The subdivisions of Wales constitute a hierarchy of administrative divisions and non-administrative ceremonial areas.
For the purposes of local government, the country is divided into principal areas, of either counties or county boroughs, and communities.The current system is the result of incremental reform which has its origins in legislation enacted in 1972 and 1994.
The principal areas of Wales, comprising the counties and county boroughs of Wales, are a form of subdivision in Wales. There are currently 22 principal areas in Wales, and they were established in 1996. They are a single-tier form of local government, each governed by a principal council. They replaced the previous two-tier system of eight counties and 37 districts that were in place in Wales from 1974 to 1996.
The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Government of 1970–74.
The act took the total number of councils in England from 1,245 to 412 (excluding parish councils), and in Wales to 45. Its pattern of two-tier metropolitan and non-metropolitan county and district councils remains in use today in large parts of England, although the metropolitan county councils were abolished in 1986, and both county and district councils have been replaced with unitary authorities in many areas since the 1990s. In Wales, too, the Act established a similar pattern of counties and districts, but these have since been entirely replaced with a system of unitary authorities.
The historic counties of Wales (Welsh: siroedd hynafol) were the thirteen sub-divisions used in Wales from 1535 up to their abolition in 1974 when they were replaced by eight larger administrative counties (which in turn were replaced with the current twenty-two). They were used for various functions for several hundred years, with some dating to 1282, but for administrative purposes have been superseded by contemporary sub-national divisions, some of which bear some limited similarity to the historic entities in name and extent. They are alternatively known as ancient counties.
The preserved counties of Wales (Welsh: siroedd cadwedig) are the eight current areas used in Wales for the ceremonial purposes of lieutenancy and shrievalty. They are based on the counties which were used for local government and other purposes between 1974 and 1996. Each comprises one or more of the 22 single-tier principal areas which are used for administrative purposes.
Monmouthshire County Council (or simply Monmouthshire Council) (Welsh: Cyngor Sir Fynwy) is the governing body for the Monmouthshire principal area – one of the unitary authorities of Wales.
The current unitary authority was created in 1996 and covers the eastern three-fifths of the historic county of Monmouthshire. The county council is based at County Hall in the hamlet of The Rhadyr, near Usk.