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Ebbw Vale?

Ebbw Vale?

Posted: 22 Apr 2003 2:32PM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 24 Aug 2014 1:27PM GMT
I'm confused. I'm researching my great grandparents. I have records indicating Ebbw Vale, Wales and Ebbw Vale, Monmouth, England. Can someone please clarify?

Thanks much!

Janet English

Re: Ebbw Vale?

Richard (View posts)
Posted: 24 Apr 2003 10:07PM GMT
Classification: Query
They are the same place. Ebbw Vale was in the old County of Monmouthshire which was considered neither English or Welsh and was referred to as England Wales and Monmouthshire. It is now denitly in Wales

Re: Ebbw Vale?

Posted: 24 Apr 2003 10:26PM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 30 Aug 2011 12:51PM GMT
Hi: Thanks for your reply. I guess I'm still a little confused. I was always told that my great grandmother was born in Wales and my great grandfather was born in England. I never knew any locations. The 1881 British Census substantiates this claim, however, as my GGM is listed as Ebbw Vale, Wales, and my GGF as Ebbw Vale, Monmouth, England. You're saying it's the same place? Incidentally, how do you pronounce Ebbw Vale?

Thanks again.

Janet

Re: Ebbw Vale?

Richard (View posts)
Posted: 24 Apr 2003 10:40PM GMT
Classification: Query
Yes they are the same place.
Ebbw Vale is pronounced Eb-bow (short B) and Vale

I live about 26 miles away and have distant relations (through marriage) there.

Re: Ebbw Vale?

Posted: 24 Aug 2014 1:21PM GMT
Classification: Query
Ebbw Vale is definitely Wales in the county of Monmouthshire. Monmouthshire County is on the border with County Gloucestershire in England; I have been to Wales this week and we stayed in Ebbw Vale coincidentally. You find a lot of people are native English, and not many Welsh people. It's a small village that lies between Tredegar and Brynmawr. I have ancestors from Welsh - my grandmother was from Merthyr Tydfil whom I remember.

Ebbw Vale's housing is the Welsh typical terraced 2-bed housing, they are ancient properties. It is on the edge of the Brecon Beacons, and it has beautiful scenery & the atmosphere. Gosh, it's indescribable!

Re: Ebbw Vale?

Posted: 25 Aug 2014 1:47PM GMT
Classification: Query
I am afraid it is not quite that simple. From 1535, when the Laws in Wales Acts effectively incorporated Wales into England for legal and administrative purposes, to 1974 when the provisions of the Local Government Act 1972 came into force, there was considerable confusion and (in the later centuries) dispute about whether Monmouthshire (or the County of Monmouth - never "Monmouth County") was in England or Wales. It has borders with two English counties - Gloucestershire and Herefordshire.

I am glad you enjoyed your stay in Ebbw Vale, but it is not a "small village"! It is a town with a proud industrial heritage.

Re: Ebbw Vale?

Posted: 26 Aug 2014 7:18PM GMT
Classification: Query
Carobradford - I'm glad you clarified the status of EV as a town - locals would be outraged to be told it was a village!

The root of the confusion over whether Monmouthshire was in Wales or in England lies in the county being the only Welsh county to fall within an English assize circuit. The other 12 Welsh counties fell entirely into the Welsh circuits. This lead to the legal phraseology of "Wales and Monmouthshire" whenever it was felt necessary to clarify that all 13 counties were being referred to - as some people might otherwise assume that only the 12 counties in the Welsh circuits were being referred to. The pronounced anglicisation of east Monmouthshire helped reinforce the uncertainty over the county's status - with a larger proportion of its population speaking English than any other Welsh county, it seemed significantly less Welsh and more English than any of the other 12 Welsh counties.
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