File:Aust Ferry Cafe and booking office - geograph.org.uk - 1143685.jpg

English: Aust Ferry Cafe and booking office The Old Passage between Beachley and Aust was in use for many centuries and was the chief route between England and Wales, though this was later challenged by the New Passage at St. Pierre. The tides and currents between Beachley and Aust (the passage is over one mile wide) made crossing a very dangerous activity and many boats were lost with all occupants. In 1825 James Jenkins and Oliver Chapman of Chepstow and Richard Jenkins of Beachley opened the Old Passage Ferry Company. They built new piers on both banks, introduced a steamboat and so stage coaches became a regular service with up to six a day passing through Beachley. The ferry declined however after the opening of the railways and closed by the end of the nineteenth, century but the introduction of motor traffic saw it reinstated in the nineteen twenties by Enoch Williams who ran the company until its closure on the day that the Severn Bridge opened in September 1966. There were three ferry boats in the sixties, the Severn King, Severn Queen and Severn Princess who was a fairly new boat at that time. The King and Queen were both eventually scrapped but the Severn Princess is once again in Beachley where she is being restored as a museum.