Gwent

Gwent. County of the south-east Wales border, which has had a singularly complex administrative history. Its basis was the Welsh kingdom of Gwent, which emerged on the lower Wye river in the 7th cent. It was quickly seized by the Anglo-Normans moving west after 1066 and a series of lordships created in both upper (Gwent Uwchcoed) and lower (Gwent Iscoed) Gwent. These were merged in 1536 to form the new county of Monmouthshire, which took its name from the royal lordship. The anomalous position of the county was evident when, after the Act of Great Sessions of 1542, it was not included in a Welsh judicial circuit. But after the Local Government Act of 1972, Wales was defined formally to include Monmouthshire, which, with some minor territorial adjustments, was renamed Gwent. The county town was moved from Monmouth to Cwmbran. In 1996, in yet another reorganization, Gwent was divided into four new unitary authorities, Blaenau Gwent, Torfaen, Monmouthshire (reviving the old name), and Newport. As might be expected from its location, Gwent was highly Anglicized and only 2.4 per cent of its population spoke Welsh. In 1991 the population was 442,212, and the estimated population of the new authorities is Blaenau Gwent 73,000, Torfaen 91,000, Monmouthshire 81,000, Newport 137,000. It will be interesting to see if this tug of war, which has lasted a mere 900 years, continues in the future. See also Monmouthshire.

Harold Carter