History of Monmouthshire, and Top Reasons for it being Welsh

Go here to view cottages in Monmouthsire

Formation
It was formed from the Welsh Marches by the Laws in Wales Act 1535. It borders Gloucestershire to the east (by the River Wye), Herefordshire to the northeast, Brecknockshire to the north, and Glamorgan to the west (by the River Rhymney). 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.

The county is divided into six hundreds:

Abergavenny
Caldicot
Raglan
Skenfrith
Usk
Wentloog

Municipal reform
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, but included the Beaufort, Dukestown, Llechryd and Rassau areas of south Breconshire. The county council was based in Newport, rather than the historic 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.

Municipal boroughs Monmouth
Urban districts Abercarn • Abergavenny • Abersychan • Abertillery • Bedwellty • Blaenavon • Caerleon • Chepstow • Ebbw Vale • Llanfrechfa Upper • Llantarnam • Nantyglo and Blaina • Panteg • Pontypool • Rhymney • Risca • Tredegar • Usk
Rural districts Abergavenny • Chepstow • Magor • Monmouth • Pontypool • 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.

Changes in 1974
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.

Ambiguity over Welsh status
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 Brecknock, Radnor, Montgomery and Denbigh, 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 unambiguously and wrongly describes the county as part of England, such books often called Wales and Scotland part of England too at times though, it also 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". The ACt of Union in the 16th Century called Monmouthshire Welsh. The River Wye is to the east and is in many cases seen as a boundary between Wales and England, not that that is or has always been the case. Welsh was very strong in the area in the 19th Century and beforehand. Also the famous writer Geoffrey of Monmouth is in some ways said to be the most famous Welsh writer of the Middle Ages, and that is Monmouth for Wales then. He seems to have considered himself Welsh, and this is the place he was most associated with is that is that. Monmouthshire has been regarded in all honesty as Welsh for it's existance really, and is in Wales now. It was Welsh in the Middle Ages, and is now, and certainly is now, the 1920 act is very key here. Real English Counties would not have accepted being put in Wales, and Welsh counties would not accept being put in England.

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".

The English Democrats Party nominated candidates for the 2007 Welsh Assembly elections in three of six constituencies, seen by some as quite a imperialistic act, in the area of the historic county with a view to promoting a referendum on 'Letting Monmouthshire Decide', "why even stand if thats their view" said some, anyway on whether it wished to be part of Wales or England. The party received a very low between 2.2% and 2.7% of the vote and failed to have any members elected. Not surprisingly lower even than the percentage of English born people in the area. Also loads of places in Monmouth have Welsh names, this is not something you get so much in genuine English counties, certainly not across the whole stretch of the counties. And for any reverse to have occured, English names, well of course that occurred as Norman armies set up villages in Wales when they were annexing the territory, like Hitler or the Nazis did in some places, but they are still in Wales. Monmouthshire has so many Welsh name places despite a long history of being in the more English speaking part of Wales, that it can only be said to be a Welsh place. Any argument against that is just anti Welsh clap trap and mangled up biased imperialist wishful thinking for these imperialists, concocted rubbish. So Monmouthshire is Welsh.

Additionally if it is English why was Monmouthshire founded in the 1530s in the act of Union and called a Welsh county unlike the English Border counties which were founded earlier. Monmouthshire was put in this act as it was Welsh so it is Welsh. The fact it was in the Oxford Circuit mans nothing, as theire is nothing in the stament Oxford Circuit that states that it is English only, if anything it just says Oxford. And what about in Henry V, not that he was pro Welsh after all he did put down Glyndwr's rebellion and kill many Welsh people, Shakespeare has Henry V, calling himself Welsh, and I suspect he did not have a Welsh accent, he did not have that much Welsh lineage, and the only reason for thinking this was he was born in Monmouth, Wales. Although he was just pretending to be Welsh in that play it may mean he was seen as Welsh. as Monmouth was so much in Welsh areas, not anywhere but the Welsh Marches and Wales. So is reagrded in Wales despite the annexation attenmpts of Charles II, and certain imperialists, it was in Wales, was Welsh and is in Wales. There are loads of other prices of evidence to prove this too.

So Monmouthsire is English is a lie, Monouthsire is Welsh, Monmouthshire, England is also wrong, Monmouthshire Wales, Monmouth Wales, thats it. Just like Chicago America, or Los Anglese California, I won't get worked up about it.

So Monmouthsire is in facts and in being Welsh, not really English, not it is English in any way, it is Welsh. No way is it or Cardiff is English. But what do I know, maybe I am wrong, I think I am right. Also Roy Jenkins considered himself Welsh, and he was born in Monmouthshire in 1920.

This History of Monmouthshire was written in January 2007

Here are some more sites, there are books & articles on the subjects in many internet places, or internet book shops,

The 10 Largest Welsh towns & cities

A site stating fascinating facts about Welsh Geography

A site on giant sloths, with mentions of animals that have been alive during the era of human history, that have gone extinct, from them to many other great species

100s of Great Websites

How castles are very important to Welsh history

A few pictures of Welsh Geography

The 10 Largest towns in North Wales

The 10 Best Welsh sporting results ever

A Multiple Choice Quiz on Welsh History

A List of some famous places in the Conwy Valley