The Myth of Monmouthshire

The Myth of Monmouthshire

Historically, the name "Gwent" applied to the district enclosed by the Usk, the Wye, the River Monnow and the sea - exactly the area currently administered by Monmouthshire County Council.  This formed the ancient Welsh kingdom of Gwent. As there was a great forest, Coed Gwent (Wentwood), separating the low country and the upper regions, the kingdom was divided into two cantrefi or hundreds, Gwent Iscoed (“Gwent below the Wood”) and Gwent Uwchcoed (“Gwent above the Wood”).   

Under Henry VIII’s Act of Union of 1536, the county of Monmouthshire was created by uniting both the hundreds of Gwent with the hundred of Gwynllwg (“Wentloog”) which included what is now Blaenau Gwent.  Gwynllwg covered the area between the rivers Rhymni and Usk, which had until then been part of the old kingdom of Morgannwg (“Glamorgan”).  This was the historic county of Monmouthshire until 1974. 

The 1536 Act of Union states that the whole "principality, dominion and country of Wales" is to be "incorporated, united and annexed" to England.  As well as annexing all of Wales to England, the Act created the five new shires of Monmouthshire, Brecknock, Radnor, Montgomery and Denbighshire.  Section 3 of the Act, which brought Monmouthshire into being, states explicitly that the shire is being formed out of lands "in the Country of Wales". 

Sections 126 and 127 provide for the division of nine Welsh shires into hundreds, Monmouthshire being named fourth. 

The only distinction between Monmouthshire and the other Welsh counties was that "for convenience sake" (i.e. travelling convenience for judges), Monmouthshire should come under the authority of the king's courts at Westminster. 

This in no way made Monmouthshire alone belong to England; the same measure allowed for the inclusion of Cheshire in the Welsh court system! Ecclesiastically, the county remained part of the diocese of Llandaff until 1921 

The use of the title Wales and Monmouthshire was always an illogical absurdity without any valid historical basis whatever.  It gained currency due to the prejudices and shameless social climbing of English industrialists who tried to pass themselves off as “gentry” in Monmouthshire in the 19th century.