Monmouthshire

Monmouthshire, county of southeastern Wales. The present county of Monmouthshire borders England to the east, the River Severn estuary to the south, the county boroughs of Newport, Torfaen, and Blaenau Gwent to the west, and the county of Powys to the north. The heart of the county is the plain of Gwent, in the basin of the River Usk, which adjoins the undulating coastal plain along the Severn estuary. To the east is the deeply incised valley of the River Wye and its flanking hill country. To the north the county includes a section of the mountainous Brecon Beacons National Park. The present county of Monmouthshire lies entirely within the historic county of the same name, which also includes the county boroughs of Newport and Torfaen, most of the county borough of Blaenau Gwent, and part of the county borough of Caerphilly. The administrative center for the current county is Usk.

The historic county’s position as a border district shaped its past. Monmouthshire was thickly forested in ancient times and was only sparsely settled until conquered by the Romans about 75 ce. The Romans built a legionary fortress at Caerleon (Isca Silurum) and a town at Caerwent (Venta Silurum). After the Romans abandoned the area in the late 4th century, the Britons—ancestors of the Welsh—resisted the Anglo-Saxon invaders, but the area periodically fell under Anglo-Saxon control until the Welsh established the kingdom of Gwent in the region. Gwent was conquered by the Anglo-Saxon king Harold II in 1065 and almost immediately thereafter came under the rule of the conquering Normans. Shortly after their arrival in England in 1066, the Normans recognized the importance of the river crossing on the Wye and began construction of Chepstow Castle, one of many castles they eventually built in the county. The Normans ruled the area as one of the marcher lordships. These landed estates in eastern Wales and western England were independent of the English crown’s direct legal control, which gave rise to much lawlessness in the region.

In 1536 Henry VIII of England, placing the area under English administration and thus stripping the declining marcher lordships of their power, created the shire (county) of Monmouth. The county’s subsequent history was uneventful. From the 16th to the early 20th century Monmouthshire was sometimes considered administratively a part of England and sometimes a part of Wales, but today it is recognized as an integral part of the latter, and it elects representatives to the National Assembly for Wales. Historically, Monmouth was the county town (seat) of Monmouthshire.

The ruins of many of the small medieval castles belonging to the marcher lords still adorn the countryside, notably those at Raglan, Chepstow, and Caldicot. Monmouthshire’s notable architecture also includes the ruined Cistercian abbey at Tintern and an Augustinian priory at Llanthony.

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The present county of Monmouthshire is mainly agricultural, but there is a growing light industrial and commercial sector in the towns, which also serve as residential bases for commuters to Newport and other urban areas to the west. The Usk river valley and the coastal fringe are important for dairying. Market gardening is practiced near Abergavenny, and sheep are raised on the uplands. The better farmland of the plain, however, is under increasing pressure for suburban residential and commercial development. Abergavenny is a market town with some light engineering and printing. The town of Usk, on the River Usk, is noted for its fishing. The Severn rail tunnel, the cable-stayed Second Severn Crossing (completed 1996; renamed the Prince of Wales Bridge in 2018), and the Severn suspension bridge connect Monmouthshire and the rest of Wales to southern England. Including viaducts, the cable-stayed bridge extends more than 3 miles (5 km) and is the longest in Great Britain. Area present county, 329 square miles (851 square km). Pop. (2001) present county, 84,885; (2011) present county, 91,323.