Misplaced Pages

#861138

56-468: Blaenrhondda is a village in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf , Wales, lying at the head the Rhondda Fawr valley. Blaenrhondda is a village and is part of the community of Treherbert . The earliest evidence of people inhabiting the area are the remains of an Iron Age settlement of several roundhouses grouped together in an obvious community, known as Hen Dre'r Mynydd. The dry wall layout of

112-704: A borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent term used in Scotland was a county of city . They were abolished by the Local Government Act 1972 in England and Wales , but continue in use for lieutenancy and shrievalty in Northern Ireland . In the Republic of Ireland they remain in existence but have been renamed cities under

168-562: A county corporate in 1451 its jurisdiction covered several surrounding villages known as the County of the City of Coventry . York and Hull lost their jurisdiction over the rural areas when both were reduced to just cover the borough boundaries under the Municipal Corporation (Boundaries) Act 1836 . There were disputes about the effect of the 1836 Act on Coventry, which were resolved in 1842 when

224-476: A new status of county borough . The new local government arrangements in 1889 did not directly affect the counties corporate, which were judicial in nature rather than providing local government functions. However, most of the counties corporate also qualified to be made county boroughs. There were only five counties corporate which did not become county boroughs, being Berwick upon Tweed , Lichfield , Poole , Carmarthen and Haverfordwest. Those five became part of

280-409: A population of 200,000 or more should become one-tier "new counties", with "new county boroughs" having a population of 60,000 – 200,000 being "most-purpose authorities", with the county council of the administrative county providing certain limited services. The report envisaged the creation of 47 two-tiered "new counties", 21 one-tiered "new counties" and 63 "new county boroughs". The recommendations of

336-615: A population of over 50,000 except in the case of existing counties corporate. This resulted in 61 county boroughs in England and two in Wales ( Cardiff and Swansea ). Several exceptions were allowed, mainly for historic towns, including Bath and Dudley , which would still remain below the 50,000 limit by the time of the 1901 census. Some of the smaller counties corporate— Berwick upon Tweed , Lichfield , Poole , Carmarthen and Haverfordwest —did not become county boroughs, although Canterbury , with

392-417: A population under 25,000, did. The county councils and county borough councils came into operation on 1 April 1889. Just seven months later, on 9 November 1889, the city of Oxford was the first borough which had not been made a county borough by the 1888 Act to be elevated to county borough status. Various other new county boroughs were constituted in the following decades, generally as more boroughs reached

448-678: The House of Commons , despite the approval of the Local Government Board – the removal of Cambridge from Cambridgeshire would have reduced the income of Cambridgeshire County Council by over half. Upon recommendation of a commission chaired by the Earl of Onslow , the population threshold was raised to 75,000 in 1926, by the Local Government (County Boroughs and Adjustments) Act 1926 , which also made it much harder to expand boundaries. The threshold

504-469: The Local Government Act 1972 which abolished all municipal boroughs. Some of the new bodies created in 1974, including town councils for civil parishes and non-metropolitan district councils, were given the right to continue to appoint a ceremonial sheriff if that town or city had been a county corporate prior to 1974. In Ireland, eight counties corporate were extant by 1610. Each had its own grand jury , assizes and county gaol, separate from those of

560-604: The Swansea Docks for export. The resulting tunnel, at a length of 3,300 yards was the longest rail tunnel in Wales and the seventh longest in Britain. Due to an issue with the weight the engines could pull, the rail link was never the success it was hoped to be, though it did prove popular with day-trippers from the Rhondda, visiting Swansea and the Gower . The station was closed in 1970. In

616-503: The administrative county in which they were situated for local government purposes, but retained their separate judicial functions and right to appoint their own sheriffs. The City of London retained (and as of 2024 still retains) its previous status, including most responsibilities associated with a borough and some normally associated with a county, for example having its own police force and its own education authority. The assizes , quarter sessions and other courts which had been under

