Historic County Boundaries of Wales

A county is a sub-national division of a country introduced by the Normans although a similar Anglo-Saxon administrative system of 'Shires' was in existence earlier. Counties where usually overseen by a sheriff (Shire Reeve) who was appointed by the crown to collect taxes, raise militia and keep the peace though the administration of law. The implementation of the county system in Wales took place over many years.

In 1284 the Statute of Rhuddlan created six sheriffdoms or 'Shires' in Wales; Anglesey, Caernarfon, Merioneth, Flint, Carmarthen and Cardigan known as the Principality of Wales. The remainder of Wales consisted of the two Royal Lordships of Glamorgan and Pembroke and various Marcher Lordships which often made use of the earlier Commote and Cantref boundaries. The Marcher Lordships were abolished by the Laws in Wales Acts (1535) and the five new counties of Denbighshire, Monmouthshire, Brecknockshire, Radnorshire and Montgomeryshire were created to replace them. This created a total of thirteen historical counties in Wales. Some townships usually considered a part of Wales were assigned to Shropshire and Herefordshire and some minor changes to the boundaries were made in the Laws in Wales Act (1542). The thirteen historic counties remained in use until the Local Government Act 1972, the implementation of which in 1974 saw the abolishment of the historic counties and the creation of eight new administrative counties, Clwyd, Dyfed, Gwent, Gwynedd, Mid Glamorgan, South Glamorgan, West Glamorgan and Powys. These were themselves replaced in 1996 by the creation of twenty-two Unitary Authorities (or 'Principal Areas') which are still in use today.

The mapping of historical boundaries requires many sources to be consulted. The most important has been the large scale first edition Ordnance Survey County Series mapping. The first edition six-inch to the Mile (1:10,560) scale mapping has been digitised by the National Library of Scotland (NLS) and this has provided a reliable source to map the boundaries from. As the project progresses, larger-scale sources such as the 25-inch (1:2,500) scale Ordnance Survey mapping will be used to refine the boundaries. Earlier cartographic sources will also be consulted such as Enclosure and Estate mapping and the Welsh Tithe Maps digitised by the National Library of Wales.

All of the digital boundary datasets have been made available for public use under the Open Government Licence for public sector information. This means that you are free to copy, publish, distribute and adapt the information. We ask that when using this information that you acknowledge where this information has come from using the following accreditation:

‘© Crown Copyright, Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales available under Open Government License 3.0’

‘© Crown Copyright, RCAHMW available under Open Government License 3.0’

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Attributes (39)

Attribute name	Label	Description
Id
Sir
County
Rhanbarth
Region
ErwHanes
HisAcre
ErwModern
ModAcre
DyddArolwg
SurveyDate
SymMap
MapSym
Ffynhonnel
Source
Sefydliad
SourceOrg
Cyswllt
SourceLink
Nodiadau
Notes
Hawlfraint
Copyright
DigidoGan
DigitiseBy
DigidolOrc
DigiOrcid
DigidolAr
DigitiseOn
PriodolGan
AttriBy
PriodolOrc
AttriOrcid
PriodolAr
AttriOn
Methodoleg
Method
Cywirdeb
Accuracy