The old church of St Paul's was built on a new site, between Church Road and Thorne Road, in 1888. This replaced a small iron church of 1878 dedicated to St Augustine and located on the site of the old police station. Overcrowding had led to the need for a larger structure but the insistence of the benefactor (Lady Llanover) that services be conducted in Welsh, in a predominantly English-speaking community, led to hostility which resulted in the new church being built in Blackwood instead. Local worshippers used a local schoolroom for services prior to the new, temporary, church capable of seating 300 people, being erected and dedicated to St Paul.
Map depiction shows a simple rectangular structure aligned roughly north-east by south-west with a south gable porch and a small addition (?vestry) at the north-west corner. The nature of its construction is unknown but being a temporary build it may have been an iron church.
A few years later, with the growing importance of Newbridge as an industrial area, plans were laid to make the town an independent parish and erect a permanent church. Interrupted by the First World War, these plans came to fruition when a new church was built in 1927-8 on High Street, a short distance to the south-west (see NPRN 13114).
Sources:
Ordnance Survey County Series 25-inch map: sheet Monmouthshire XXII.12, editions of 1901 & 1920.
http://newbridge-online.info/new/history-one/history-of-newbridge-chapels-churches/
