Prehistoric, Roman, and Medieval 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. Hidden in the laminated silts of the Severn estuary foreshore are 8,000-year-old (
Mesolithic) human footprints. A report, published jointly by
CBA and
Cadw, was produced by
Martin Bell and colleagues. 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. 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. In March 2020 Bell was featured, explaining the foreshore footprints, on the BBC One programme
Countryfile. In January 2024, episode 3 in series 11 of BBC's archaeology series
Digging for Britain featured Bell's discovery and excavation of a mesolithic V-shaped tidal fish trap. 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. 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. Further evidence of occupation was found when ash pits were dug at Nash during construction of the
Uskmouth Power Station. {{Quote box |width=410px |fontsize= |align=right |quoted=true |bgcolor=#FFFFF0 |salign=right |quote= 1606 ON THE XX DAY OF IANVARY EVEN AS IT CAME TO PAS IT PLEASED GOD THE FLVD DID FLOW TO THE EDGE OF THIS SAME BRAS • AND IN THIS PARISH THEARE WAS LOST 5000 AND ODD POWNDS BESIDES XXII PEOPLE WAS IN THIS PARRISH DROWND GOLDCLIF {JOHN WILKINS OF PILREW AND WILLIAM TAP CHURCHWARDENS 1609 Goldcliff was originally owned by the
native princes of Wales, but was taken from Owain ap Caradog (also known as Owain Wan) son of the last king of Gwent,
Caradog ap Gruffydd, by the
Norman nobleman Robert de Chandos who, shortly before 1113, founded a priory there.
Goldcliff Priory On the site of Hill Farm, situated on a prominent knoll of high ground, south of the village and next to the sea, stood Goldcliff Priory. Founded in 1113 as a subject house of the
Abbey of Bec in
Normandy, it passed during the fifteenth century into the control of
Tewkesbury Abbey and then of
Eton College.
Other historic sites A small enclosure on Chapel Lane to the north of the present
parish church, is thought to hold the remains of an ancient chapel, probably connected with the Priory. Also located off Chapel Lane, the farmhouse and barn at Great Newra Farm are Grade II
listed buildings. The
Congregational (later
United Reformed Church) chapel near the junction of the Sea Wall Road, built in 1840 and restored in 1900–01, is now a private dwelling, but was still active as late as the 1980s. To the south of the village, on the tidal mudflats beyond the seawall at Goldcliff Pill, are the remains of
anti-tank defences constructed in the early part of the war in anticipation of a
German invasion from Ireland. The defence formed part of
Western Command Coastal Crust, and consisted of two areas of
concrete blocks designed to impede the movement of tanks. The defences are a
scheduled monument.
Local industry and education Goldcliff has long been associated with the tidal
putcher fishing of
salmon, which may well have had its origins with the Priory or even in
Roman times. The technique used the so-called "
putcher" basket traditionally made from
hazel rods and
withy (
willow) plait, set out against the tides in huge wooden "ranks". The last main exponent of the art of wooden putcher-making at Goldcliff was George Whittaker, although a working knowledge of the technique was also kept into the 1970s by Wyndham Howells of Saltmarsh Farm, the last full-time fisherman at Goldcliff. Deeds for Saltmarsh Farm for 1867–1918 are held by
Gwent Record Office. The fishery at Goldcliff was one of the last to cease operation in 1995. The mixed school for the parishes of Goldcliff and Whitson was erected in 1872 for 60 children and in 1901 had an average attendance of 46, with a Miss Mary Edith Tomlinson as the mistress. Until it closed in July 1954, the school received an annual gift of £2 from
Eton College.
Kelly's 1901 Directory lists the only private residence in the village as The Moorlands, but has no fewer than 27 commercial concerns, mostly farmers, but also including a haulier, two fishermen, a female publican, a farm bailiff, a hay dealer, a mason and a shoemaker. The Directory also lists a Mrs Annie Louise Taylor as hotelier at "The Temperance Hotel". ==The church==