Monmouthshire

This article is about the County.
For the Highway Authority, see Monmouthshire Council.

OS 1936 Ten Mile Road Map showing Monmouthshire in England

Monmouthshire (Sir Fynwy in Welsh) is a traditional county in south-east Wales. Historical reasons – chief among them the inclusion of the county in the Oxford circuit of the English Assizes – led at one time to the indication of Monmouthshire as part of England on some maps (such as, for example, the OS Quarter Inch 5th Series); the county was only situated firmly in Wales in law in 1974. Although the county town is Monmouth the county council was based in Newport.

The county council was abolished in 1974; the county was then administered by Gwent (which had more-or-less the same boundaries) until 1995 when Monmouthshire County Council was reinstated. However, the revived area only covers the eastern two-thirds of the county, with the remainder split amongst another few administrative areas.

Geography & Economy

Brynglas Tunnels

Monmouthshire runs east-west between the Rivers Wye and Rhymney and north-south between the Black Mountains and the Bristol Channel. The eastern half is largely rural whilst further west the county moves into the industrialised valleys of South Wales. The county is likewise split regarding industry, with agriculture prevailing in the east and coal mining in the west. The latter has now ceased, as has the steel industry centred on Ebbw Vale. Monmouthshire is not known for its coastline; only Newport and Chepstow have been ports and the county has no seaside resorts.

Roads

The A466 by Tintern Abbey

Monmouthshire has perhaps the best road network of any Welsh county; the problems caused by mountainous terrain elsewhere in the county do not apply here. However, there is no specific focus of the county's roads; although the main population centres of Abergavenny, Monmouth and Newport do have a number of roads radiating from them, all are close to the county's borders and so only form a local focus. All of Wales's motorways run through Monmouthshire: the M4 enters the county from England across the Second Severn Crossing and the M48 across the Severn Bridge and Wye Bridge; the A48(M) is a short link providing access into Cardiff from the east. The motorways are managed by the South Wales Trunk Road Agent, as are the county's other trunk roads: the A40 and A465 run east-west of the north of the county, the A4042 and A449 link these roads to the M4, and the A466 provides access to Chepstow. Non-trunk roads in the rural east of Monmouthshire are maintained by Monmouthshire County Council. Five other principal area authorities, each with its own highway department, fulfil the same role in the western half of the county. They are Blaenau Gwent CBC, Caerphilly CBC, City of Cardiff Council, Newport City Council and Torfaen CBC.

The Newport Transporter Bridge across the River Usk to the south of Newport is the only one of its kind in Wales. The Newport Southern Distributor Road (A48) now crosses the river nearby, leaving the transporter bridge to local traffic and enthusiasts. To the north of Newport, the Brynglas Tunnels on the M4 are a major bottleneck and cannot be widened. There have at various times been plans to bypass the area entirely by the building of a new motorway to the south of Newport, although the most recent plans were shelved in 2019.

