Monmouthshire Sir Fynwy (Welsh) | |
|---|---|
  
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 Coat of arms | |
| Motto(s): | |
 Monmouthshire shown withinWales | |
| Coordinates:51°47′N2°52′W / 51.783°N 2.867°W /51.783; -2.867 | |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Country | Wales |
| Preserved county | Gwent |
| Incorporated | 1 April 1996 |
| Administrative HQ | Usk |
| Government | |
| • Type | Principal council |
| • Body | Monmouthshire County Council |
| • Control | No overall control |
| • MPs | Catherine Fookes (L) |
| • MSs | +4regional members |
| Area | |
• Total | 328 sq mi (849 km2) |
| • Rank | 7th |
| Population (2022)[2] | |
• Total | 93,886 |
| • Rank | 17th |
| • Density | 290/sq mi (111/km2) |
| Welsh language(2021) | |
| • Speakers | 8.7% |
| • Rank | 22nd |
| Time zone | UTC+0 (GMT) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+1 (BST) |
| ISO 3166 code | GB-MON |
| GSS code | W06000021 |
| Website | monmouthshire |
Monmouthshire (/ˈmɒnməθʃər,ˈmʌn-,-ʃɪər/MON-məth-shər,MUN-, -sheer;Welsh:Sir Fynwy) is acounty in thesouth east ofWales. It bordersPowys to the north; the English counties ofHerefordshire andGloucestershire to the north and east; theSevern Estuary to the south, andTorfaen,Newport andBlaenau Gwent to the west. The largest town isAbergavenny, and the administrative centre isUsk. The county is administered byMonmouthshire County Council. It sends two directly-elected members to theSenedd atCardiff and one elected member to theUK parliament at Westminster. The county name is identical to that of thehistoric county, of which the current local authority covers the eastern three-fifths. Between 1974 and 1996, the county was known asGwent, recallingthe medieval kingdom which covered a similar area. The present county was formed under theLocal Government (Wales) Act 1994, which came into effect in 1996. In his essay 'Changes in local government', in the fifth and final volume of theGwent County History, Robert McCloy writes, "the local government of no county in the United Kingdom in the twentieth century was so transformed as that of Monmouthshire".[4]
The lowlands in the centre of Monmouthshire are gently undulating, and shaped by theRiver Usk and its tributaries. The west of the county is hilly, and theBlack Mountains in the northwest are part of theBrecon Beacons National Park (Bannau Brycheiniog). The border with England in the east largely follows the course of theRiver Wye and its tributary, theRiver Monnow. In the south east is theWye ValleyAONB, a hilly region which stretches into England. The county has a shoreline on theSevern Estuary, with crossings into England by theSevern Bridge andPrince of Wales Bridge.
The county is rural, although adjacent to the city of Newport and the urbanisedSouth Wales Valleys; it has an area of 330 square miles (850 km2) and a population of 93,000. After Abergavenny (population, 12,515), the largest towns areChepstow (12,350),Monmouth (10,508), andCaldicot (9,813). The county has one of the lowest percentages ofWelsh speakers in Wales, at 8.2% of the population in 2021. The county is among the more economically prosperous of the Welsh principal areas, with a predominantlyservice economy giving annual incomes of around £41,000 in 2020, some £9,000 above the Welsh average. Agriculture and tourism are other important economic sectors. Transport infrastructure is provided by theM4 andM48motorways in the south of the county, linking Monmouthshire and Wales with England; and by rail links in the south and the north. Public services are mainly organised on a south east Wales region basis, including theSouth Wales Fire and Rescue Service,Gwent Police and theAneurin Bevan University Health Board.
TheGwent Levels have signs of human occupation dating back eightmillennia. At the time of theRoman invasion, theSilures, the dominant tribe in south-east Wales, carried out a thirty-year opposition to Roman occupation, but were eventually subdued, the Romans asserting their control through the establishment of fortified settlements such asVenta Silurum, modern-dayCaerwent. The sub-Roman history of the county is poorly documented but saw the founding of petty kingdoms including that ofGwent. Monmouthshire's turbulentmedieval history on theWelsh Marches is reflected in its "fine collection" of castles, including that atChepstow, "one of the great strongholds of Europe".Henry V was born atMonmouth Castle in 1386. War in the county continued into the 17th century,Raglan Castle was among the last Royalist strongholds to fall to Parliamentarian forces in theEnglish Civil War. Military disruption was followed by civil unrest: in the 17th century, the county was arecusant stronghold and saw widespread persecution of Catholics; in the 19th century,John Frost and otherChartist leaders were tried and sentenced to death at theShire Hall, Monmouth after the "first mass movement of theworking class" in Britain. The advent of a more stable society in the early 19th century saw the county develop as a centre for tourism; theWye Tour down the river valley in the east of the county culminated for visitors with the ruins ofTintern Abbey. In the 20th and 21st centuries tourism and leisure continue as important foci for the county's population; Wales's richest horse race runs atChepstow Racecourse; theSavoy Theatre, Monmouth has claims to be Wales's oldest; andRockfield Studios has been used for recording sessions by some of the UK's biggestbands.
