Murenger

When I was a child I used to see in Newport a pub called (if I remember correctly) The Murenger Arms. I beleiee there was a picture on the board making clear that a murenger worked on the walls and older people woold confirm that for you. Ye Olde Murenger House (Grade II listed since 1951) is actually a 19th-century pub with a mock Tudor front on the High Street. It apparently replaced a 17th-century pub, the Fleur de Lys, on the same site. A murenger was a medieval worker who collected tolls (murage) for the repair of the town walls.

A building on the site was first mentioned in 1533, a town house for the Herbert family of St Julians Manor. By the 17th century, it had become a pub. According to Cadw the original building was a single-storey stone structure, which was demolished in 1816 and replaced by the current public house, established in 1819. A photo taken around 1900 shows the distinctive mock Tudor jetties did not exist at the time and these were added later. It fell into a poor state in the seventies but was re-opened in 1983.

Another anecdote

My father was a fine sportsman. His main sports were soccer, (British) baseball and swimming. I never saw him play soccer but I did see him play baseball on the winning side in a final in 1965. I also remember watching him swimming once. It was at Maindee swimming baths in Newport and the annual Girlings swimming Gala (which we all pronounced Gayler) again some time around 1965. I can see my dad now in his green bathers lining up for the obstacle race. He was 6' 2" and had perfected an amazing racing dive so when they were started he went straight into the lead and I was sure he would win. But my mother knew better and tried to prepare me. One of the obstacles was to bite through balloons and she knew that with his false dentures (which he had from the age of 21) he wouldn't be able to go on as fast as the younger men. And so it proved. He came in third and won a set of three decorated chalice style beer glasses, which we had for years and almost never used.
(By 1965 my dad was 36).

God bless the price of ales

In 1969 the present Prince of Wales was invested with his title. I remember being at my nan's in Lilleshall Street, Newport and seeing that someone had written up on the brickwork "God bless the Prince of Wales". It was there for a few weeks if I remember rightly and then some clever dick came along and modified the slogan so that it said "God bless the price of ales" (or perhaps God bless the price of ale). I was 10 at the time and though it very funny and very clever.