Gwent
Gwent is the area of south-easternmost
Wales, in the
Welsh Marches. It is traditionally bounded on the east by the
River Wye, the border between
England and
Wales, and on the south by the
Severn Estuary.
The area has been occupied since the
Paleolithic, with
Mesolithic finds at
Goldcliff and a famous Roman site at
Caerleon.
The mediæval British kingdom of Gwent was the area between the rivers
Usk and Wye, and took a name that literally means 'place', or 'the place'. It came into existence after the Romans had left Britain and survived in various forms until the
Norman invasion of the west in 1067-91 AD. The Normans partitioned the area into the lordships of
Abergavenny,
Monmouth, Striguil (
Chepstow) and
Usk.
The lordships were the basic units of administration for the next 450 or so years, until
Henry VIII passed the
Laws in Wales Act 1535. This Act abolished the marcher lordships and established the county of
Monmouthshire out of them — combining the lordships of
Newport (
Gwynllwg) and
Caerleon east of the river Usk and Abergavenny, Monmouth, Usk and Chepstow to the west of it.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, writers began using the name "Gwent" in a romantic literary way to describe Monmouthshire, and in the local government re-organisations of 1974/5, many new administrative areas in Britain were named after mediæval kingdoms — such as
Cumbria,
Strathclyde and "Gwent".
This new administrative Gwent was formed by the
Local Government Act 1972 on
April 1,
1974. It consisted of most of the former
administrative county of
Monmouthshire and the
county borough of
Newport , along with
Brynmawr and
Llanelly from
Brecknockshire, and therefore
not the same area as the previous kingdom. It was only to last for 22 years though, as with the coming into force of the
Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 in 1996, it was abolished.
The name however remains as one of the
preserved counties of Wales used for certain ceremonial purposes, and it also survives in various titles, e.g.,
Gwent Police,
Royal Gwent Hospital and the
Newport Gwent Dragons rugby team.
When it existed, the administrative area was divided into several districts:
Blaenau Gwent,
Islwyn,
Monmouth,
Newport and
Torfaen.
The successor unitary authorities are:
*City of
Newport*
Blaenau Gwent county borough
*
Torfaen county borough
*
Caerphilly county borough (part of which came from
Mid Glamorgan)
*
Monmouthshire (which covers the eastern half of the traditional county of the same name)
In
2003 the preserved county of Gwent expanded to cover the whole of
Caerphilly county borough. [
1]
*
Monmouthshire*
Subdivisions of Wales*
List of Parliamentary constituencies in Gwent*
Ralph A. Griffiths, general editor, Gwent County History, University of Wales, 5 vols, 2004 — * Time Team
A Mesolithic Foreshore