Evidence of human activity in theMesolithic period has been found across Monmouthshire; examples include remains on theCaldicot and Wentloog Levels[5][a] and atMonmouth.[7] A major hoard ofBronze Ageaxes was discovered atSt Arvans.[8] The county has a number ofhillfort sites, such as those atBulwark[9] andLlanmelin Wood.[10] The latter has been suggested as the capital of theSilures, aCeltic tribe who occupied south-east Wales in theIron Age.[11] The Silures proved among the most intractable of Rome's opponents;Tacitus described them as "exceptionally stubborn" and Raymond Howell, in his county history published in 1988, notes that while it took the Romans five years to subdue south-east England, it took thirty-five before complete subjugation of the Silurian territories was achieved.[12]
TheRoman conquest of Britain began in AD 43, and within five years theRoman Empire'slegions had reached the borders of what is now Wales.[13] In south east Wales they encountered strong resistance from the Silures, led byCaratacus (Caradog), who had fled west after the defeat of his own tribe, theCatuvellauni. Hisfinal defeat in AD 50 saw his transportation to Rome, but Silurian resistance continued, and the subjugation of the entirety of south east Wales was not achieved until around AD 75, under the governor of Britain,Sextus Julius Frontinus.[12]
Monmouthshire's most important Roman remains are found at the town ofVenta Silurum ("Market of the Silures"), present-dayCaerwent in the south of the county. The town was established in AD 75,[14] laid out in the traditional rectangular Roman pattern of twentyinsulae with abasilica and a temple flanking aforum.[15] Other Roman settlements in the area includedBlestium (Monmouth).[16][b] TheRomanisation of Monmouthshire was not without continuing civil unrest; the defences at Caerwent, and at Caerleon, underwent considerable strengthening in the late2nd century in response to disturbances. The Silurian identity was not extinguished: the establishment of aRespublica Civitatis Silurium (an early town council) at the beginning of the3rd century testifies to the longevity of the indigenous tribal culture.[18]
TheRoman abandonment of Britain from AD 383 saw the division of Wales into a number ofpetty kingdoms. In the south east (the present county of Monmouthshire) theKingdom of Gwent was established, traditionally byCaradoc, in the 5th or 6th centuries. Its capital, Caerwent, gave the name to the kingdom.[19] The subsequent history of the area prior to the Norman Conquest is poorly documented and complex. The Kingdom of Gwent frequently fought with the neighbouring Welsh kingdoms, and sometimes joined in alliance with them in, generally successful, attempts to repel theAnglo-Saxons, their common enemy. TheBook of Llandaff records such a victory over the Saxon invaders achieved byTewdrig at a battle nearTintern in the late 6th century.[20][c] An example of the alliances formed by neighbouring petty kings was theKingdom of Morgannwg, a union between Gwent and its western neighbour, the Kingdom ofGlywysing, which formed and reformed between the 8th and the 10th centuries.[22] The common threat they faced is shown inOffa's Dyke, the physical delineation of a border with Wales created by theMercianking.[23][d] For a brief period in the 11th century, Monmouthshire, as Gwent, became part of a united Wales underGruffydd ap Llywelyn, but his death in 1063 was soon followed by that of his opponentHarold Godwinson at theBattle of Hastings, and the re-established unity of the country was to come from Norman dominance.[25]
TheNorman invasion of South Wales from the late 1060s saw the destruction of the Kingdom of Gwent,[26] and its replacement by fiveMarcher lordships based atStriguil (Chepstow), Monmouth, Abergavenny, Usk and Caerleon.[27] The Marcher Lord of Abergavenny,Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Gloucester, described the rule of the lords assicut regale ("like unto a king").[28] The lords established castles, first earth and woodmotte-and-bailey constructions, and later substantial structures in stone. Among the first wereChepstow Castle, begun byWilliam FitzOsbern, 1st Earl of Hereford as early as 1067,[29] and that atTregrug, nearLlangybi, by de Clare's son,Gilbert.[30] The historian John Kenyon describes Chepstow as "one of the great strongholds of Europe".[31][e] In the early Norman period, the cleric and chronicler,Geoffrey of Monmouth (c. 1095 – c. 1155), who may have been born at Monmouth, wrote hisThe History of the Kings of Britain, with a focus onKing Arthur and on his capital,Camelot, which Geoffrey located atCaerleon (now inNewport), and which remained highly influential for centuries, although modern scholars consider it little more than a literary forgery.[32][f]
Christmas 1175 saw an outbreak of particular violence in the gradual extension of Norman control over South Wales. The Marcher lordWilliam de Braose invitedSeisyll ap Dyfnwal, lord of Upper Gwent, and an array of other Welsh notables to a feast atAbergavenny Castle. De Braose proceeded to have his men massacre the Welsh, before sending them to burn Seisyll's home atCastell Arnallt and to murder his son, intending the obliteration of the indigenous Gwent aristocracy. A wave of Welsh retaliation followed, described in detail by the contemporary chronicler,Gerald of Wales.[34]
Monmouthshire's Norman castles later became favoured residences of thePlantagenet nobility.Henry of Grosmont, Duke of Lancaster (c. 1310–1361), was reputedly born atGrosmont Castle,[35] home of his fatherHenry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster, grandson ofHenry III. Becoming the richest and among the most powerful lords in England, Grosmont developed the castle as a sumptuous residence, while the village became an important medieval settlement.[36]Henry V (1386–1422) was born at his father's castle atMonmouth in 1386,[g] and his birth, and his most famousmilitary victory, are commemorated inAgincourt Square in the town, and by a statue on the frontage of theShire Hall which forms the square's centrepiece.[38][h] In Henry V's wars in France, he received strong military support from the archers of Gwent, who were famed for their skill with theWelsh bow. Gerald recorded, "the men of Gwent are more skilled with the bow and arrow than those who come from other parts of Wales".[43][i]
