Monmouthshire is the second most populous of the old Welsh counties with around 474,000 people - less than half that of GlamorganIt is the fourth smallest Welsh county, only bigger than Radnorshire, Anglesey and FlintshireMonmouthshire was created in 1536 from the marcher lordships of Newport, Abergavenny, Monmouth, Chepstow, Caerleon and UskIts status as a Welsh county fell into doubt in 1543 when it was omitted from the second Act of Union which established the Court of Great Session legal system in WalesAs a result, until 1900 certain Welsh laws were deemed not to apply to Monmouthshire, such as the closure of public houses on SundaysIts status as part of Wales was re-confirmed in 1974 when the administrative county was replaced by GwentA smaller mainly rural council called Monmouthshire was created in the local government reorganisation of 1996Thanks to GeogData for statistics from the National Gazetteer of Wales
your comments
James Frankcom
James from Cardiff - I feel I ought to let you know that once upon a time ALL of England was in 'Wales'. The land was called Prydein and the capital was at Caerlundein. The border we know to be Wales has been more or less the same since 1066. Some towns like Oswestry have been found on both sides of the border during the Middle Ages but the border roughly follows the route of Offa's Dyke. Prior to this, the last time the border was revised was about 650AD when the lowland "paradise of Powys" aka "Pengwern" (most of Shropshire) was annexed by the English.
Gloria Devlin
1) William Shakespeare, writing in 1599 - after the Act of Union - had no doubt that Monmouth was in Wales. In a scene in Henry V before the Battle of Agincourt there is the following dualogue: (Fluellen) "....and I do believe, your majesty takes no scorn to wear the leek upon St Tavy's day. (King Henry) I wear it for a memorable honour; For I am Welsh, you know, good countryman." Henry, as we have seen, was born in Monmouth
2) In 1549 Edward VI granted a Charter to Monmouth which was described as being "in the Marches of Wales". The following writers describe Monmouthshire as being in Wales: Humphrey Llwyd (History of Cambria 1568); Churchyard (Worthiness of Wales 1587); Drayton (Polyolbion 1613); Enderbie (1666); and Doddridge (Historical Account of the Prince of Wales 1714.) In the reign of James I (1603-25), Camden and John Jones of Gelli Llyfdy wrote of "..the thirteen counties of Wales" and evidently included Monmouthshire in Wales.
3) Until the Industrial Revolution the dominant language in the county was Welsh. For instance, in 1815 half the inhabitants of Blaenafon could speak no English at all. By 1841 61% of the population of the town were still speaking Welsh, although the vast majority were bilingual by then, and even in the middle 1890s over 60% of the population in the western valleys were speaking Welsh.
4) Laws which were peculiar to Wales and which did not apply in England always included Monmouthshire, e.g. (a) Acts of Parliament referring to Welsh education such as the Welsh Intermediate Education Act of 1889 included Monmouthshire in their provisions. (b) The Licensing Act enforcing Sunday closing applied to Monmouthshire along with the rest of Wales, but did not apply to England. (c) Monmouthshire was included in the Welsh Cemeteries Act 1908
5) The Church of Wales came into being in 1920, when the disestablished church severed its links with Canterbury, and the Diocese of Monmouth was created in 1921 as part of that church.
6) In sport Monmouthshire players have always been eligible to play for Wales, but not for England. (Try telling the famous Pontypool front row of Graham Price, Bobby Windsor and Charlie Faulkner that they should have played for England !!!!!)
CONCLUSION So, to sum up : The County of Monmouthshire has always had exactly the same status as any other Welsh county, i.e it has always been in Wales. For the purpose of legal administrative convenience only, Monmouthshire was appended to the English counties, which gave rise to the belief by some that it was "in England". Those who persist in maintaining that Monmouthshire was, and still should be, in England should ask themselves the question : "WHEN, and WHY was Monmouthshire created?" And a final thought. Present day Monmouthshire was once a small part of Gwent, which was formerly called Monmouthshire, part of which was originally called - GWENT.
Fred Bishop from Worcs
Monmouth was English in 1086 and remained so until the political manoeuvrings of 1974. Without the consent of the populations of Monmouthshire and England it can never be Welsh.
James from Cardiff
If you look into the old Welsh kingdoms, you will see that Monmouthshire was part of Wales and so was parts of Herefordshire and Shropshire.
Bernard Tyson from Newport
Is it true that due to an administrative error, Monmouthshire was found still to be at war with Germany on local government reorganisation in 1996?
Owain Vaughan from Newport
Monmouthshire continues to exist with the same name and area as it has since 1536. An 'administrative county' created by the Local Government Act 1888 was abolished, and another created in its place. Monmouthshire itself was not affected. How could it be? The administrative area created in 1888 was based on the real county. The fact that administrative areas have been changed since has no bearing on the real county. The Association of British Counties campaigns for the recognition of the real counties and they suggest the council be renamed East Monmouthshire District council. This would solve this particular problem, but more needs to be done to encourage map makers to show the real boundaries and government to erect border signs.
Steffan from Cardiff
There were big differences between the Monmouthshire created in 1536, 1974's Gwent and today's 'Young Pretender' of eastern Gwent. Monmouthshire's western border was the River Rhymney. For the last 200 years of the real Monmouthshire's life, the overwhelming majority of its people lived outside the present day version. Personally I think they have a lot of cheek in hijacking the name.
How much do you know about the historic county?
