New Passage

Words: Lewis Mitchell

Images: Lewis Mitchell

Closely bypassed on the mammoth Second Severn Crossing, drivers easily ignore a quaint little settlement of Sudbrook of 300 people, to their left.

Located within a coastal Iron Age hillfort, a small field looks out to the Severn Channel and England beyond, Romans occupied this land until the Fourth Century, in defence of their market town of Caerwent nearby.

The Medieval Holy Trinity Church also lays ruin in the vicinity.

A Ferry crossing named ‘New Passage’ across the channel provided mail and passenger traffic between Bristol and South Wales through the area from the 17th century, later an act of Parliament in 1872 for the construction of a Severn Tunnel under the channel by the Great Western Railway would provide an influx of workers into the model village community.

The large pumping station at Sudbrook helps clear 50 million litres of fresh water from the tunnel per day, towering over a nearby football pitch in its shadow.

The land known as ‘The Camp’ has remained throughout the coloured history of the village, now home to a lonely set of football posts looking south out to the new bridge completed in 1996 with new build houses encroaching the fort’s ramparts to the north.

With a flurry of new build housing boosting the local population, Footballers of all ages can enjoy the beautiful game on an Eastern extremity of Wales steeped in history for thousands of years, following in the footsteps of Centurions & Roundheads on the Severnside shores.

©Lewis Mitchell/ Terrace Edition. Sudbrook camp.

©Lewis Mitchell/ Terrace Edition. Sudbrook camp.

©Lewis Mitchell/ Terrace Edition. Sudbrook camp.

©Lewis Mitchell/ Terrace Edition. Sudbrook camp.

©Lewis Mitchell/ Terrace Edition. Sudbrook camp.

©Lewis Mitchell/ Terrace Edition. Sudbrook camp.

You can find Lewis on Twitter: @lewismphoto