There was a brief reassertion of Welsh autonomy in Monmouthshire during theGlyndŵr rebellion of 1400 to 1415. Seeking to re-establish Welsh independence, the revolt began in the north, but by 1403Owain Glyndŵr's army was in Monmouthshire, sackingUsk[45] and securing a victory over the English atCraig-y-dorth, nearCwmcarvan. According to theAnnals of Owain Glyn Dwr, "there the English were killed for the most part and they were pursued up to the gates of the town" (of Monmouth).[46][j] This was the high water mark of the revolt; heavy defeats in the county followed in 1405, at theBattle of Grosmont, and at theBattle of Pwll Melyn, traditionally located nearUsk Castle, where Glyndŵr's brother was killed and his eldest son captured. The chroniclerAdam of Usk, a contemporary observer, noted that "from this time onward, Owain's fortunes began to wane in that region."[47]
The firstTudor king,Henry VII, was born atPembroke Castle in the west of Wales, and spent some of his childhood in Monmouthshire, atRaglan Castle as a ward ofWilliam Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke.[48] His son and heirHenry VIII was to bring the rule of theMarcher lords to an end. The historic county of Monmouthshire was formed from theWelsh Marches by theLaws in Wales Act 1535. The Laws in Wales Act 1542 enumerated the counties of Wales and omitted Monmouthshire, implying that the county was no longer to be treated as part of Wales. Though for all purposes Wales had become part of theKingdom of England, and the difference had little practical effect, it did begin a centuries-long dispute as to Monmouthshire's status as aWelsh or as anEnglish county, a debate only finally brought to an end in 1972.[49]
The laws establishing the 13 counties (shires), thehistoric counties of Wales,[50] assigned four for the five new counties created from the Marcher Lordships along the Welsh/English border,Brecknockshire,Denbighshire,Montgomeryshire andRadnorshire, to the legal system operated in Wales, administered by theCourt of Great Sessions. Monmouthshire was assigned to theOxford circuit of theEnglish Assizes.[51] This began a legal separation which continued until 1972; for example, the administrative county of Monmouthshire and the boroughs of Newport, Abergavenny and Monmouth were explicitly listed as being in England rather than Wales in first schedule of theLocal Government Act 1933. For several centuries, acts of theParliament of England (in which Wales was represented) often referred to "Wales and Monmouthshire", such as theWelsh Church Act 1914.[52]
Monmouthshire in the 1600s experienced to a high degree the political and religious convulsions arising from theEnglish Reformation and culminating in theEnglish Civil War. FollowingHenry VII's religious reforms, the county had a reputation forrecusancy, with the strongly CatholicMarquesses of Worcester (later Dukes of Beaufort) at its apex, from their powerbase atRaglan Castle.[53] The outbreak of war saw the county predominantlyRoyalist in its sympathies;Henry Somerset, 1st Marquess of Worcester expended a fortune in support ofCharles I and twice entertained him at Raglan. His generosity was unavailing; the castle fell after a siege in 1646; the marquess died in captivity and hisson spent time in prison and in exile abroad.[54][55]
John Arnold,member of parliament forMonmouth Boroughs in the late 17th century, was a virulent opponent of Catholics and pursued a policy of harassment from the 1670s.[56] Monmouthshire’s onlydukedom was created in 1663 forJames Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, but became forfeit following Scott’s execution after the failedMonmouth Rebellion in 1685.[57] In the 18th and much of the 19th centuries county politics was dominated by the Beauforts and theMorgans, "an everlasting friendship between the houses ofRaglan andTredegar",[58] and by the end of the 19th century, these two families, along with theHanburys of Pontypool, held between them over a fifth of the total land in the county.[59]
_Found_guilty_of_high_treason_at_Monmouth_and_sentenced_to_death_16_Jany_1840_LCCN2003672983.jpg)
Industrialisation came early to Monmouthshire; the firstbrass in Britain was produced at afoundry atTintern in 1568,[60] and the lower Wye Valley and theForest of Dean became important centres for metalworking and mining. But the most dramatic impact was in the west of the county during theIndustrial Revolution, in theSouth Wales Coalfield, where some of the largest pits in Wales were dug, and a majoriron industry developed.[61] The societal transformation was accompanied by great inequality and unrest.Chartism was firmly embedded in Wales, and in 1840 the Chartist leadersJohn Frost,Zephaniah Williams andWilliam Jones were tried for sedition and treason at theShire Hall, Monmouth, after afailed insurrection at Newport, which the writerClive Aslet called "the first mass movement of theworking class".[62] Their death sentences were subsequently commuted totransportation to Australia.[63]
Industrialisation also drove improvements in transportation; in the 18th century, the poor state of Monmouthshire's roads approached a national scandal. During a debate in parliament on the establishment of aturnpike trust for the county, the local landownerValentine Morris asserted that the inhabitants of the county travelled "in ditches".[64] By the mid-century, commercial demands saw the first timetabledstagecoach between London and Monmouth arrive inAgincourt Square on 4 November 1763, the journey having taken four days.[65] By the end of the century, the need for access to exploit the South Wales Coalfields saw the development of trams and canals.[66]
