Gwynedd

Gwynedd. A county of north-west Wales created by the Local Government Act of 1972 and extant in its initial form from 1974 to 1996, when it was modified by the removal of Anglesey (Ynys Môn), which became a separate unitary authority. It was based upon the post-Roman and medieval kingdom of Gwynedd which, after conquest by Edward I, had been divided by the statute of Rhuddlan in 1284 into the counties of Anglesey, Caernarfonshire, and Merionethshire. The name was revived in 1972 when new counties were created. Initially the proposal was to include all the counties of north Wales in a county to be called Gwynedd, a name acceptable because of its ‘historical associations as well as … shortness and pronounceability’. But a Consultative Document in 1971 accepted a twofold division, defining Gwynedd as Anglesey, Caernarfonshire, and Merioneth, though there were minor changes by which the Conwy valley was included in Gwynedd and the Edeirnion rural district moved to Clwyd.

In 1996 further changes occurred with the establishment of unitary authorities. Ynys Môn was separated and reconstituted as the county of Anglesey and a new authority, Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire, proposed, again with some minor additions from the former Glyndŵr district. That new authority, however, opted to retain the name of Gwynedd.

Harold Carter