SECTION 10

#1732844948862

672-464: The administrative county it would otherwise come under. Some cities and towns were already independent counties corporate , and most were to become county boroughs. Originally ten county boroughs were proposed; Bristol , Hull , Newcastle upon Tyne and Nottingham , which were already counties, and Birmingham , Bradford , Leeds , Liverpool , Manchester , and Sheffield , which were not. The Local Government Act 1888 as eventually passed required

728-455: The 50,000 minimum and then promoted Acts to constitute them county boroughs. The granting of county borough status was the subject of much disagreement between the large municipal boroughs and the county councils. The population limit provided county councils with a disincentive to allow mergers or boundary amendments to districts that would create authorities with large populations, as this would allow them to seek county borough status and remove

784-516: The Commissions did not complete their work before being dissolved, a handful of new county boroughs were constituted between 1964 and 1968. Luton , Torbay , and Solihull gained county borough status. Additionally, the Teesside was formed from a merger of the existing county borough of Middlesbrough , and the municipal boroughs of Stockton-on-Tees , Redcar and Thornaby ; Warley was formed from

840-483: The East Staffordshire district, and Teesside, which was split up between three non-metropolitan districts. County boroughs to be abolished prior to 1974 were: The county boroughs of Belfast and Derry were created by the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 . In Northern Ireland , local government has not used county boroughs since 1973, but they remain in use for lieutenancy . For administrative purposes

896-506: The Local Government Acts of 1888 (that created them) and 1972 (that abolished them from 1974). Only four districts with more than one county borough were formed: Wirral , Sandwell , Sefton and Kirklees . Elsewhere, county boroughs usually formed the core or all of a district named after the county borough – with the exceptions of Halifax, whose metropolitan district was named Calderdale , Burton upon Trent, which became part of

952-462: The Scottish system (similar to a municipal borough in England and Wales), which were responsible for all services apart from police, education and fire. When county councils were first created in 1889, it was decided that to let them have authority over large towns or cities would be impractical, and so any large incorporated place would have the right to be a county borough, and thus independent from

1008-633: The Select Committee on Grand Jury Presentments of Ireland found none of the counties corporate except Drogheda derived any advantage from their status, and recommended they be absorbed as baronies of the adjoining county-at-large. The counties corporate were explicitly abolished in 1899 under the terms of the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 . Cork , Dublin, Limerick and Waterford became county boroughs. Carrickfergus, Drogheda, Galway and Kilkenny became parts of administrative counties. The baronies of Carrickfergus and Galway are coterminous with

1064-504: The adjacent county-at-large in 1840–2; the exceptions were Galway and Carrickfergus , where the municipal corporation was abolished instead. The extant baronies of Cork and Dublin are coterminous with the territories transferred from the respective cities in 1840, while the North Liberties barony is part of the former county of the city of Limerick , whose south liberties were absorbed by pre-existing baronies. The 1842 report of

1120-466: The adjoining "county-at-large", even though the relevant city or town might be the county town of the county-at-large, in which case the latter's courthouse and gaol would be considered exclaves of the county-at-large. An act of 1788 allowed the same courthouse or gaol to be shared by county corporate and county-at-large. ( Dublin city and County Dublin , like the City of London and Middlesex , were outside

1176-419: The administration of justice. Each had a sheriff, who was usually appointed by the monarch. Separately, boroughs were certain towns or cities which had a degree of self-government. The rights and functions belonging to each borough varied, depending on what had been included in the borough's charter . The inhabitants of a borough were deemed in law to be capable of acting as a single corporate person , allowing

SECTION 20

#1732844948862

1232-461: The assize system but similarly separate jurisdictions.) Where an act of Parliament referred to "any county" it was doubtful that this included counties corporate, the latter intent being expressed as "any county, county of a city, or county of a town". Acts of 1542 and 1765 were extended to counties corporate in 1807. Each county corporate contained rural "liberties" outside the city or town's municipal boundary; in six cases these were transferred to

