Caernarfonshire (; , ), sometimes spelled Caernarvonshire or Carnarvonshire, is one of the thirteen historic counties, a vice-county and a former administrative county of Wales.
Geography
The county is bounded to the north by the Irish Sea, to the east by Denbighshire, to the south by Cardigan Bay and Merionethshire, and to the west by Caernarfon Bay and the Menai Strait, separating it from Anglesey.
The county has a largely mountainous terrain. A large part of the Snowdonian Range lies in the centre and south-east of the county, including Snowdon itself, the highest mountain in Wales at 1,085 m (3,560 ft). The south-west of the county is formed by the Llŷn peninsula, with Bardsey Island lying off its western end. The north of the county, between the mountains and Menai Strait, has much more subdued relief. The east of the county is part of Vale of Conwy, with the River Conwy forming much of the eastern boundary. Llandudno and Creuddyn forms a small peninsula to the north-east across the Conwy estuary.
The counties includes the city of Bangor and the towns and villages of Betws-y-Coed, Caernarfon, Conwy, Llandudno, Porthmadog and Pwllheli.
History
Creation
The county was originally created under the terms of the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284 following Edward I of England's conquest of the Principality of Wales and included the cantrefi of: Llŷn, Arfon, Arllechwedd and the commote of Eifionydd (the northern portion of Dunoding).
The county was divided into ten hundreds based on the existing Welsh commotes: Cymydmaen (anglicised as Commitmaen), Creuddyn, Dinllaen, Eifionydd (Evionydd), Cafflogion (Gaflogion), Llechwedd Isaf (...Isav), Llechwedd Uchaf (...Uchav), Nant Conwy (Nant-Conway), Is Gwyrfai (Isgorvai) and Uwch Gwyrfai (Uchgorvai).
19th and 20th centuries
During the 19th century the population increased steadily, from 46,000 in the 1801 census, to 81,093 in 1841, and up to 137,000 in the 1901 census (figures given for the registration county).
Governance
Under the Local Government Act 1888, an elected Carnarvonshire County Council took over functions from the county's quarter sessions. The administrative county covered by the county council had identical borders to the geographic county. The administrative county was formally renamed Caernarvonshire on 1 July 1926. The county council was based at County Hall, Caernarfon.
The county contained five ancient boroughs. Two of these (Caernarfon and Pwllheli) were reformed in 1835 by the Municipal Corporations Act. Criccieth established a special body of commissioners in 1873. Conwy (then called Conway in English) was reformed to become a municipal borough in 1877. The remaining borough, the City of Bangor was not reformed until 1883.
Under the Public Health Act 1848 and the Local Government Act 1858 a number of towns were created local board districts or local government districts respectively, with local boards to govern their areas. Other towns became improvement commissioners' districts by private act of parliament. In 1872 these, along with the municipal boroughs, became urban sanitary districts. At the same time the remainder of the county was divided into rural sanitary districts, some of which crossed county boundaries. The Local Government Act 1894 redesignated these as urban and rural districts. A county review order in 1934 made changes to the county's districts.
The civil parish of Llysfaen was a detached exclave of the county. On 1 April 1923 Llysfaen was transferred to the county of Denbighshire.
Under the Local Government Act 1972 the administrative county of Caernarvonshire was abolished on 1 April 1974. It was largely split between the three districts of Aberconwy, Arfon and Dwyfor of Gwynedd (along with Merionethshire and Anglesey). The administrative entity of Caernarfonshire was very briefly revived in 1996, when the unitary area of Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire was created. It was, however, renamed Gwynedd almost immediately. Since then Caernarfonshire has been divided between the unitary authorities of Gwynedd to the west and Conwy to the east.