Monmouthshire

Monmouthshire (Welsh: Sir Fynwy) is a historic county in the south east of Wales, adjacent to the English counties of Gloucestershire and Herefordshire. It is sometimes known as Gwent, which was a medieval Welsh kingdom in roughly the same area, though the two regions' borders don't quite match up. Monmouthshire is well known for its pastoral scenery, particularly along the Wye Valley and at the borders of the Brecon Beacons, and historic towns and villages such as Monmouth, Abergavenny, and Tintern, the site of a 12th-century Cistercian abbey.

Cities, towns and villages

Cities

• 1 Newport (Welsh: Casnewydd) — nearby are the best Roman remains and museums in Wales

Towns

• 2 Monmouth (Trefynwy) — a delightful, bustling, market town near the border with England
• 3 Abergavenny (Y Fenni) — a gateway to South Wales and the eastern gateway to the Brecon Beacons National Park
• 4 Blaenavon (Blaenafon) — a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to its industrial history
• 5 Brynmawr — home to Parc Nant y Waun, a 22-ha nature reserve
• 6 Caldicot (Cil-y-coed) — home to a castle and country park, a large Roman villa
• 7 Chepstow (Cas-gwent) — known for its castle
• 8 Cwmbran (Cwmbrân) — a New Town founded in 1949
• 9 Ebbw Vale (Glyn Ebwy) — home to the Festival Park Owl Sanctuary
• 10 Pontypool (Pont-y-pŵl) — Pontypool Park offers 150-acres of landscaped open grassland and mixed woodland
• 11 Tredegar — a fine base for hiking the Brecon Beacons National Park
• 12 Usk (Brynbuga) — hosts one of the largest one-day agricultural shows in the UK, in September

Villages

• 13 Raglan (Rhaglan) — known for its castle
• 14 Tintern (Tyndyrn) — site of 12th-century abbey ruins

Understand

Gwent no longer exists as an administrative area, though the name is preserved for certain ceremonial and sporting titles, such as Gwent Police and Royal Gwent Hospital. The county is divided into five administrative districts: Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Newport, Monmouthshire and Torfaen.

Visitor information

• Visit Monmouthshire website

Talk

The population of Monmouthshire is overwhelmingly monolingual English, and the county has the lowest percentage (8%) of Welsh speakers in Wales.

Get in

By car

Monmouthshire is well served by the motorway system and can easily be accessed by junctions 23a to 28 of the M4 and junction 2 of the M48. It also lies on the A40/A449 trunk road from the West Midlands and the A465 Heads of the Valleys road between Hereford and the Glamorgan valleys.

By train

The Great Western main railway line passes through the county affording easy access to Cardiff, Swansea and Pembrokeshire in the west and Bristol and London in the east. The Welsh Marches railway line also connects with the Midlands and the rest of Great Britain.

By plane

The nearest major airports are Cardiff Airport and Bristol Airport.

Get around

• Monmouthshire council bus timetables

See

• Tintern Abbey, ruined 12th-century Cistercian Abbey
• Tredegar House, Newport, 17th-century Charles II country house mansion
• Newport Transporter Bridge, Grade I listed aerial ferry bridge, one of only eight in the world.
• Caerleon Roman Fortress near Newport
• Big Pit mining museum Blaenavon
• Monmouthshire Canal. 
• Raglan Castle

Go next

• Glamorgan
• Powys
• Gloucestershire
• Herefordshire