query: instance_of west glamorgan
supports: Mid Glamorgan is a preserved county of Wales. From 1974 until 1996 it was also an administrative county with a county council.  West Glamorgan ( Welsh : Gorllewin Morgannwg ) is a preserved county and former administrative county of Wales , one of the divisions of the ancient county of Glamorgan . West Glamorgan was created on 1 April 1974 , by the Local Government Act 1972 from the county borough of Swansea , the municipal boroughs of Neath and Port Talbot , the urban districts of Glyncorrwg and Llwchwr , Gower Rural District , Pontardawe Rural District , and all of Neath Rural District except the parish of Rhigos . From 1982 , the main council offices were located in County Hall , Swansea . West Glamorgan had four districts , as follows : Swansea -- Swansea CB and Gower RD Lliw Valley -- Llwchwr and Pontardawe RD Neath -- Neath and Neath RD Port Talbot -- Port Talbot and Glyncorrwg Following the Local Government ( Wales ) Act 1994 , West Glamorgan and its component districts were abolished on 1 April 1996 , the area being divided into the two unitary authorities of Swansea and Neath and Port Talbot . Lliw Valley was partitioned between the two authorities . A West Glamorgan preserved county was created for the limited functions of Lieutenancy and High Shrievalty . England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west. The Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south. The country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain (which lies in the North Atlantic) in its centre and south; and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. The Bristol Channel is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales from Devon and Somerset in South West England. It extends from the lower estuary of the River Severn to the North Atlantic Ocean. It takes its name from the English city of Bristol, and is over 30 miles (50 km) across at its widest point. A country is a region that is identified as a distinct national entity in political geography. A country may be an independent sovereign state or one that is occupied by another state, as a non-sovereign or formerly sovereign political division, or a geographic region associated with sets of previously independent or differently associated people with distinct political characteristics. Regardless of the physical geography, in the modern internationally accepted legal definition as defined by the League of Nations in 1937 and reaffirmed by the United Nations in 1945, a resident of a country is subject to the independent exercise of legal jurisdiction. A petty kingdom is a kingdom described as minor or "petty" by contrast to an empire or unified kingdom that either preceded or succeeded it (e.g. the numerous kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England unified into the Kingdom of England in the 10th century, or the numerous Gaelic kingdoms of Ireland unified under the Kingdom of England as the Kingdom of Ireland in the 16th). Alternatively, a petty kingdom would be a minor kingdom in the immediate vicinity of larger kingdoms, such as the medieval Kingdom of Mann and the Isles relative to the kingdoms of Scotland or England or the Viking kingdoms of Scandinavia. A shire is a traditional term for a division of land, found in the United Kingdom and Australia. It was first used in Wessex from the beginning of Anglo-Saxon settlement, and spread to most of the rest of England in the tenth century. The historic counties of Wales are sub-divisions of Wales. They were used for various functions for several hundred years, but have been largely 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". Glywysing was, from the sub-Roman period to the Early Middle Ages, a petty kingdom in south-east Wales. Its people were descended from the Iron Age tribe of the Silures. Glywys is a legendary early 5th century Welsh king, an important character in early Welsh genealogies as the eponymous founder king of Glywysing, a south-east Welsh kingdom whose heartland lay between the Tawe and the Usk.  County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (excluding Scotland), to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control. 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 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 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 the Scottish system, which were responsible for all services apart from police, education and fire. South Glamorgan is a preserved county of Wales. It was originally formed in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, as a county council area. It consisted of the county borough of Cardiff along with the southern part of the administrative county of Glamorgan, and also the parish of St Mellons from Monmouthshire.  The Vale of Glamorgan, often referred to as The Vale, is a county borough in Wales. With an economy based largely on agriculture and chemicals, it is the southernmost unitary authority in Wales. Attractions include Barry Island Pleasure Park (known for the BBC sitcom, "Gavin & Stacey"), the Barry Tourist Railway, Porthkerry Park, St Donat's Castle, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park and Cosmeston Medieval Village. It is also the location of Atlantic College, one of the United World Colleges. Yr Wyddfa commonly known as Snowdon in English, is the highest mountain in Wales, at an elevation of above sea level, and the highest point in the British Isles south of the Scottish Highlands. It is located in Snowdonia National Park (") in Gwynedd, and has been described as "probably the busiest mountain in Britain". It is designated as a national nature reserve for its rare flora and fauna. Great Britain, also known as Britain , is a large island in the north Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , Great Britain is the largest European island and the ninth-largest in the world. In 2011 the island had a population of about 61 million people, making it the world's third-most populous island after Java in Indonesia and Honshu in Japan. The island of Ireland is situated to the west of it, and together these islands, along with over 1,000 smaller surrounding islands, comprise the British Isles archipelago. The Irish Sea (, , , Ulster-Scots: "Airish Sea"), separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is connected to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel, and to the Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland in the north by the North Channel. Anglesey is the largest island within the Irish Sea, followed by the Isle of Man. The sea is occasionally, but rarely, referred to as the Manx Sea. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, it includes the island of Great Britain (the name of which is also loosely applied to the whole country), the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland, and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that shares a land border with another sovereign statethe Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border, the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to its east, the English Channel to its south and the Celtic Sea to its south-south-west, giving it the 12th-longest coastline in the world. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland. With an area of , the UK is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants. Together, this makes it the fourth most densely populated country in the European Union. Glamorgan or, sometimes, Glamorganshire (or ) is one of the thirteen historic counties of Wales and a former administrative county of Wales. It was originally an early medieval petty kingdom of varying boundaries known as Glywysing until taken over by the Normans as a lordship. Glamorgan is latterly represented by the three preserved counties of Mid Glamorgan, South Glamorgan and West Glamorgan. The name also survives in that of Vale of Glamorgan, a county borough. Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in 2011 of 3,063,456 and has a total area of . Wales has over of coastline and is largely mountainous, with its higher peaks in the north and central areas, including Snowdon, its highest summit. The country lies within the north temperate zone and has a changeable, maritime climate.
candidates: 1 1937 age area bear borough category century channel character city coast college council area country county definition division education elevation empire england five geographic region geography government hundred inlet island jurisdiction king league limited local government lying may mountain national park parish park part people period point preserved county of wales sea settlement term three unitary authority vale of glamorgan village
answer: preserved county of wales