Find your ancestors in Monmouthshire marriages and banns

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The banns collection comprises almost 37,675 records from 60 parishes in Monmouthshire. These records cover more than two centuries. For marriages, there are more than 261,040 records from 160 parishes in Monmouthshire. These records span almost four centuries.

Monmouthshire

Monmouthshire is one of 13 historic Welsh counties and a former administrative county. The historic county of Monmouthshire corresponds approximately to the present principal areas of Monmouthshire, Blaenau Gwent, Newport, and Torfaen, as well as those parts of Caerphilly and Cardiff east of the Rhymney River. It borders Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Brecknockshire, and Glamorgan. The administrative county of Monmouthshire was abolished two years after the Local Government Act 1972, and most of the area became part of the new local government and ceremonial county of Gwent. The current unitary authority was formed in 1996 as a successor to the district of Monmouth, in addition to the Llanelly community from Blaenau Gwent, both of which were Gwent districts. The unitary authority of Monmouthshire covers around 60 percent of the historic county but only 20 percent of the population.

Banns

An ancient legal tradition, banns are an announcement in church of a couple’s intention to marry. The reading of the banns provides an opportunity for anybody to put forward a reason why the marriage may not lawfully take place. Banns must be read in the parish (or parishes) in which the couple lives and in the parish they will marry, on three Sundays in the three months before the wedding, unless the couple got a licence. It’s important to note that banns only state an intention to marry; the posting of the banns doesn’t necessarily mean the marriage took place.