Monmouthshire

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:

Abergavenny
Caldicot
Chepstow
Monmouth
Usk

The area has the following borders:

East - District of Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire.
Southwest - City of Newport
West - County Borough of Torfaen
North West- Powys
North East - Herefordshire
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 Encyclopædia 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'.

"With regards to Monmouthshire being left out of the offical recognition as part of Wales,when I attended school in Newport, Mon we were taught that due to religous superstion that Monmouthshire was not included because that would make Thirteen counties! So as you have stated our books said Wales & Mon." Alan C Hughes