| Country: | Wales |
| Welsh Name: | Allteuryn |
| Coordinates: | 51.5431°N -2.9146°W |
| Label Position: | left |
| Official Name: | Goldcliff |
| Static Image Caption: | A reen in Goldcliff with The Farmer's Arms beyond |
| Unitary Wales: | Newport |
| Lieutenancy Wales: | Gwent |
| Constituency Welsh Assembly: | Newport East |
| Constituency Westminster: | Newport East |
| Post Town: | NEWPORT |
| Postcode District: | NP18 |
| Postcode Area: | NP |
| Dial Code: | 01633 Maindee exchange |
| Population: | 329 |
| Population Ref: | (2011 census) |
Goldcliff (Welsh: Allteuryn) is a village, parish and community to the south east of the city of Newport in South Wales. It lies within the Newport city boundaries in the historic county of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent. Administratively, the community of Goldcliff includes the village/parish of Whitson. The population in 2001 was 233; by 2011 it had risen to 329.
The name is said to have originated from the siliceous limestone cliff, standing about 60feet high, at Hill Farm, rising over a great bed of yellow mica which breaks the level at the shore and has a glittering appearance in sunshine, especially to ships passing in the Bristol Channel. Giraldus Cambrensis, who toured Wales in 1188, refers to the location as "Gouldclyffe" and describes it in Latin as "...glittering with a wonderful brightness".[1]
Together with the neighbouring parishes of Nash and Whitson, it is one of "The Three Parishes" which have long been a unit – geographical, socially, economically and ecclesiastically. All three parishes are typical of the Caldicot Levels. At the highest tides the village lies below sea-level. The entire area is drained by a vast network of inter-linking ditches or 'reens'.[2] A main drainage ditch, with an origin near Llanwern, known as "Monksditch" or "Goldcliff Pill",[3] passes through the village on its way to the sea. Local folklore maintains that the sides of the Monksditch are laced with smugglers' brandy.
Fields are drained by low depressions running the width of the fields, known locally as grips. The field area between grips is termed a span or Spain. The grips drain into the reens which are slow-moving and in summer months are often stagnant. Reens run towards the sea where they empty between tides at a gout. The levels of the reens are controlled by means of a series of sluices or stanks, separate boards which may be raised or lowered to keep water levels high enough for livestock to drink. The faster flowing Monksditch carries water from more distant higher ground, above the level of the reens, some of which pass underneath the ditch by means of culverts.
The south of the village is bounded by the foreshore of the Severn Estuary, which lies behind a tall concrete-faced sea wall, allowing for aboiteau-type cultivation. A number of groynes can be seen at low tide.
A considerable amount of archaeology has centred on Goldcliff, and the intertidal region of the coast near the village has attracted archaeological interest. Goldcliff has notable evidence of occupation by the Silures.[4]
Hidden in the laminated silts of the Severn estuary foreshore are 8,000-year-old (mesolithic) human footprints.[5] [6] A report, published jointly by CBA and Cadw, was produced by Martin Bell and colleagues.[7] Bell was instrumental in the discovery of the mesolithic footprints and in 2004 his work at Goldcliff featured on Channel 4's archaeological television programme Time Team.[8] Further archaeological excavation has also been carried out by Martin Locock and colleagues prior to the introduction of the Newport Wetlands reserve, for example at Hill Farm.[9] In March 2020 Bell was featured, explaining the foreshore footprints, on the BBC One programme Countryfile.[10]
Following gales and high tides in 1990, a total of eight substantial rectangular Iron Age buildings were discovered, over the course of several seasons' work, off the coast near the village. Radiocarbon dating dated the site to the second century BC. The buildings, which may have functioned as a short-lived and specialised fishing site, were constructed from vertical posts bearing the marks of iron axes. Timbers from the excavation, which was performed by St David's University College, Lampeter, have been conserved at Newport Museum.[11] [12]
A connection with Roman activity was firmly established with the discovery near Goldcliff Point in 1878 of the inscribed "Goldcliff Stone" recording the work of legionaries on a linear earthwork, presumably a sea wall.[13] Further evidence of occupation was found when ash pits were dug at Nash during construction of the Uskmouth Power Station.