The Preserved counties of Wales are the current areas used in Wales for ceremonial purposes such as Lieutenancy. They are based on the 1974 administrative counties of Wales.

Preserved counties of Wales

Gwent South Glamorgan Mid Glamorgan West Glamorgan Dyfed Powys Gwynedd Clwyd

The Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 [1] abolished the 8 administrative counties created by the Local Government Act 1972.

However, it created the concept of preserved counties based on their areas, to be used for purposes such as Lieutenancy. [2]

The preserved counties were originally almost identical to the 1974-1996 administrative counties, but with a few minor changes intended to ensure preserved counties were composed of whole principal areas. Llanrhaedr-ym-Mochant , Llansilin and Llangedwyn were transferred from Clwyd to Powys, and Wick, St Bride's Major , Ewenny and Pentyrch were transferred from Mid Glamorgan to South Glamorgan. However, these changes still left two county boroughs, Conwy and Caerphilly split between preserved counties.

In order to rectify this, the Preserved Counties (Amendment to Boundaries) (Wales) Order 2003 [3] made two changes of substance to the boundaries. These changes came into effect on April 2, 2003. The part of the local government area of Conwy which had been in Gwynedd was transferred to Clwyd, and the part of the local government area of Caerphilly which had been in Mid Glamorgan was transferred to Gwent. The boundary between Mid Glamorgan and South Glamorgan was also re-aligned to reflect small changes in local government boundaries. Each Preserved County now encompasses between 1 and 5 whole local government areas.

• Clwyd - Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Wrexham
• Dyfed - Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire
• Gwent - Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Torfaen, Monmouthshire, Newport
• Gwynedd - Anglesey, Gwynedd
• Mid Glamorgan - Bridgend, Merthyr Tydfil, Rhondda Cynon Taff
• Powys - Powys
• South Glamorgan - Cardiff, Vale of Glamorgan
• West Glamorgan - Neath Port Talbot, Swansea

See also

• Subdivisions of Wales
• Traditional counties of Wales
• Ceremonial counties of England
• Lieutenancy areas of Scotland.