Tourism became prominent in Monmouthshire at the end of the 18th century, when theFrench Revolution and the subsequentNapoleonic Wars precluded travel toContinental Europe.[67] The focus of activity was theWye Tour, first popularised by the Rev.William Gilpin, in hisObservations on the River Wye and Several Parts of South Wales, etc. Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty, published in 1782. Although his efforts were sometimes satirised, Gilpin established what became the conventional route down the "mazy course" of theRiver Wye, with visitors embarking atRoss-on-Wye, and sailing pastSymonds Yat, and Monmouth, before the highlight of the tour,Tintern Abbey.[68] Voyages concluded at Chepstow. The abbey at Tintern inspired artists and writers;J. M. W. Turner painted it;[69]William Wordsworth committed it to verse;[70] andSamuel Taylor Coleridge almost died there.[71] Another object of interest to artists undertaking the Wye Tour was theMonnow Bridge at Monmouth.[72] A late 18th-century watercolour byMichael Angelo Rooker is now in theMonmouth Museum.[73] The noted architectural watercolouristSamuel Prout painted the bridge in a study dated "before 1814", now held at theYale Center for British Art in Connecticut.[74] In 1795,J. M. W. Turner sketched the bridge and gatehouse during one of his annual summer sketching tours.[75]
Alfred Russel Wallace, anaturalist whose independent work onnatural selection sawCharles Darwin bring forward the publication ofOn the Origin of Species, was born atLlanbadoc, outsideUsk, in 1823. He is commemorated in a statue raised in the town's Twyn Square in 2021.[76]Bertrand Russell, the philosopher and the onlyNobel laureate from the county, was born atCleddon Hall, outsideTrellech in 1872.[77]Charles Rolls grew up at his family seat,The Hendre, just north of Monmouth and, in partnership withHenry Royce, co-foundedRolls-Royce Limited. An aviation pioneer, as well as an automobile innovator, he died in a plane crash in 1910,[78] and is commemorated by a statue in Agincourt Square in Monmouth.[79]
TheRoyal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers was founded in 1539, making it the second-oldest regiment in theBritish Army. Originally a county militia, it was amalgamated into theRoyal Engineers in 1877. It is based atMonmouth Castle.[80]Fitzroy Somerset, a younger son of the5th Duke of Beaufort, enjoyed a long military career, serving on the staff of theDuke of Wellington at theBattle of Waterloo,[81] and as commander-in-chief of the British forces during theCrimean War.[82] CreatedBaron Raglan in 1852, he died in 1855. His son was giftedCefntilla Court, nearLlandenny in his memory.[83]William Wilson Allen, who fought with theSouth Wales Borderers at theBattle of Rorke's Drift in 1879, is buried inMonmouth Cemetery, the only grave in the county of a holder of theVictoria Cross.[84][85][k] TheMonmouthshire Regiment was established in 1907. Men from the regiment fought in both theFirst andSecond World Wars, until its disbandment in 1967.[89]HMSMonmouth was sunk at theBattle of Coronel in November 1914, with the loss of all 734 crew.[90]
TheLocal Government Act 1972, which came into effect in April 1974, created the county of Gwent, confirmed it as part of Wales, and abolished the historicadministrative county of Monmouthshire and its associatedlieutenancy. It also subsumedNewport County Borough Council, creating a two-tier system of local government across the county. The entire county was administered byGwent County Council, based atCounty Hall, Cwmbran, with fivedistrict councils below it:Blaenau Gwent,Islwyn,Monmouth,Newport andTorfaen.[91] The largest five towns in the new county wereNewport,Cwmbran,Pontypool,Ebbw Vale andAbergavenny.[92] In the1979 Welsh devolution referendum Gwent voted heavily against the proposal for a Welsh Assembly with limited powers, with a "No Vote" of 87.9 per cent, with the national "No Vote" standing at 79.7 per cent.[93]
TheLocal Government (Wales) Act 1994 created the presentlocal government structure inWales of 22unitary authority areas, theprincipal areas, and abolished the previous two-tier structure ofcounties anddistricts. It came into effect on 1 April 1996. It brought to an end the 22-year existence of Gwent, and re-created the county of Monmouthshire, although only with the eastern three-fifths of its historic area, and with a substantially reduced population. The western two-fifths of the county were included in other principal areas:Caerphilly County Borough, part of which came from Mid Glamorgan, including the towns ofNewbridge,Blackwood,New Tredegar andRhymney;Blaenau Gwent County Borough, includingAbertillery,Brynmawr,Ebbw Vale andTredegar; Torfaen, includingBlaenavon,Abersychan,Pontypool, andCwmbran; and theCity of Newport, includingCaerleon as it had since 1974. The new Monmouthshire, covering the less populated eastern 60% of the historic county, included the towns ofAbergavenny,Caldicot,Chepstow,Monmouth andUsk.[94] In his essay on local government in the fifth and final volume of theGwent County History, Robert McCloy suggests that the governance of "no county in the United Kingdom in the twentieth century was so transformed as that of Monmouthshire".[4]
The title of Gwent continues as apreserved county, one of eight such counties in Wales, which have mainly ceremonial functions such as thelord lieutenancy andhigh shrievality. In 2024 the lord lieutenant is Brigadier Robert Aitken, appointed in 2016,[95] and the high sheriff is Professor Simon J. Gibson.[96] The preserved county is also retained for a limited number of public service bodies which operate across principal areas, for exampleGwent Police.[97] In the1997 Welsh devolution referendum for the establishment of aNational Assembly for Wales, which resulted in a narrow "Yes" vote, 50.30 per cent in favour v. 49.70 per cent against, Monmouthshire recorded the highest "No" vote of any principal area, its population voting 67.9 per cent against to 32.1 per cent in favour.[98]