1288-492: The assizes for the neighbouring county. In 1836 all the counties corporate except London were reformed to become municipal boroughs under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 . Elected county councils were established in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888 . Certain boroughs were considered large enough for their existing corporations to provide county-level local government functions, and so they were given

1344-448: The borough boundaries to include adjoining areas. York was made a county corporate in 1396, and its jurisdiction was extended in 1449 to cover an area to the west of the city known as the Ainsty . Kingston upon Hull was made a county corporate in 1440, and its jurisdiction was extended in 1447 to cover an adjoining area to the west, which became known as Hullshire . When Coventry was made

1400-479: The borough to enter into contracts and litigation. The ruling body of a borough was commonly called its corporation, although the terms 'town council' and 'city council' were also used. Many boroughs had rights under their charters to hold certain types of court cases. Around 1132, the Corporation of London was given the right to appoint two sheriffs to jointly serve the city and the county of Middlesex in which it

1456-594: The commission extended to a review of the division of functions between different tiers of local government, and thus fell outside its terms of reference, and its report was not acted upon. The next attempt at reform was by the Local Government Act 1958, which established the Local Government Commission for England and the Local Government Commission for Wales to carry out reviews of existing local government structures and recommend reforms. Although

1512-433: The county borough of Smethwick and the non-county boroughs of Oldbury and Rowley Regis ; and West Hartlepool was merged with Hartlepool . Following these changes, there was a total of 79 county boroughs in England. The Commission also recommended the downgrading of Barnsley to be a non-county borough, but this was not carried out. The county boroughs of East Ham , West Ham and Croydon were abolished in 1965 with

1568-462: The county corporate of Coventry was abolished completely and the city and surrounding villages were placed back under the authority of the Sheriff of Warwickshire . The Sheriff of the City of London also had a jurisdiction that extended beyond the city boundary, covering the whole of the county of Middlesex. In 1889 the sheriff's jurisdiction was reduced to just cover the city itself, on the creation of

1624-411: The county corporate, making such courthouses exclaves of the wider county. As well as larger towns and cities, some counties corporate were created to deal with specific local problems, such as border conflict (in the case of Berwick-upon-Tweed ) and piracy (in the cases of Poole and Haverfordwest ). Most of the counties corporate only covered the borough, but in three cases they extended beyond

1680-418: The creation of Greater London and went on to form parts of London boroughs . The remaining county boroughs were abolished in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 , and replaced with non-metropolitan districts and metropolitan districts , all beneath county councils in a two-tier structure. In Greater London and the metropolitan counties the lower tier districts retained a wider range of powers than in

1736-471: The creation of a boundary commission to bring coordination to local government reform. The policy in the paper also ruled out the creation of new county boroughs in Middlesex "owing to its special problems" . The Local Government Boundary Commission was appointed on 26 October 1945, under the chairmanship of Sir Malcolm Trustram Eve , delivering its report in 1947. The commission recommended that towns with

Blaenrhondda - Misplaced Pages Continue

1792-558: The exceptions of London and Haverfordwest. Instead, lieutenants were appointed to what was termed the 'county at large', including counties corporate with the adjoining county from which they had been separated. The practice of not appointing separate lieutenants for counties corporate was an informal convention at first, but was subsequently made statutory under the Militia Act 1882. From the 18th century onwards, court cases arising from counties corporate were allowed to be held jointly with

1848-460: The functions of both boroughs and counties). Although unitary authorities are functionally equivalent to county boroughs, only in Wales is the title given official recognition by Act of Parliament. [REDACTED] The map depicts the county boroughs in England immediately prior to their abolition in 1974. County boroughs in Wales and Northern Ireland are not shown. This table shows those county boroughs that existed in England and Wales between

1904-538: The hills above Blaenrhondda lies Blaenrhondda Road Cutting , a Site of Special Scientific Interest . It was given this status for its rock exposures showing sediments that formed on the flood plain of a river delta during the Carboniferous period, approximately 310 million years ago. County borough County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland , to refer to

