Gwent County History vol III: Monmouthshire, 1530-1780

The third volume in History of Gwent is a study of the early modern period from the creation of Monmouthshire to the beginnings of industrialization in the later eighteenth century. It explores the social concerns of this period, including the growth of urbanity and the commercial world, education, poverty and civil war, as well as religion, politics and landownership. The Act of Union of Wales with England created a county that lasted until 1974, and during the 440 years of its existence, Monmouthshire gradually developed a special sense of identity, which evidently still exists. Many older residents of the county were taught that Monmouthshire was in England and have always considered themselves to be at leastpart-English. In fact, Newport rugby club is actually a member of both the Welsh and English rugby unions. Despite this, as late as the end of the eighteenth century, Monmouthshire was still a county with a small population, mostly rural and Welsh speaking. It was soon after this that transformations, the origins of which are explored in the chapters of this volume, began to cause upheaval and revolution in the county. As well as a fundamental shift from Catholicism towards Protestantism caused by the Reformation, the outbreak of the Civil War and a change to the class system which led to closer links with London and the rest of England, impacted heavily on daily life. Towards the end of the period with which this book deals, historians have detected in Monmouthshire one of the early roots of industrialization and urbanization in south Wales, namely, the iron industry which attracted immigrant workers and capitalists and gave rise to the new towns like Pontypool and Rhymney.