Destruction of Chartist Mural

The destruction of the popular Chartist mural, in Newport yesterday has robbed many Newport residents of part of their rich personal and cultural history. Commemorating the Chartist uprising of 4th November 1839, the mural was located in an underground walkway leading to  to John Frost Square (named after eminent local Chartist leader, who was packed of to Tasmania, only to return later to heroes welcome.) in 1979, and was made by artist Kenneth Budd a renowned figure in post war mosaics.

The Chartist mural was one of several works by Budd commissioned by Newport City Council after 1974 to promote public art, by applying them to highway and other major council developments in and around the city. At this time Newport had a reputation as perhaps the leading public authority in Wales for promoting public art, not only to enhance the city but also to enlighten its inhabitants about its history of struggle for social improvement.  Its significance thus lies not only in its artistic quality and craftsmanship, but also in its historical importance as a record of nineteenth century working-class protest.

A familiar presence in the city of Newport , the mural had become firmly established as arguably the best known tribute to the political rising of 1839 and wasl was deliberately placed next to John Frost Square to commemorate the events of 4 November 1839 and serve as a memorial to the twenty Chartists killed by the army outside the nearby Westgate Hotel, as depicted in the mural.  John Frost, later Mayor of Newport, was one of several thousand  Chartists who marched that day from the Monmouthshire valleys in support of their demands for parliamentary reform. Their demands were for secret ballots, a vote for everyone 21 and over, annual elections to Parliament, all constituencies to have equal numbers of voters, abolition of the property qualification for MPs, and payment of MPs.

The Newport Rising, a few months after Parliament had rejected the six-point Charter calling for voting reform, was the last major armed rebellion in mainland Britain.

The Chartist leaders, including Frost, were convicted of high treason and sentenced to be hung, drawn and quartered. But after protests from all over the country, the sentence was reduced to transportation for life. Other uprisings were also planned in Sheffield, the East End of London and Bradford.The Chartist movement represented the culmination of an extraordinary political, cultural and intellectual ferment that affected broad sections of the British working class in the decades that followed the French Revolution.

The vast 35m long mural was beautifully executed and extraordinarily detailed, depicting the 1839 Chartist uprising with life-size figures made from 200,000 pieces of ceramic tile and glass mosaic.

The mosaic was so intricately designed that you could  see subtle variations in skin tone and expression in the faces of the protesters, and the surface has projecting elements like spears and weapons which provide an added layer of three-dimensional detail.

In telling the story of the Chartist rising, artist Kenneth Budd  depicted key aspects of the day’s events, including the text of the People’s Charter, the march and the final bloody shootout on the steps of the Westgate Hotel. But more than being an historical interpretation, the mural also became an archive of 1970s Newport, for every face included in the mural was based on that of a prominent member of the community in Newport at that time. This was a People’s Charter, manifest in a people’s mural.

A local campaign had collected over 4,000 signatures in support of keeping the mural. Many locals had gathered to show their opposition, and to try and defy the wreckers, however sadly now reduced to rubble in an act of despicable cultural vandalism. All for the sake of building yet another shopping centre, a disgrace in any context, but absolutely disgusting under the direction of a Labour Council, who did not seem to care about their roots, or the proud heritage of the local people.

The council sought to justify its destruction of the mural on the grounds that the Welsh heritage organisation, Cadw, had not awarded the artwork listed status and that its relocation would cost £600,000. A spokesperson for Cadw commented, “The Chartist Mural in Newport has not been awarded listing status principally because it fell short of the criteria to be listed at the national level on grounds of its special architectural interest. The quality of building to which the mosaic is attached is poor and the underpass itself has no intrinsic design merits. It was also felt that there was no specific association between the location of the mural and the Chartist uprising.” .

The cold nature of the mural’s destruction upset many. Video footage revealed that they  happily destroyed a beautiful and visible expression of working-class people and struggle.with total  disregard for the mural during demolition, with no attempts made to preserve any sections of the display. Official statements suggested the building was unsafe for the general public, yet the sight of a mechanical digger slamming into the supposedly fragile wall, raised eyebrows all round. Further statements indicating that the mural was fused to an adjoining wall, a major factor in the £600,000 costing for ‘safe’ removal’, were also called into question as great segments of the mural appeared to ‘peel’ from the walls. The demolition crew succeeded in showing that, parts at least, of the mural could have be saved, for very little money and for the loss of very little time. By this stage in proceedings however, little could be done, the mural was gone.
We should never forget the  insurrectionary spirit of the Chartists,  and the proud part Newport played in fighting for workers rights,  nor the people of Newport who determingly campaigned to save this mural from this willful desecration and destruction.


Democracy dead and buried in Newport

Chartist Mural destroyed