Monmouthshire

Monmouthshire (Sir Fynwy) is a county of south-eastern Wales adjacent to the border with England. The modern county contains the towns of Monmouth (Trefynwy), Abergavenny (Y Fenni), Usk (Brynbwga) and Chepstow (Cas-Gwent). The traditional county, which in 1974 was renamed Gwent and only renamed and subdivided in the 1990s, was somewhat larger and included Newport (Casnewydd), Pontypool, Cwmbran, Ebbw Vale and the easternmost of the south Wales coal mining valleys.

The status of Monmouthshire was somewhat indeterminate between the Act of Union of 1536, which completed the union of Wales and England, and 1974. According to the 1536 Act, Monmouthshire was accounted an English county, but so Welsh was it in culture, tradition and feeling that it nevertheless was treated with Wales in an awkward entity referred to as 'Wales and Monmouthshire'. In sporting, cultural and artistic fields, as well as in popular parlance and belief, it was always seen as part of Wales and this was formalized in the local government reforms of 1974.