Monmouthshire is broadly rectangular in shape, and borders the county ofPowys to the north and the county boroughs ofNewport, Torfaen andBlaenau Gwent to the west, with its southern border on theSevern Estuary giving the county its only coastline. To the east, it borders the English counties ofHerefordshire andGloucestershire.[99] The centre of the county is the plain of Gwent, formed from the basin of theRiver Usk, while theRiver Wye forms part of its eastern border, running through theWye Valley, one of the fiveAreas of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Wales and the only one in the county.[100]
The north and west of the county is mountainous, particularly the western area adjoining the industrialSouth Wales Valleys and theBlack Mountains which form part of theBrecon Beacons National Park. Two major river valleys dominate the lowlands: the scenic gorge of the Wye Valley along the border with Gloucestershire adjoining theForest of Dean, and the valley of the River Usk between Abergavenny and Newport. Both rivers flow south to theSevern Estuary. TheRiver Monnow is a tributary of the River Wye and forms part of the border with Herefordshire and England, passing through the town of Monmouth. The highest point of the county isChwarel y Fan in the Black Mountains, with a height of 679 metres (2,228 ft). TheSugar Loaf (Welsh:Mynydd Pen-y-fâl or Y Fâl), located three kilometres (two miles) northwest of Abergavenny, offers far-reaching views; although its height is only 596 metres (1,955 ft), its isolation and distinctive peak shape make it a prominent landmark.[101]
Wentwood, now partly in Monmouthshire and partly inNewport, is the remnant of a once much larger forest, but remains the largestancient woodland in Wales and the ninth largest in Britain.[102] Originally a 3,000 hectares (7,400 acres) woodland, it formed the hunting ground for Chepstow Castle, and gave its name to a traditional north-south, division of the county between thecantrefi (hundreds) ofGwent Uwchcoed (above the wood) andGwent Iscoed (below the wood).[103]
The centre of the principal area is dominated by theUsk Inlier, a large outcrop ofSilurian rock. Theinlier is surrounded by younger,Devonian, rock, including areas ofOld Red Sandstone which forms a very common building material in the county.[104] TheWye Gorge, in the extreme east of the county, has a bed ofCarboniferous Limestone.[105]
Monmouth's coastline forms its southern border, running the length of theSevern Estuary from Chepstow in the east to the shore south ofMagor in the west. The distance, roughly 15 miles (24 km), can be walked via theWales Coast Path.[106] The coastline includes the eastern part of theCaldicot and Wentloog Levels, also known as the Monmouthshire or Gwent Levels, an almost entirely man-made environment that has seenland reclamation sinceRoman times.[107] The coastal area is low-lying with few cliffs, making it historically vulnerable to flooding.[108] An extreme example were the1607 Bristol Channel floods which saw some 2,000 people drowned, with many victims located on Monmouthshire's coastline.[109][110]
Denny Island, a 0.24 hectares (0.6 acres) outcrop of rock in theSevern Estuary, the southern foreshore of which is the boundary between England and Wales, is Monmouthshire's only offshore island.[111]
The battle to saveMagor Marsh, the last remaining area of naturalfenland on theGwent Levels, led to the foundation of theGwent Wildlife Trust.[112] The county contains a range of nature reserves and areas of special scientific interest, includingGraig Wood 14.3-hectare (35-acre) SSSI,Pentwyn Farm Grasslands 7.6-hectare (19-acre) SSSI andLady Park Wood National Nature Reserve (45.0-hectare (111-acre)).[113]Llandegfedd Reservoir, developed in the 1960s to provide a water supply toCardiff, is an SSSI providingoverwintering forwildfowl.[114] TheWye Valley, the county's onlyNational Landscape, has its largest population ofdeer and the UK's largest population oflesser horseshoe bats.[115] The Wye itself was once one of the country's major centres ofsalmon fishing, but this has suffered very rapid decline in the 21st century due toriver pollution.[116][l]
| Climate data for Monmouthshire | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 8.4 (47.1) | 8.9 (48.0) | 11.40 (52.52) | 14.5 (58.1) | 17.9 (64.2) | 20.5 (68.9) | 22.5 (72.5) | 22.1 (71.8) | 19.5 (67.1) | 15.2 (59.4) | 11.5 (52.7) | 8.7 (47.7) | 15.16 (59.29) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 1.72 (35.10) | 1.7 (35.1) | 2.7 (36.9) | 4.1 (39.4) | 7.0 (44.6) | 9.8 (49.6) | 11.5 (52.7) | 11.2 (52.2) | 9.1 (48.4) | 6.7 (44.1) | 4.0 (39.2) | 2.0 (35.6) | 6.0 (42.8) |
| Average rainfall mm (inches) | 127.3 (5.01) | 93.9 (3.70) | 74.8 (2.94) | 67.6 (2.66) | 73.9 (2.91) | 69.1 (2.72) | 66.2 (2.61) | 82.8 (3.26) | 75.8 (2.98) | 125.6 (4.94) | 120.9 (4.76) | 132.2 (5.20) | 1,110.7 (43.73) |
| Average rainy days(≥ 1 mm) | 14.5 | 11.5 | 11.3 | 10.6 | 10.3 | 9.2 | 9.0 | 10.1 | 9.7 | 13.1 | 14.2 | 13.9 | 137.9 |
| Mean monthlysunshine hours | 51.3 | 75.0 | 110.6 | 158.1 | 187.1 | 176.7 | 185.3 | 178.9 | 133.3 | 95.4 | 59.3 | 47.0 | 1,458.4 |
| Source: 1991–2020 averages forUsk climate station. Sources:Met Office[119] | |||||||||||||
The currentunitary authority of Monmouthshire was created on 1 April 1996 as a successor to thedistrict of Monmouth along with theLlanelly community from Blaenau Gwent, both of which weredistricts of Gwent. It is aprincipal area of Wales.[m] Monmouthshire is styled as a county, and includes: the former boroughs of Abergavenny and Monmouth; the former urban districts ofChepstow and Usk; the former rural districts of Abergavenny, Chepstow and Monmouth; the former rural district ofPontypool, except the community ofLlanfrechfa Lower; and the parish ofLlanelly from the formerCrickhowell Rural District in Brecknockshire.[121]