1960-824: The locality. The first was the North Dunraven, also known as the Blaenrhondda, sunk in 1859, followed by Fernhill Colliery around 1871 . The Dunraven closed in the 1920s but the Fernhill was still operating as late as 1978. In an attempt to break the monopoly of the Taff Vale Railway and the Cardiff docks, the Rhondda Tunnel was constructed through Mynydd Blaengwynfy to link up with the Rhondda and Swansea Bay Railway to supply coal to

2016-499: The non-metropolitan counties. This situation did not persist long. In 1986 the metropolitan county councils and the Greater London Council were abolished, returning the metropolitan boroughs to a status equivalent to the former county boroughs, but sharing some powers (police and transport for example). In the 1990s, many of the nonmetropolitan former county boroughs were reformed again as unitary authorities – essentially

2072-532: The old county borough, in other cases much larger). Burton upon Trent became an unparished area in the East Staffordshire borough, and has now been divided into several parishes. In Wales, several principal areas are county boroughs: For all practical purposes, county boroughs are exactly the same as the other principal areas of Wales called " counties " (including " cities and counties ") as all these areas are run by unitary authorities (i.e.: have

2128-524: The original model existed until 2001. Under the Local Government Act 2001 (which replaced most existing local government legislation in Ireland), the term "County Borough" was abolished and replaced with "City" (and hence, "Corporation" with "City Council"). However Kilkenny , while a traditional city, was never a county borough. Under the Local Government Reform Act 2014 , the borough of Kilkenny

2184-440: The provisions of the Local Government Act 2001 . The Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 re-introduced the term for certain " principal areas " in Wales. Scotland did not have county boroughs but instead had counties of cities . These were abolished on 16 May 1975. All four Scottish cities of the time— Aberdeen , Dundee , Edinburgh , and Glasgow —were included in this category. There was an additional category of large burgh in

2240-508: The responsibility of a sheriff were all abolished in 1972 under the Courts Act 1971 , thus ending the judicial powers associated with being a county corporate. The counties corporate were not explicitly abolished by the 1971 Act, and they retained the right to appoint a sheriff, albeit no longer holding any powers. With the exception of the City of London, the other counties corporate, being a type of municipal borough , were abolished in 1974 under

2296-408: The right to appoint a sheriff rested with the borough corporation rather than with the monarch. Some of the counties corporate were also the county town of the wider county in which they lay. In nine such cases ( Carmarthen , Chester , Exeter , Gloucester , Lincoln , Newcastle upon Tyne , Norwich , Nottingham , and York ) the area around the courthouse for the wider county was excluded from

Blaenrhondda - Misplaced Pages Continue

2352-462: The ruinous site has led archaeologists to believe that the people who lived in the area were early farmers. It has been identified as the largest undefended Iron Age settlement in south east Wales . Before the industrialisation of the Rhondda Valleys in the late 19th century, Blaenrhondda was an agricultural area and sparsely populated. With the coming of the coal industry two mines were sunk in

2408-589: The same as a county borough. As a result, by 2015, most former county boroughs were either metropolitan boroughs or unitary authorities with a status similar to the old county boroughs. In England, most of those former county boroughs that did not gain unitary authority status— Barrow-in-Furness , Burnley , Canterbury , Carlisle , Chester , Eastbourne , Gloucester , Great Yarmouth , Hastings , Ipswich , Lincoln , Northampton , Norwich , Oxford , Preston , and Worcester —have given their names to non-unitary local government districts (in some cases coterminous with

2464-495: The separate positions of Sheriff of the County of London , covering the rest of the new County of London as lay outside the city itself, and Sheriff of Middlesex , covering the reduced area of Middlesex that was left outside the County of London. Lord-lieutenants began to be appointed in each county from Tudor times onwards. Although counties corporate were legally described as counties, they were not given their own lieutenants, with

