Question:<\/b><\/p>\n
Was Caernarfonshire abolished when the new counties \u00a0 \u00a0 were created in 1974?<\/b><\/p>\n
Answer:<\/p>\n
No! The Local Government Act of 1972 created eight new preserved counties to be used for local government purposes only <\/i>between 1974 and 1996.\u00a0 This act abolished the administrative counties which came into effect in under the Local Government Act of 1888. Caernarfonshire existed between 1284 and 1888 before any county council law and without any county council!\u00a0 Here are some government quotes which confirm that only the administrative purposes of the county of Caernarfon have been abolished: –<\/p>\n
\u25aa\u00a0 The new county boundaries are administrative areas, and will not alter the traditional boundaries of counties, nor is it intended that the loyalties of people living in them will change despite the different names adopted by the new administrative counties. \u00a0(Government statement issued 1st April 1974 and printed in the Times newspaper)<\/p>\n
\u25aa\u00a0 I can confirm that the government still stand by this statement,…. that the local authority areas and boundaries introduced in 1974 do not alter the boundaries of traditional boundaries of counties. \u00a0The 1974 arrangements are entirely administrative, and need not affect long-standing loyalties and affinities. \u00a0(Michael Portillo MP – Minister of State for Local Government – 11th July 1990)<\/p>\n
\u25aa\u00a0 The Local Government Act 1972 did not abolish traditional counties, only administrative ones. \u00a0Although for local government purposes some of the historic counties have ceased to be administrative areas, they continue to exist for other purposes, organisations and local groups. \u00a0(Department of the Environment – 3rd September 1991)<\/p>\n
\u25aa\u00a0 I can confirm that these Acts (1933, 1972) did not specifically abolish traditional counties so traditional counties still exist but no longer for the administration of local government… \u00a0(Department for Communities and Local Government – 22nd August 2006)<\/p>\n
\u25aa\u00a0 The legislation that currently defines counties for the purposes of the administration of local government is the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended by various Orders in the 1990s). \u00a0This legislation abolished the previous administrative counties, which were established by the Local Government Act 1933. \u00a0However, these Acts did not specifically abolish traditional counties, so traditional counties still exist, but no longer for the purpose of the administration of local government. \u00a0(Parjit Dhanda MP, PUSS at the Department for Communities & Local Government – 16th April 2008)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Question:<\/b><\/p>\n
So what are Gwynedd and Conwy, then?<\/b><\/p>\n
Answer:<\/p>\n
Collectively, they are unitary authorities, created for the purpose of local government only – not proper counties!<\/p>\n
The county motto of Caernarfonshire is \u201cCadernid Gwynedd\u201d (The Strength of Gwynedd); the Gwynedd referred to here is the historic kingdom of Gwynedd.\u00a0 The historic kingdom comprised of Anglesey, Caernarfonshire, Merioneth and parts of Denbighshire and Flintshire.\u00a0 The boundaries of the historic kingdom would change constantly as territory was won and lost.\u00a0 People from all parts of the former kingdom should be proud of their Gwynedd heritage.\u00a0 In modern times, the name \u201cGwynedd\u201d was revived in 1950 when the Caernarfonshire, Anglesey and Merionethshire Constabularies were merged as the \u201cGwynedd Constabulary\u201d; in 1967, Gwynedd, Denbighsire and Flintshire Constabularies were united, again as \u201cGwynedd Constabulary\u201d.\u00a0 In 1974, in an attempt to avoid confusion, the Gwynedd Constabulary was renamed North Wales Police.\u00a0 Gwynedd is an unitary authority that has been used for the purpose of local government since 1996.\u00a0 The preserved county of Gwynedd (used for local government between 1974 and 1996) is under the Lieutenancies Act 1997 and as a postal county, although, Royal Mail have ceased to use and discourage the use of postal counties on their addresses.\u00a0 Between 2013 and 2016, Royal Mail plan to delete the postal counties completely from their database.\u00a0 Gwynedd has many different meanings and ever-changing boundaries, making Gwynedd totally unsuitable for the purpose of general geography.<\/p>\n
Conwy is essentially the name of a town and also the name of a river.\u00a0 Conwy is a unitary authority that has been used for the purpose of local government since 1996.\u00a0 The council, inappropriately, call themselves Conwy \u201cCounty Borough\u201d Council.\u00a0 All the councils of Wales are free to call themselves what they wish.\u00a0 While none of these are actual counties, Conwy County Borough<\/i> Council, Denbighshire County<\/i> Council and Cardiff Council with different names all have the same responsibilities as unitary authorities in Wales.\u00a0 It is not advisable to write Conwy on an address outside of the post town lest the mail would be delivered to the town itself (Royal Mail give the same advice).\u00a0 While most of us know which unitary authority we belong to, the same cannot be said about knowing everyone else\u2019s unitary authority areas.\u00a0 I once knew a man who failed to arrive at a job interview in Betws y Coed because he got lost in the actual town of Conwy, eighteen miles away!<\/p>\n