The county is administered byMonmouthshire County Council, with its head office at Rhadyr, outsideUsk, opened in 2013.[122][123][124] In the2022 Monmouthshire County Council election, no party gained overall control, with theWelsh Labour party forming a minority administration, its 22 councillors allying with fiveIndependents and oneGreen Party councillor. The council leader is Mary Ann Brocklesby.[125]
Monmouthshire elects onemember tothe UK parliament at Westminster, until 2024 representing theMonmouth constituency. Under the2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, a new constituency,Monmouthshire, came into effect at the2024 general election, comprising 88.9% of the previous constituency.[126] The seat was won by theLabour Party candidateCatherine Fookes[127] who defeated the incumbent,David T. C. Davies, aConservative Party politician who had held the previous seat since 2005 and who served as theSecretary of State for Wales in the prior government.[128]
Monmouthshire directly elects two members to theSenedd, the Welsh parliament. TheMonmouth constituency covers most of the county and since May 2021 the directly elected member isPeter Fox,[129] aConservative Party politician who previously served as the chair of Monmouthshire County Council.[130] The western edge of the county, bordering Newport and including the settlements ofMagor,Undy,Rogiet andCaldicot, forms part of theNewport East constituency which hasJohn Griffiths ofLabour as its member.[131]
Monmouth is also one of eight constituencies in theSouth Wales Eastelectoral region, which elects fouradditional members, under a partial proportional representation system.[132]
Fire and rescue services are provided bySouth Wales Fire and Rescue Service, which has fire stations in the county at Abergavenny, Caldicot, Chepstow, Monmouth and Usk.[133] Policing services are provided byGwent Police, whose officers cover Monmouthshire, as well asBlaenau Gwent,Caerphilly,Newport and Torfaen.[134] Civilian oversight is provided by theGwent Police and Crime Commissioner.[135] Monmouthshire's prisons areHM Prison Prescoed, aCategory D open prison atCoed-y-paen andHM Prison Usk, a Category C prison, both in the west of the county.[136]
Monmouthshire's population was 93,000 at the 2021 census, increasing marginally from 91,300 at the 2011 census. 54,100 (58.2 per cent) of residents were born in Wales, while 32,300 (34.7 per cent) were born in England.[137] Just over 20 per cent of the county's population is over the age of 65. It remains one of the least densely-populated of Wales'sprincipal areas.[138]
The 2021 census recorded thatWelsh is spoken by 8.7 per cent of the population of the county, a decrease from 9.9 per cent in 2011. The number of non-Welsh speakers increased by 3,000 over the decade.[137] In 2021, 96.9 per cent of Monmouthshire residents identified as "white European", marginally lower than in 2011, compared with 98 per cent for the whole of Wales.[137] 41.9 per cent of the population identified as "Welsh", down from 44.0% in 2011. The percentage of residents in Monmouthshire that identified as "British only" increased from 23.5% to 27.0%.[137]
In the 2021 census 43.4 per cent of Monmouthshire residents reported having "No religion", an increase of nearly 15 per cent from the 28.5 per cent in the 2011 census. 48.7 per cent described themselves as "Christian" with the remainder reporting themselves as Buddhist (0.4 percent); Hindu(0.2 per cent); Jewish (0.1 per cent); Muslim (0.5 per cent); Sikh (0.1 per cent) or Other (0.6 per cent).[137] TheDiocese of Monmouth, within theChurch in Wales, serves the area covered by the historic county, and itsbishop, from 2019Cherry Vann, is based at Newport.[139][n]
Monmouthshire is now primarily aservice economy, with professional, scientific and technical businesses, financial services, IT and business administration, retail, hospitality and arts and entertainment businesses accounting for just over 50 per cent of the total number of enterprises in the county. Firms are generally small, with 91 per cent of businesses employing fewer than 10 people.[140] It is a relatively prosperous county in comparison with the average in Wales; 80.0 per cent of people of working age are in employment compared with the Welsh average of 72.8 per cent; just under 3,000 people were in receipt of the main unemployment benefit, a substantially lower number than in all of the adjoining principal areas; average annual earnings in 2020 were just over £41,000 compared to just over £32,000 in Wales as a whole. Totalincome tax payments from the county in 2013 were second only to the City of Cardiff, and the average individual payment exceeded that paid in the capital city.[141] Agriculture continues to be an important employer, accounting for 15.3 per cent of businesses, the second largest single sector after professional, scientific and technical enterprises. TheMonmouthshire Show, an annualagricultural show, is one of the largest such events in Wales and has operated since 1790.[142] The third largest individual employment sector is construction.[140]
The onlymotorways are in the south of the county: theM4 which connects Wales with England via thePrince of Wales Bridge with its Welsh end nearSudbrook; and theM48, originally part of the M4,[143] which links Wales with England via theSevern Bridge at Chepstow.[144] In the east of the county, theA449 and theA40 link with theM50 nearGoodrich, Herefordshire, connecting Monmouthshire and South Wales with theEnglish Midlands.[145] The conversion of theA465 road from Abergavenny toDowlais into adual carriageway was completed in the mid-2020s, after being proposed in the 1990s. Despite major cost overruns,[146] it is considered to have brought benefits to the area.[147] TheDepartment for Transport recorded traffic in Monmouthshire at 0.9 billionvehicle miles in 2022. This represented a lower level of road usage than in 2016.[148][o]
