Gwynedd

Gwynedd is an administrative county in Wales, named after the old Kingdom of Gwynedd. It was created in 1974 as one of the eight new administrative counties of Wales. Although one of the biggest in terms of geographical area, it was also one of the most sparsely populated. A large proportion of the population being Welsh-speaking, it became once again a centre of nationalism, with Plaid Cymru gaining a toehold which helped the party on to greater successes.

Gwynedd (1974-1996)

In the latest round of local government reorganisation, on April 1, 1996, it was reconstituted to cover a different area, losing Anglesey to became an independent unitary, and Aberconwy to the new Conwy county borough.

As the new Gwynedd covers most of the traditional counties of Caernarfonshire (less the part in the borough of Conwy) and Merionethshire, the reconstituted county was originally named Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire. As one of its first actions, the Council renamed the county Gwynedd on April 2.

The pre-1996 boundaries were retained as a ceremonial preserved county - in 2003 the boundary with Clwyd was adjusted to match the modern local government boundary, so that the preserved county now covers the modern Gwynedd along with Anglesey.

The original administrative county contained several districts, these were Aberconwy, Arfon, Dwyfor, Meirionnydd and Anglesey. As a unitary authority the modern entity no longer has any districts, but Arfon, Dwyfor and Meirionnydd remain in use as areas for area committees.

It is the home of the University of Wales at Bangor.