I.

Introduction

Mid Glamorgan, former county, southern Wales, bordered on the north by Powys, on the east by Gwent, on the south by South Glamorgan, and on the west by the Bristol Channel and West Glamorgan. The county had an area of 1,019 sq km (393 sq mi), and was landlocked apart from a narrow stretch of coast some 16 km (10 mi) long in the south-west. The city of Cardiff in South Glamorgan was the administrative centre of the county, as well as the capital of Wales.

Mid Glamorgan was established under the local government reforms of 1974, when the old county of Glamorganshire was divided into three new ones: Mid, South, and West Glamorgan. It ceased to exist on April 1, 1996, when it was divided into four new local government areas. This was as a result of administrative changes implemented under the Local Government Act 1994, which provided for the replacement of the two-tier system of county and district councils introduced in 1974 by a single-tier system of unitary authorities. The district of Merthyr Tydfil became a county borough. The districts of Rhondda and Cynon Valley, and most of Taff-Ely, were combined into the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taff; a small part of southern Taff-Ely was incorporated into the new county of Cardiff. The southern district of Ogwr became the county borough of Bridgend, apart from a small area in the north-east incorporated into Neath Port Talbot county borough. Rhymney district in the east of the county was combined with Islwyn district, Gwent, to form the new county borough of Caerphilly.