The Caernarfonshire Association discourages the incorrect use of the term \u201ccounty\u201d to describe unitary authorities as this causes confusion and diminishes the awareness of the historic counties.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Question:<\/b><\/p>\n
Why should I care about Caernarfonshire?<\/b><\/p>\n
Answer:<\/p>\n
Caernarfonshire is a part of our heritage and culture.\u00a0 Caernarfonshire has remained unchanged since 1284.\u00a0 Wales needs a fixed popular geography that is divorced from the ever changing administrative areas.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Question:<\/b><\/p>\n
Were the historic counties not forced upon Wales due to her conquest by England?<\/b><\/p>\n
Answer:<\/p>\n
In a way, but the actual boundaries of the historic counties are based on the ancient boundaries of cantrefs and commotes.\u00a0 The shire-ing of Wales was more of a rebranding than a completely new set of boundaries.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
This is what the historian William Rees said in his \u201cHistorical Atlas of Wales\u201d:<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0 ” … the boundaries of the modern shires have largely been determined by the ancient divisions of the country. The survival of these ancient local divisions within the pattern of historical change constitutes a vital element in the framework of the national life and helps to preserve its continuity.”<\/i><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Question:<\/b><\/p>\n
What can I do to promote Caernarfonshire?<\/b><\/p>\n
Answer:<\/p>\n
The best way of promoting Caernarfonshire is to use the historic counties every time you give your address (it is usually not enough to give just the name of your town as there is a great chance that the person taking your address will write the unitary authority\u00a0 or soon to be completely abolished postal county instead of the proper county).\u00a0 It is now acceptable to use the historic counties on Royal Mail addresses.\u00a0 This instantly tells people which county you belong to and that you are proud of it.\u00a0 If you hear the media making incorrect use of Caernarfonshire or other historic counties, let them know (politely, of course).\u00a0 Likewise, if you receive mail with Gwynedd or Conwy used as the county, let then know that Gwynedd and Conwy are unitary authorities or a postal-county not proper counties.\u00a0 Direct them to the Gazetteer of British Place Names<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Question:<\/b><\/p>\n Is the Caernarfonshire Association campaigning for a local government re-organisation and to bring back the Caernarfonshire County Council?<\/b><\/p>\n Answer:<\/p>\n No.\u00a0 Caernarfonshire exists as a separate entity to the County Council.\u00a0 The actual county has existed since 1284; the administrative county existed only between 1889 and 1974.<\/p>\n We would like to see the boundaries of the traditional counties respected however.\u00a0 Administrative units should not be partly in one county and partly in another.\u00a0 For example, Conwy unitary authority is partly in Caernarfonshire and partly in Denbighshire – we do not agree with this.<\/p>\n We want to see the traditional counties used for the purpose of general geography, sports and cultural events.\u00a0 The countries of Britain need a fixed popular geography that is divorced from the ever changing administrative areas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Was Caernarfonshire abolished when the new counties \u00a0 \u00a0 were created in 1974? Answer: No! The Local Government Act of 1972 created eight new preserved counties to be used for local government purposes only between 1974 and 1996.\u00a0 This act abolished the administrative counties which came into effect in under the Local Government Act […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-24","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/abcounties.com\/caernarfonshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/abcounties.com\/caernarfonshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/abcounties.com\/caernarfonshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/abcounties.com\/caernarfonshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/abcounties.com\/caernarfonshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/abcounties.com\/caernarfonshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25,"href":"http:\/\/abcounties.com\/caernarfonshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/24\/revisions\/25"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/abcounties.com\/caernarfonshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}