Monmouthshire is served by four railway stations: in the south are theSevern Tunnel Junction railway station atRogiet on theSouth Wales Main Line, which connects South Wales to London; andChepstow railway station andCaldicot railway station on theGloucester–Newport line; and in the north,Abergavenny railway station on theWelsh Marches line.[149]
The county's main centres of population are served by a bus network, connecting Abergavenny, Monmouth, Chepstow, Raglan and Usk, with stopping points at smaller settlements on route.[150] National coach services have stopping points at Monmouth and Chepstow.[151][152]
In its industrial heyday in the 18th and 19th centuries, the eastern periphery of theSouth Wales Coalfield was served by theMonmouthshire and Brecon Canal which connected the coalfield with the port atNewport. Today, the canal is a popular route for leisure cruising but most of its length lies within the principal areas of Torfaen,Blaenau Gwent and Newport.[153] The Monmouthshire villages ofGilwern,Govilon andGoetre, on the western extremity of the county, remain adjacent to the canal.[154]
Tourism remains an important element of the county's economy. It generated just under £245 million in income in 2019, from 2.28 million visitors. The sector also provides employment for over 3,000 inhabitants of the county,[140] approximately 10 per cent of the total working population.[138]
The county has neither a university nor any satellite campus.[155][p] The formerUniversity of Wales, Newport operated acampus atCaerleon which closed in 2016, following the 2013 merger which created theUniversity of South Wales.[157] Higher education courses in the county are provided through the campus ofColeg Gwent at Rhadyr, nearUsk.[158]
There are fourmaintained secondary schools in the county,[159]Caldicot School, serving the south of the county;Monmouth Comprehensive School serving the east;Chepstow School, serving the town ofChepstow and the surrounding villages; andKing Henry VIII 3–19 School inAbergavenny, serving the town and the north of the county. All havesixth-forms.[160] There was one special school, Mounton House School, based atMounton House near Chepstow, but that closed in 2020 and, as at 2024, there is no specific special school provision.[161] There are 30primary schools of which two areWelsh language medium. There are no full Welsh language medium secondary schools, although all offer the option of studying Welsh.[159] The onlyindependent secondary provision in the county is Haberdashers' Monmouth School,[162][163] formed in 2024 from an amalgamation ofMonmouth School for Boys andMonmouth School for Girls, and operated by theHaberdashers' Company.[164]
TheAneurin Bevan University Health Board is theLocal health board for Gwent withinNHS Wales and has responsibility for health care within the county.[165] The largest hospital in the county is theNevill Hall Hospital at Abergavenny. Its range of services has reduced following the opening of the specialist critical care centre at theGrange University Hospital in Torfaen in 2020. The Grange is also the designated trauma centre for Gwent, which covers Monmouthshire.[166] TheWell-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 established Public Services Boards throughout Wales to oversee health and well-being, and following reorganisation in 2021 a Gwent public services board was created to have oversight for Monmouthshire, Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Newport and Torfaen.[167]
Theflag of Monmouthshire was officially adopted in 2011.[168] It features three goldfleur-de-lis on a black/blue background.[169]
Monmouthshire has 2,428listed buildings,[170] including 54 at Grade I,[171] the highest grade, and 246 at Grade II*, the next highest grade.[172] These include churches, a priory and an abbey, and several castles. The journalistSimon Jenkins notes the county's "fine collection" of these,[173] mostly dating from theNorman invasion of Wales, and describesChepstow as "the glory of medieval south Wales".[174] The castle atRaglan is later, dating from the mid-fifteenth century.[175] The fortifiedbridge over theRiver Monnow atMonmouth is the only remaining fortified river bridge in the country with its gate tower standing on the bridge, and has been described as "arguably the finest surviving medieval bridge in Britain".[176] Monmouthshire has a more "modest"[173] range of churches, although that atBettws Newydd has "perhaps the most completerood arrangement remaining in any church inEngland andWales".[177] The county's Grade I listed abbey, atTintern, became a focal point of theWye Tour[178] in the late-eighteenth century.[179] The county has 48registered historic landscapes including five at Grade I and nine at Grade II*.[180]
Monmouthshire hasrugby union clubs atAbergavenny andMonmouth,[181][182] and an invitational county team,Monmouthshire County RFC. It hasfootball clubs atAbergavenny,[183]Caldicot,[184]Chepstow[185] andMonmouth.[186] The football clubs play in theArdal Leagues[187] and theGwent County League.[188]Monmouthshire County Cricket Club was established in the 19th century and achieved a notable victory in 1858 when a Monmouthshire XXII beat anAll-England XI at a match on Newport Marshes. The club suffered financial difficulties in the 1930s and merged withGlamorgan County Cricket Club in 1934.[189] Monmouthshire has a rowing tradition on the River Wye, with theMonmouth Rowing Club, founded in 1928,[190] and all three of the town's secondary schools having their own rowing clubs.[191][192][193]
Chepstow Racecourse hosts theCoral Welsh Grand National, the richestthoroughbred horse racing event in Wales.[194]The Rolls of Monmouth Golf Club atRockfield is ranked in the 50 top courses in Wales,[195] while theSt Pierre course in the south of the county hosted theEpson Grand Prix of Europe and theBritish Masters in the late 20th century.[196]
