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Monmouthshire (historic)

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Ancient county of Monmouth
Geography

Area: (1891)	341,688 (1,382 km²)
Rank:	Ranked 9th
Administration
County town:	Monmouth
Chapman code:	MON

Map of the hundreds of Monmouthshire by Thomas Moule, c. 1831

Monmouth
Administration
Status:	Administrative county
HQ:	Newport

History
Created:	1889
Abolished:	1974
Succeeded by:	Gwent, Mid Glamorgan, South Glamorgan
Area
1901:	345,048 acres
1961:	339,088 acres
Population
1901:	230,806
1971:	349,931

Monmouthshire (Welsh: Sir Fynwy) is one of thirteen historic counties of Wales, covering south-east Wales. It was formed from the Welsh Marches by the Laws in Wales Act 1535.

The county borders Gloucestershire to the east, Herefordshire to the northeast, Brecknockshire to the north, and Glamorgan to the west. The parish of Welsh Bicknor, situated a short distance east of Monmouthshire's eastern border, sandwiched between the borders of Gloucestershire and Herefordshire, was considered part of Monmouthshire until it was made part of Herefordshire "for all purposes" by the Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844.

Under the Local Government Act 1972, the use of Monmouthshire for local government and ceremonial purposes ended on April 1, 1974, although it remains in use as a general geographic area and for other purposes, such as a vice county for biological recording.

A local government principal area named Monmouthshire was created on April 1, 1996, covering the eastern 60% of the historic county.

The county is traditionally divided into six hundreds:

The chief rivers are the Wye (much of which forms the border with Gloucestershire), the Usk, and the Rhymney (which forms the border with Glamorgan). The county has a diverse industrial base including agriculture, electronics, engineering, tourism and service industries. The current preserved county of Gwent is similar in extent to the traditional county of Monmouthshire with the addition of the Rhymney Valley area.

1 The Administrative County
2 Ambiguity over Welsh Status
3 External links
4 References

An administrative county of Monmouthshire, governed by an elected county council, was formed in 1889 under the terms of the Local Government Act 1888. The administrative county had similar boundaries to the traditional one, but included the Beaufort, Dukestown, Llechryd and Rassau areas of south Breconshire. The county council was based in Newport, rather than the traditional county town of Monmouth. In 1891 the borough of Newport achieved county borough status and therefore left the administrative county, although the Shire Hall continued to be based there. In the same year the parish of Fwthog, an exclave of Herefordshire, was transferred to both the administrative and geographic county of Monmouthshire.

Under the Local Government Act 1894 Monmouthshire was divided into urban and rural districts, based on existing sanitary districts. The county contained one municipal borough, Monmouth. The urban districts were Abercarn, Abergavenny, Abersychan, Abertillery, Bedwellty, Blaenavon, Caerleon, Chepstow, Ebbw Vale, Llanfrechfa Upper, Llantarnam, Nantyglo and Blaina, Panteg, Pontypool, Rhymney, Risca, Tredegar and Usk. The rural districts were Abergavenny, Chepstow, Magor, Monmouth, Pontypool and St Mellons.

In 1899 Abergavenny was incorporated as a borough. Two further urban districts were formed, Mynyddislwyn in 1903, and Bedwas and Machen in 1912.

The County of Monmouth Review Order 1935 revised the number and boundaries of the urban and rural districts in the administrative county. A new Cwmbran urban district was formed by the abolition of Llanfrechfa Upper and Llantarnam UDs, Abersychan and Panteg UDs were absorbed by Pontypool urban district, and Magor and St Mellons RD was formed by a merger of two rural districts.

The last major boundary change to affect the administrative and geographic county was in 1938 when the parish of Rumney was removed to be included in the county borough of Cardiff, and therefore the geographic county of Glamorgan.

The administrative county of Monmouthshire was abolished in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. Most of its area formed the new local government county of Gwent, with parts going to the new Rhymney Valley district of Mid Glamorgan and Cardiff district of South Glamorgan. Successor districts of Gwent were Blaenau Gwent, Islwyn, Monmouth, Newport and Torfaen.