2520-405: The tax base from the administrative county. County boroughs to be constituted in this era were a mixed bag, including some towns that would continue to expand such as Bournemouth and Southend-on-Sea . Other towns such as Burton upon Trent and Dewsbury were not to increase in population much past 50,000. 1913 saw the attempts of Luton and Cambridge to gain county borough status defeated in

2576-492: The term 'county corporate', instead using wording which made the borough into a new county and directed that the sheriff for that new county should be chosen by the borough corporation, rather than the monarch as was the case for other counties. One exception was the charter awarded to Coventry in 1451, which did explicitly use the term 'county corporate'. Although not a statutory term, 'county corporate' came to be used to describe these places which were legally counties, but where

2632-628: The two county boroughs in Northern Ireland were replaced with two larger districts ( Belfast and Londonderry ). The Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 created county boroughs in Ireland. Under the Act, four former counties corporate ( Cork , Dublin , Limerick and Waterford ) became county boroughs. Galway became a county borough in 1986. In the Republic of Ireland , the relevant legislation remained in force (although amended), and county boroughs on

2688-404: The wider counties. From Tudor times onwards lord lieutenants were appointed to oversee the militia for each county; with the exceptions of London and Haverfordwest , each county corporate was covered by the lieutenant of an adjoining county. Provisions were also made allowing court cases arising from counties corporate to be heard at the assizes for the adjoining county. "County corporate"

2744-464: Was abolished, but the municipal district containing the administrative area of the former borough of Kilkenny would be known as the Municipal District of Kilkenny City. County corporate They were legally described as forming separate counties, but in both contemporary usage whilst they existed and in discussion by modern historians the counties corporate are generally distinguished from

2800-466: Was appointed in May 1935 to "investigate whether the existing status of Merthyr Tydfil as a county borough should be continued, and if not, what other arrangements should be made" . The commission reported the following November, and recommended that Merthyr should revert to the status of a non-county borough, and that public assistance should be taken over by central government. In the event county borough status

2856-406: Was located, instead of the monarch appointing a Sheriff of Middlesex with jurisdiction over London as had previously been the case. Other boroughs later campaigned for the right to appoint their own sheriffs too, which would allow them to hold all types of court case. In 1373, Bristol was the next borough to be given the right to appoint its own sheriff. Bristol's elevation to being its own county

SECTION 50

#1732844948862

2912-568: Was not a statutory name, but was a commonly used description for such towns and cities. Other terms used included county of itself or city and county . They were similar to an independent city or consolidated city-county in other countries. The equivalent term in Scotland was a county of a city . In England and Wales, county boroughs were created from 1889 onwards, which were similar in that they were places that were independent from their surrounding counties for local government functions. There

2968-413: Was partly on the basis of its growing size and importance, and partly because the borough straddled the counties of Gloucestershire and Somerset (both of which held their courts some distance from Bristol) which had caused problems with the administration of the borough. Other large boroughs later followed suit. The charters giving boroughs the rights to appoint their own sheriff generally did not use

3024-464: Was raised to 100,000 by the Local Government Act 1958 . The viability of the county borough of Merthyr Tydfil came into question in the 1930s. Due to a decline in the heavy industries of the town, by 1932 more than half the male population was unemployed, resulting in very high municipal rates in order to make public assistance payments. At the same time the population of the borough was lower than when it had been created in 1908. A royal commission

3080-550: Was retained by the town, with the chairman of the Welsh Board of Health appointed as administrative adviser in 1936. After the Second World War the creation of new county boroughs in England and Wales was effectively suspended, pending a local government review. A government white paper published in 1945 stated that "it is expected that there will be a number of Bills for extending or creating county boroughs" and proposed

3136-461: Was some overlap between the places that were counties corporate for judicial purposes and the places that were county boroughs for local government purposes. Sheriffs retained some judicial functions until 1972 when the courts system was reformed. The counties corporate were abolished in England and Wales in 1974, although some of the former counties corporate still retain the right to appoint a ceremonial sheriff. Counties were originally areas used for

#861138