Monmouthshire, Wales Genealogy

Wales Monmouthshire

Monmouthshire (Welsh:Sir Fynwy or Mynwy) was one of the thirteen historic counties of Wales. It was a maritime county, bounded to the north by Breconshire, to the east by Herefordshire (in England), to the west by Glamorgan and to the south by the Bristol Channel.

The county was created following the Act of Union of 1536, between Wales and England, and was formed from the lordships of Abergavenny, Caerleon, Chepstow, Monmouth, Newport, Three Castles, Usk and part of Ewias.

The administrative county of Monmouthshire, with an elected county council, was formed in 1889 by the Local Government Act 1888.

Motto: Usque Fidelis (English: Faithful to both)

The 1971 census recorded the population of Monmouthshire as 461,700.

Chapman Code: MON

Under the Local Government Act 1972, the county and administrative county of Monmouthshire was abolished on April 1, 1974. Most of its area formed the new county of Gwent, with parts going to the new counties of Mid Glamorgan and South Glamorgan.

Following further local government reorganisation, the counties of Gwent was abolished on April 1, 1996. The county of West Glamorgan was divided into the newly created county boroughs of Blaenau Gwent, Islwyn, Newport and Torfaen and the county of Monmouthshire (which has very different boundaries from the historic county of that name).

Topics

 * Monmouthshire Nonconformist Records
 * Monmouthshire Poor Law Unions

Jurisdictions

 * Hamlet
 * Parish: an area of varying size under the responsibility of a clergyman of the Church of England/Church in Wales
 * Hundred: an administrative subdivision of a county, usually a group of two or more parishes
 * Sub-district: comprised of more than one civil parish
 * Registration District
 * Poor Law Union
 * Archdeaconry
 * Diocese
 * County

Did You Know?

 * Geoffrey of Monmouth, born c1100, wrote Historia Regum Britanniae (English: History of British Kings) and gave rise to the popularity of tales of King Arthur.

Useful web sites

 * Monmouthshire Monumental Inscriptions
 * Gwent Records Office in Cwmbrân.
 * Gwent Family History Society
 * Monmouthshire Monumental Inscriptions
 * The Big Pit National Coal Museum at Blaenafon.
 * The National Roman Legion Museum at Caerleon.


 * more Monmouthshire websites ...