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History of Langstone
It's difficult to believe when driving along the A48 that man has been active in the Langstone area for up to 30,000 years.

There is evidence of the first hunters from the Palaeolithic period in caves around Symons Yat and off the coast at Goldcliff and Magor there are some remarkably well preserved footprints of Mesolithic man (10,000 - 4,000 BC). The first concrete evidence of man in modern Langstone was discovered some years ago by a Mr A Palmer whilst out walking near Langstone church. He picked up a small flint that turned out to be a Neolithic arrow head, dating from between 4,000 - 2,500 BC and can be seen in Newport Museum.

During the Iron Age (900 - 150 AD) the Silures tribe ruled the area and it is believed that their main headquarters was the impressive hill fort at Llanmellin in the woods to the north of Caerwent. Also, In a field beside the Cats Ash to Coed-y-Caerau road, at the highest point of the south-west end of the Chepstow Ridge, can be seen the earthworks of Pen-Toppen-Ash Camp, an iron-age settlement which was in use for a considerable period.

In the summer of 45AD a Roman army under the leadership of Aulus Plautius set forth from the coast of Gaul to conquer Britain and within five years the south east of England was under Roman rule. However it took another thirty years and a massive military presence of around 30,000 soldiers before they were finally able to subdue the Silures with a military base being established at Caerleon under the abandoned Lodge Hill fort of the local Silures.

Evidence of the Romans in Langstone can be found in a few places. At the site where Kemmeys Folly now stands there is evidence of a small rectangular outpost and further along the road at Pen-Toppen-Ash camp there is another rectangular fortification believed to have been a signalling post. Evidence of actual occupation within Langstone has been found in the garden of a house in Tregarn Road and just outside Langstone and off Magor Road are the remains of a villa.

Little is known about the Langstone area after the Romans abandoned Britain around 400 AD, although it is believed in that the Ffernfael dynasty of kings held court somewhere in Camis (modern day Kemmeys).

In the tenth century the village of Langstone (then known as Segan) was passed over to the church as part of the retribution of the family of Marchiud for the murder of Gwladgwyn. Records held in Llandaff cathedral set out the boundaries and include a reference to the "long stone".

Following the conquest of England the Normans created a buffer zone between their newly conquered lands and Wales. William Fitz Osbern was given the task of looking after the southern part of this buffer zone and one of his knights, William of Scohies moved forward, slowly securing land and throwing up motte and baileys. These could be used, not only as a base to control the area, but also as place of safety in the event of being driven back by the Welsh. He moved forward on two fronts; along the high ground and also along the line where the modern railway from London to Swansea now runs. Two motte and baileys can found in Langstone; one near the A48 at Langstone Court, the other up beyond the Iron Age Hill fort at Caer-licyn.

The motte and bailey at Langstone Court appears to have become the seat of authority in the area and as time went by the wooden defences were replaced by stone walls. It is recorded that in 1271 Sir William Bleut had a house in Langstone which is believed to be on the site of this castle, and it would have been from here that his officials ensured that their master received his dues and entitlements as well as any taxes that were levied on the local population. Remnants of a 16th century building can still be found within the body of Langstone Court farmhouse.

In terms of actual evidence on the ground the next thing that can be seen are the impressive remains of Pencoed castle, it's believed that work started here around 1270. It was Newport, to the west of Langstone, that developed during the next few hundred years. There had been a market in Newport since the time of the Normans and it was where the local people of Langstone would probably have taken their goods to sell.

When the British troops evacuated from the beaches of Dunkirk Winston Churchill was quick to react to the increasing German threat of invasion. A secret army was formed known as the Auxiliaries. Little was known about them until the 1990's when papers relating to their activities were finally made available to the public. An imaginary line was drawn across the widest point of Britain with small units of men being secretly recruited every 20 miles or so. They were provided with a secret operational base, all the weaponry they could handle and top secret training manuals on how to carry out guerrilla warfare.

In Langstone Alan Hollingdale, a local scout master, became the officer in charge of the local Auxiliaries. Their operational base was an underground bunker, constructed high above the village and hidden in Wentwood forest. Should they have been called upon to fight an invading enemy their life expectancy would have been only a few days. Luckily for all involved Alan lived on for many years, dying in 1999