Peter Strong investigates the name on the door of the Westgate Hotel – S.T.Hallen – and takes a look at those famous bullet holes in the pillar of the Westgate Hotel

THE famous engraving of the Chartist Rising by Newport artist James Flewitt Mullock clearly shows a name above the door of the Westgate Hotel –the name of S.T. Hallen, proprietor of the hotel.

The building itself had been erected 60 years earlier, in 1779, on the site of a 15th century house but Samuel Hallen had been there for less than a year when the fateful events took place.

He was to remain proprietor for 45 years, in the process becoming one of the most well-known characters in the town.

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He was a man with many side lines, being described in a directory in 1848 as ‘Innkeeper, Livery Stable Keeper, Postmaster and Patent Hearse Proprietor’.

It was one of these side lines that was to lead to his death.

On 5th July 1883, after eating lunch at the Westgate as usual, he travelled to Maindee to show a potential tenant over a property he owned. While standing in the garden he fell down a short flight of steps and died within minutes from his injuries.

South Wales Argus:

The Lithograph by John Flewitt Mullock showing the attack on the Westgate Hotel

SALE AND DEMOLITION

Following the death of her husband, Mrs Hallen moved away to London, living for another 35 years.

The building was bought by ‘The Newport Hotel Company’ led by Sam Dean, proprietor of the Castle Hotel in Newport.

The Company decided to demolish it and build a new hotel ‘more in consonance with the requirements of modern, social and commercial life.’

In March 1884 a special luncheon was held to mark the closure of the old building, after which it was ‘shorn of everything it contains.’

The new hotel, with Sam Dean as proprietor, opened in May 1886 with banquet for 150 local notables.

South Wales Argus:

An early print showing the bullet holes in the Westgate Hotel pillars. Picture: Newport Museum

DEMOLITION SALE

Many of the contents of the old building were auctioned.

Newport Free Library decided to bid for two items relating to the Chartist Rising.

It failed in its bid for a pike, said to be used by one of the Chartists, which was sold to a relative of Thomas Phillips, the mayor at the time of the Rising, for ten guineas.

The Library was successful, however, in buying an oil painting of Basil Gray, the lieutenant who commanded the troops in the Westgate in 1839, for 21 guineas.

The purchase raised some hackles on the town council, with two councillors accusing the Free Library Committee of extravagance and calling for the committee members to pay for the painting out of their own pockets.

Either way, the painting remained in the collections of the Free Library and is now held by Newport Museum and Art Gallery.

South Wales Argus:

The rebuilt Westgate Hotel in 1886

BULLET HOLES: REAL OR FAKE?

It has been argued that the famous holes in the pillars of the old hotel were made by bullets or musket balls at the time of the Rising.

Others have suggested that the holes were in reality drilled into the pillars to make fixings for doors or railings.

There is, however, evidence to suggest that the bullet holes are real.

The new owners decided that, due to their iconic status, the pillars would be preserved in the new hotel.

South Wales Argus:

The holes in the pillar at the Westgate Hotel

When the old portico was demolished in September 1884, the Monmouthshire Merlin newspaper reported that the workers had come across ‘several roughly made bullets, one with a nail driven through the centre of it’ in the hollow timber pillars.

It commented, ‘The bullets have doubtless lain where they were found ever since the memorable attack on the hotel 45 years ago’.

It has been pointed out that the holes are irregular, and therefore not what would be expected for railings and that the pillars were originally outside the doors and so could have been in the line of fire for troops and Chartists.

In any case, the pillars may have been rotated when being re-erected in the new building.

To prove the point a formal endoscopy investigation would need to be carried out, in which a tiny camera would be placed through the holes to check markings on the inside of the pillars.

Perhaps one day we will know for sure.

This is part of a series of features marking the 180th anniversary of the Newport Uprising.