I.

Introduction

Gwent, former county, south-eastern Wales, bounded on the north-east and east by the English counties of Hereford and Worcester and Gloucestershire respectively, on the south by the estuary of the River Severn, on the west by the Welsh counties of South and Mid Glamorgan, and on the north-west by the Welsh county of Powys. It had an area of 1,376 sq km (531 sq mi). The administrative centre of Gwent was Cwmbrân.

Gwent was formed in 1974 by the amalgamation of most of the historic county of Monmouthshire with the county borough of Newport, and part of the former county of Breconshire. It ceased to exist on April 1, 1996, when it was divided into five new local government areas. This was the 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. Monmouthshire was resurrected as a county, albeit smaller than before, and Newport as a county borough. The districts of Blaenau Gwent and Torfaen were also made county boroughs, while Islwyn district was combined with the adjacent district of Rhymney Valley in Mid Glamorgan to form the new county borough of Caerphilly.