Monmouthshire's Welsh status was ambiguous until relatively recently, with it often thought of as part of England. The entirety of Wales was made part of the Kingdom of England by the Statute of Rhuddlan, but did not adopt the same civil governance system, with the area of Monmouthshire being under the control of Marcher Lords.

The Laws in Wales Act 1535 integrated Wales directly into the English legal system and the "Lordships Marchers within the said Country or Dominion of Wales" were allocated to existing and new shires. Some lordships were annexed to existing counties in England and some were annexed to existing counties in Wales, with the remainder being divided up into new counties. Despite Monmouthshire being a new county, it was given two Knights of the Shire in common with existing counties in England, rather than one as in the counties in Wales. The relevant section of the Act states that "one Knight shall be chosen and elected to the same Parliaments for every of the Shires of Brecknockshire, Radnorshire, Montgomeryshire and Denbighshire, and for every other Shire within the said Country of Dominion of Wales". As Monmouthshire was dealt with separately it cannot be taken to be a shire "within the said Country of Dominion of Wales". The Laws in Wales Act 1542 specifically enumerates the Welsh counties as twelve in number, excluding Monmouthshire from the count.

Despite this integration of Wales into England, the word "England" was still taken to exclude Wales in many contexts. The Wales and Berwick Act 1746 ensured that "in all Cases where the Kingdom of England, or that Part of Great Britain called England, hath been or shall be mentioned in any Act of Parliament, the same has been and shall from henceforth be deemed and taken to comprehend and include the Dominion of Wales and Town of Berwick upon Tweed".

Despite this, Monmouthshire was often associated with Wales. The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica unambigiously describes the county as part of England, but notes that "whenever an act [...] is intended to apply to [Wales] alone, then Wales is always coupled with Monmouthshire". However, most Acts of Parliament included Monmouthshire as part of England, for example the Local Government Act 1933 listed both the administrative county of Monmouth and county borough of Newport as part of England, but in the rare event that an Act of Parliament was restricted to Wales, Monmouthshire was usually included as "Wales and Monmouthshire". For example, although the Sunday Closing (Wales) Act 1881 and the Welsh Language Act 1967 did not apply to Monmouthshire, creation of the Welsh Office in 1964 did. The Sunday Closing Act was also extended to Monmouthshire in 1915 under wartime legislation. Another typical example was the division of England and Wales into registration areas in the 19th century — one of which, the "Welsh Division", was defined as including "Monmouthshire, South Wales and North Wales".

Being a part of the diocese of Llandaff, Monmouthshire was included in the area in which the Church of England was disestablished in 1920 to become the Church in Wales.

The question of Monmouthshire's status continued to be a matter of discussion, especially as Welsh nationalism and devolution climbed the political agenda in the 20th century. The Wales and Berwick Act was repealed in regard to Wales in 1967 under the Welsh Language Act 1967. The Interpretation Act 1978 provides that in legislation passed between 1967 and 1974, "a reference to England includes Berwick upon Tweed and Monmouthshire".

The issue was finally clarified in law by the Local Government Act 1972, which provided that "in every act passed on or after 1st April 1974, and in every instrument made on or after that date under any enactment (whether before, on or after that date) "Wales", subject to any alterations of boundaries..." included "the administrative county of Monmouthshire and the county borough of Newport".^[1]

The English Democrats Party nominated candidates for the 2007 Welsh Assembly elections in three of six constituencies in the area of the historic county with a view to promoting a referendum on 'Letting Monmouthshire Decide' whether it wished to be part of Wales or England.^[2] The party received between 2.2% and 2.7% of the vote and failed to have any members elected.^[3]

Laws in Wales Act 1535 (27 Hen VIII c. 26)
Laws in Wales Act 1542 (34 & 35 Hen VIII c. 26)
A Vision of Britain - Monmouthshire

^ Local government Act 1972 (c.70), sections 1, 20 and 269
^ English Democrats Monmouthshire Referendum Website
^ Welsh assembly election 2007 (BBC News)

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Counties which originate prior to 1889 Anglesey • Brecknockshire • Caernarfonshire • Cardiganshire • Carmarthenshire • Denbighshire • Flintshire • Glamorganshire • Merionethshire • Monmouthshire • Montgomeryshire • Pembrokeshire • Radnorshire