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Monmouthshire's Welsh status was ambiguous between the 16th and 20th centuries, when it considered by some to be part of England. Its legal inclusion in Wales was clarified only by the Local Government Act 1972, the same act which abolished the county as an administrative area. (For further discussion on this topic, see the Wikipedia article, Monmouthshire (historic) under the heading "Ambiguity over status".)
[edit] Formation
The "county or shire of Monmouth" was formed from parts of the Welsh Marches by the Laws in Wales Act 1535. According to the Act the shire consisted of "all Honours, Lordships, Castles, Manors, Lands, Tenements and Hereditaments, lying or being within the Compass or Precinct of the following Lordships, Townships, Parishes, Commotes and Cantrefs... in the Country of Wales". The Act also designated Monmouth as the "Head and Shire town of the said county or shire of Monmouth", and ordered that the Sheriff's county or shire court be held alternately in Monmouth and Newport. [edit] Historic boundaries and subdivisionsThe historic boundaries are the River Wye on the east, dividing it from Gloucestershire and the River Rhymney to the west dividing it from Glamorganshire or Glamorgan, with the Bristol Channel to the south. The northern landward boundaries with Herefordshire and Breconshire (or Brecknockshire) were less well-defined. For instance, the parish of Welsh Bicknor, was an exclave of Monmouthshire, sandwiched between Gloucestershire and Herefordshire. The area was considered part of Monmouthshire until it was made part of Herefordshire "for all purposes" by the Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844. On the other hand, the Herefordshire hamlet of Fwthog adjoining the Honddu Valley remained an exclave within Monmouthshire until 1891. (See Map of the hundreds of Monmouthshire by Thomas Moule, c. 1831 in Wikipedia) In 1542 the county was divided into six hundreds: At this time the county also contained the three ancient boroughs of Monmouth, Newport and Usk. NOTE: Monmouthshire's Welsh status was ambiguous between the 16th and 20th centuries, with it considered by some to be part of England during this time; its legal inclusion in Wales was only clarified by the Local Government Act 1972, the same act which abolished the county as an administrative area. [edit] Municipal reform within MonmouthshireMonmouth and Newport were re-formed as municipal boroughs with elected town councils by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835. Usk continued as an unreformed borough until its final abolition in 1886. New forms of local government were established in the urban areas of the county with the setting of local boards under the Public Health Act 1848 and Local Government Act 1858. The Public Health Act 1875 divided the rural areas into rural sanitary districts. 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 to those of the ancient county, but included the Beaufort, Dukestown, Llechryd and Rassau areas which had been in south Breconshire. The county council was now 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 to govern itself independently, although the Shire Hall continued to be based there. In the same year the parish of Fwthog 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, following the boundaries of the existing sanitary districts. In 1899 Abergavenny was incorporated as a [municipal] 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 Urban Districts, Abersychan and Panteg UDs were absorbed by Pontypool urban district, and Magor and St. Mellons Rural District was formed by a merger of the two individual rural districts. The last major boundary change to affect the administrative and geographic county was in 1938 when the parish of Rumney was removed from Monmouthshire to be included in the County Borough of Cardiff, and, therefore, the geographic county of Glamorgan. The administrative county of Monmouthshire and the County Borough of Newport were abolished in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. The successor authority, with minor boundary changes, was titled Gwent. Some border parishes became part of the new Rhymney Valley District of Mid Glamorgan and the Cardiff District of South Glamorgan. After 1996 the successor districts of Gwent were Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly (which absorbed Islwyn), Monmouthshire (principal area), Newport and Torfaen. [edit] Research Tips
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