Thanks to William Caxton and the advent of the printing press in 1477 we are able to look back in our social history with the help of newspapers. The first newspaper ever printed was the Daily Courant in the sixteenth century. Today we have dozens of tabloids, magazines, journals, paperbacks, books, etc etc, to help us understand the world we live in and keep us in touch with the current daily news. It also helps us delve back in time to understand and record our ancestors social background and the world they belonged to. We are just going to deal with the newspapers of the Eastern Valley of Gwent and its borders.

These are just some of the newspapers circulated within the county of Monmouthshire.

Monmouthshire Merlin 1829-1891
Monmouthshire Beacon 1837-1994?
Usk Observer 1855- *
Pontypool Free Press 1859-** (continues today)
Merthyr Express 1864-*** (continues today)
Abergavenny Chronicle 1871-1963
Abergavenny Gazette 1973-?
South Wales Daily News 1872-?
Evening Star 1877-1903
South Wales Daily Star 1892-?
South Wales Argus 1892- (continues today)

• *Usk Observer, later known as the County Observer and appeared until 1878
• ***Merthyr Express, had a Rhymney Valley version as well as one for West Monmouthshire.
• **Pontypool Free Press 1859-1896, then incorporated the Herald of The Hills 1896-1909 and was later known as the Free Press of Monmouthshire 1909-1993 and is now known as The Press.

The majority of the above newspapers can be found either at the County Records Office, Cwmbran or Newport Reference Library, John Frost Square, Newport. Of course a copy of every newspaper that was printed can be found in the British Library at Colindale.

The most popular newspaper for this part of the County was indeed the Pontypool Free Press/Free Press of Monmouthsire, which shall be used as an example of the importance newspapers can. E.G.G.R.A. understood the importance of newspapers in genealogy and have transcribed the births, marriages and deaths from the Free Press of Monmouthsire from its inception in 1859 to 1940, with 1941 being transcribed at present.