John Frost Square

John Frost Square (2009), looking south

John Frost Square was a large public shopping space in the centre of Newport, Wales, named after the Chartist leader, John Frost. It was demolished in 2014 as part of the Friars Walk redevelopment of the area.

History

John Frost Square (2007), looking north

John Frost Square was completed in 1977, following 16 years of planning.[1] In 1978 a mosaic mural by artist Kenneth Budd, commemorating the 1839 Chartist uprising, was added to the underpass in the northeast corner of the square.[2]

Major features on John Frost Square included the Newport Museum, Library and Art Gallery, the headquarters of the Monmouthshire Building Society and the north entrance to Kingsway Shopping Centre.

Clock

Following the 1992 National Garden Festival (held in Ebbw Vale), a public clock created for the event was moved and relocated in John Frost Square. Designed by sculptor Andy Plant and called "In the Nick of Time", the clock desconstructed itself at the top of each hour as model figures paraded around it.[3] With skeletons holding hour glasses it functioned as a modern momento mori.[4] The Lonely Planet guide to Wales described it as "a hilarious clock tower that falls to pieces on the hour".[5] The clock was dismantled in 2008 and put into storage, until 2011 when it was sold to local property developers for £10,000 to re-erect on a 240 hectare Glan Llyn housing development on the old Llanwern Steelworks site.[3]

Demolition and redevelopment

The Chartist Mural was demolished by the city council, despite protests, in October 2013.[6] Shops on the east side of the square were closed and John Frost Square was demolished in January 2014, in preparation for a £100 million refurbishment of the city centre and a new shopping centre, Friar's Walk.[2]

References

  1. ↑ "John Frost Square". Surveyor 150. 1977. p. 13. A breath of fresh to Newport's town the completion of Newport's John Frost Square late last year marked the end of 16 years planning, development and construction. The square is the only large open space in the town's commercial area...
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Greg Walton (3 January 2014). "Newport divided over radical revamp plan". Wales Online. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Newport mechanical clock gets new home in Llanwern". BBC News. 24 March 2013. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
  4. ↑ Newman, John (2000), The Buildings of Wales: Gwent/Monmouthshire, Penguin Books, p. 453, ISBN 0-14-071053-1
  5. ↑ Atkinson, David; Wilson, Neil (2007), Wales, Lonely Planet, p. 107, ISBN 978-1741045383
  6. ↑ "Newport Chartist mural: Protest as demolition takes place". BBC News. 3 October 2013. Retrieved 1 December 2013.

Coordinates: 51°35′11″N 2°59′38″W / 51.5863°N 2.9939°W