Pill" as I once knew it.
Ralph Diaper - Pill, Newport - 2002
See our Voices from Pill website for more about this area of Newport.
