There have been works on this site since the nineteenth century, beginning with a 'Tin Works' marked on the first edition Ordnance Survey 25inch map of 1883, subsequently the Castle Nail Works as shown on the second edition of 1901. In 1939 the Northern Aluminium Company cleared the site again to build an aluminium factory which at it's peak employed over 9,000 people. The aluminium produced was used in the wings of Hurricane fighter plane. The importance of the factories part in the war effort meant that Rogerstone was a prime target for German bombing and in 1941, two air raids killed 18 people and destroyed 130 houses in the town.
In more recent years, the factory was rebuilt and much extended, but the the site closed in 2009 and demolished c.2011.
L. Osborne, RCAHMW, Sept. 2011.
Meilyr Powel, RCAHMW, October 2020.
Sources:
'Novelis confirms closure of 440 job Rogerstone plant', Wales Online, 29 March 2009
'Rogerstone aluminium factory demolished', South Wales Argus, 9 February 2011