Monmouthshire
| Monmouthshire county | |
|---|---|
| Geography | |
| Area: - Total - % Water | Ranked 7th 850 km² ? % |
| Admin HQ: | Cwmbran |
| : | GB-MON |
| ONS code: | 00PP |
| Demographics | |
| Population: - Total (April 29, 2001) - Density | Ranked 18th 84,885 100 / km² |
| Welsh language: - Any skills | Ranked 22nd 12.9% |
| Politics | |
| Monmouthshire Council http://www.monmouthshire.gov.uk | |
| Control: | Conservative Party |
| MPs: | Huw Edwards Alan Howarth |
Monmouthshire (Welsh: Sir Fynwy) is a county in south-east Wales. The current administrative area was created in 1996 and covers the eastern half of the traditional county - namely the following towns:
It was formed on April 1, 1996 as a successor to the previous district of Monmouth along with a small part of the former Blaenau Gwent district.
| Monmouthshire traditional county | |
The traditional county of Monmouthshire includes Newport, and borders Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Brecknockshire, and Glamorgan. The administrative county of Gwent, which existed from 1974 to 1996, covered this area almost exactly. The county also once included the exclave of Welsh Bicknor, locally situated a short distance east of Monmouthshire's east border, sandwiched between the borders of Gloucestershire and Herefordshire, but this was transferred to Herefordshire in the 1840s.
Monmouthshire's Welsh status was unclear until 1974 when the area (as Gwent) was specifically incorporated into Wales as part of a local government reform. Previously the legal formula had been to refer to 'Wales and Monmouthshire'. In popular usage it had been considered part of Wales for many centuries. The ambiguity surrounding its status arose from its not being mentioned in the second Act of Union between England and Wales in the 16th century. The 1911 Encyclopędia Britannica unambigiously described 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'.
| United Kingdom | Wales | Principal areas of Wales | |
| Anglesey | Blaenau Gwent | Bridgend | Caerphilly | Cardiff | Carmarthenshire | Ceredigion | Conwy | Denbighshire | Flintshire | Gwynedd | Merthyr Tydfil | Monmouthshire | Neath Port Talbot | Newport | Pembrokeshire | Powys | Rhondda Cynon Taff | Swansea | Torfaen | Vale of Glamorgan | Wrexham |