Monmouthshire has some majorcaving sites.Ogof Draenen, atPwll Du in the north west of the county, is the longestcave system in Wales, and the second-longest inGreat Britain.[197] Its full extent was identified by members of the Morgannwg Caving Club in 1994.[198] In the south of the county, underneath Chepstow Racecourse,Otter Hole is considered one of the bestdecorated caves in the country.[199]
Severallong-distance footpaths pass through the county, including theMarches Way, theThree Castles Walk,Offa's Dyke Path, theUsk Valley Walk, theMonnow Valley Walk and theWye Valley Walk.[200] Chepstow is a terminus for two long-distance cycle routes which form part of theNational Cycle Network:National Cycle Route 8 which runs from either Chepstow or Cardiff in the south toHolyhead in the north, and theCeltic Trail cycle route which runs east to west, from Chepstow toFishguard.[201]
The cuisine of Monmouthshire traditionally focused on its local produce, includinglamb and mutton fromsheep farming in the hillier north of the county,[202] poultry andgame.[203]Lady Llanover, (bardic nameGwenynen Gwent — "the bee of Gwent"), was an early champion of Welsh culture and cuisine; herFirst Principles of Good Cookery, published in 1867, was one of the first Welsh cookery books.[204] The contemporary writer, Gilli Davies, in her study of Welsh food,Tastes of Wales, writes of the "rare and appealing quality to the food in Monmouthshire".[205] The county has a smallviniculture industry, with vineyards atAncre Hill Estates, north of Monmouth;White Castle vineyard near Abergavenny,[206] and theTintern Parva vineyard in theWye Valley.[207][208] There are twoMichelin starred restaurants in Monmouthshire,The Walnut Tree atLlanddewi Skirrid,[209] in the north of the county andThe Whitebrook atWhitebrook in the east.[210][211]Abergavenny Food Festival is held annually each September. Established in 1991, it has been described as one of Britain's best food and produce events.[212][213][214]
Monmouthshire has three local newspapers, theAbergavenny Chronicle, theForest of Dean and Wye Valley Review and theMonmouthshire Beacon. All are published byTindle, a regional media group.[215] Digital reporting is provided by the Monmouthshire Free Press Series.[216]Sunshine Radio (Herefordshire and Monmouthshire) is the only local radio station, although it is based in Hereford.[217]Rockfield Studios is a major residentialrecording studio which has seen bands and artists such asColdplay,Oasis and theManic Street Preachers record material.Queen recorded most of "Bohemian Rhapsody" at Rockfield in 1975.[218]
There are two theatres in Monmouthshire, theBorough Theatre in Abergavenny,[219] and theSavoy Theatre, Monmouth. Operated by a charitable trust, the Savoy claims to be the oldest theatre in Wales.[220] Museums of local life are located atAbergavenny,[221]Chepstow,[222]Usk[223] andMonmouth. During the closure of the Monmouth museum in 2020-2021 in theCOVID-19 pandemic, the council announced that the museum would not re-open and that its collections, including an important assemblage of memorabilia related toHoratio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson donated to the town byGeorgiana, Lady Llangattock,[224] would be relocated to theShire Hall. The museum'sMarket Hall site would be redeveloped for commercial use. The council intends to complete the transfer by 2027.[225] TheMonmouth Regimental Museum, located atGreat Castle House in Monmouth, contains material related to theRoyal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers.[226]
In 2012, the launch ofMonmouthpedia, a project to useQRpediaQR codes to provide multilingualsmart phone access to Wikipedia articles on notable subjects in the area, saw Monmouth described as the "world's first Wikipedia town".[227]
The development of tourism in the late 18th century saw the writing of a number of histories of the area, which frequently combined the features of a guidebook with a more formal historical approach. Among the first wasWilliam Gilpin'sObservations, published in 1782.[230] Among the most notable wasWilliam Coxe's two-volumeAn Historical Tour in Monmouthshire, published in 1801. Coxe's preface explains the tour's genesis: "The present work owes its origin to an accidental excursion in Monmouthshire, in company with my friendSir Richard Hoare, during the autumn of 1798."[231] A detailed county history was undertaken bySir Joseph Bradney, in hisA History of Monmouthshire from the Coming of the Normans into Wales down to the Present Time, published over a period of 30 years in the early 20th century.[232]
Studies of the architecture of the county includeJohn Newman'sGwent/Monmouthshire volume of thePevsner Buildings of Wales series; and, most exhaustively,Sir Cyril Fox andLord Raglan's three-volume study,Monmouthshire Houses.[233] This was described by the architectural historianPeter Smith, author of the magisterialHouses of the Welsh Countryside, as "one of the most remarkable studies of vernacular architecture yet made in the British Isles,[234] a landmark, in its own field, as significant asDarwin'sOrigin of Species".[235]
The 20th century saw the publication of two lesser histories:Hugo Tyerman and Sydney Warner'sMonmouthshire volume ofArthur Mee'sThe King's England series in 1951;[178] and Arthur Clark's two-volumeThe Story of Monmouthshire, published in 1979–1980.[236][237] The history of the county was covered in more anecdotal form by the Monmouthshire writer and artistFred Hando, who chronicled the highways and byways of the county in some 800 newspaper articles written from the 1920s until his death in 1970 and published in theSouth Wales Argus, focusing on "the little places of a shy county".[229] The 21st century saw the publication of the county's most important history, the five-volumeGwent County History. The series, modelled on theVictoria County History and withRalph A. Griffiths as editor-in-chief, was published by theUniversity of Wales Press between 2004 and 2013 and covered the history of the county from prehistoric times to the 21st century.[238][239]
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