Route	From	To	Length
M4	Chiswick, Middlesex	Pont Abraham, Carmarthenshire	191.9 miles	View
M48	Tockington	Llanfihangel Rogiet	13 miles	View
A48(M)	Castleton	St Mellons	2.2 miles	View
A40	London	Fishguard	263 miles	View
A48	Highnam, Gloucester	Carmarthen	119 miles	View
A437	Highnam, Gloucester	Newport	41 miles	View
A449	Stafford	Coldra, Newport	108 miles	View
A455	Coldra	Newport	4.2 miles	View
A465	Neath	Bromyard	79.3 miles	View
A466	King's Thorn	Chepstow Interchange	30 miles	View
A467	Newport	Brynmawr	20.8 miles	View
A468	Bassaleg	Nantgarw	11.9 miles	View
A469	Roath, Cardiff	Bute Town	24.5 miles	View
A471	Abergavenny	Usk	11 miles	View
A472	Usk	Abercynon	23.7 miles	View
A4042	Newport	Abergavenny	18.2 miles	View
A4043	Blaenavon	Pontypool	6.0 miles	View
A4044	Crumlin	Brynmawr	10.0 miles	View
A4046	Aberbeeg	Bryn-Serth	7.6 miles	View
A4047	Tredegar	Brynmawr	4.1 miles	View
A4047	Ebbw Vale	Waun-y-Pound	0.5 miles	View
A4048	Pontllanfraith	Tredegar Junction, Nant-y-bwch	11.2 miles	View
A4049	Bryn	Tir Phil	6.5 miles	View
A4050	Pengam	Tir-Phil	5.3 miles	View
A4051	Newport	North Cwmbrân	6.6 miles	View
A4052	Cardiff Road	Watch House Parade	0.9 miles	View
A4072	Tredegar Park	Rogerstone	3.0 miles	View
A4125	Little Mill	Abergavenny	6.8 miles	View
A4136	Huntley	Monmouth	16.6 miles	View
A4143	Llanfoist	Abergavenny	0.7 miles	View
A4232	Cardiff West	Cardiff Gate	17.8 miles	View
A4281	Victoria	Ebbw Vale East and West junctions		View
A4810	Magor	Liswerry	5.5 miles	View
B4004	Coldra	Newport	4.2 miles	View
B4223	Monmouth	Huntley	16.6 miles	View
B4232	Monmouth	King's Thorn	12.6 miles	View
B4233	Abergavenny	Monmouth	14.2 miles	View
B4234	Raglan	Llanvihangel Gobion	4.5 miles	View
B4235	Usk (E)	Chepstow	11.7 miles	View
B4236	Llanyrafon, Cwmbrân	The Coldra, Newport	5.2 miles	View
B4237	Maes-glas	Coldra	5.0 miles	View
B4237	Maindee	Newport Docks	2.7 miles	View
B4238	Commercial Street	High Street	0.4 miles	View
B4239	Rumney	Maes-glas	9.4 miles	View
B4239	Alexandra Road	Transporter Bridge	0.2 miles	View
B4240	Cardiff Road, Newport	Risca Road, Newport	0.5 miles	View
B4241	Harlequin Roundabout	Risca Road	1.3 miles	View
B4242	Bassaleg	Tredegar House	1.0 mile	View
B4243	Bassaleg	Rogerstone	1.7 miles	View
B4244	Pontypool	Llantarnam	5.6 miles	View
B4245	Langstone	Parkwall Roundabout	9.9 miles	View
B4245	Little Mill	Abergavenny	6.8 miles	View
B4246	Pontnewynydd	Abergavenny	12.8 miles	View
B4247	Blaenavon	Govilion	4.4 miles	View
B4248	Blaenavon	Brynmawr	4.5 miles	View
B4249	Antwerp Place	Somerset Street	0.6 miles	View
B4250	Newbridge	Abercarn	1.4 miles	View
B4251	Wattsville	Crumlin	11.3 miles	View
B4252	Pengam	Maesycwmmer	1.8 miles	View
B4253	Blackwood	Pengam	1.4 miles	View
B4254	Edwardsville	Blackwood	6.2 miles	View
B4256	Tredegar	Rhymney	3.0 miles	View
B4257	Pontlottyn	Llechryd	3.1 miles	View
B4269	Llanfoist	Llanellen	1.9 miles	View
B4288	St Mellons	Pentre-poeth, Bassaleg	5.3 miles	View
B4293	Monmouth	Chepstow	16.2 miles	View
B4347	Vowchurch	Rockfield	19.1 miles	View
B4423	Llanvihangel Crucorney	Llanthony	6.1 miles	View
B4458	Monnow Street	St James's Street	0.2 miles	View
B4471	Hafodyrynys	Aberbeeg	3.2 miles	View
B4472	Cwm-dows	Crumlin	1.2 miles	View
B4477	New Tredegar	Rhymney	3.0 miles	View
B4478	Willowtown	Briery Hill	1.4 miles	View
B4487	Roath	St Mellons	4.3 miles	View
B4490	Crosskeys	Risca	1.4 miles	View
B4511	Aberbargoed	Argoed	2.0 miles	View
B4521	Abergavenny	Old Pike, Peterstow	18.9 miles	View
B4560	Beaufort	Talgarth	16.8 miles	View
B4562	Llanishen	St Mellons	5.0 miles	View
B4591	Maindee, Newport	Abercarn	10.6 miles	View
B4596	Newport	Caerleon	2.5 miles	View
B4598	Abergavenny	Usk	9.7 miles	View
T10	London	Fishguard		View
T17	Newport	Shrewsbury		View
T76	Neath	Abergavenny		View
T77	Raglan	Llandovery		View
T78	Newport	Worcester		View
T103	Coldra	Tredegar Park	6.6 miles	View

Key

Motorway

Primary Route

Non Primary Route

Former Motorway

Defunct Route

E Road

Future Motorway

Future Primary

Future Non Primary

Historical Route

Tourist Route

Roman Road

Unbuilt Motorway

Unbuilt Primary

Unbuilt Non Primary

National Cycle Network

Cycle Route

Eurovelo Cycle Route

Turnpikes

Main Article: Monmouthshire Turnpikes

Junctions

Main Article: Junctions in Monmouthshire

Bridges, Tunnels, and other Crossings

Main Article: Crossings in Monmouthshire