List of Historic Place Names – now live

The List of Historic Place Names of Wales, launched today, is a groundbreaking website that provides a fascinating insight into the landuse, archaeology and history of Wales. Over 300,000 place names are included in the List, reflecting the various forms and spellings used historically, and revealing the often forgotten or overlooked legacies of buildings, people, archaeological or topographical features in our landscapes.

Recognising the importance of historic place names to the history and culture of Wales, the Welsh Government included a provision for a statutory list of historic place names in the Historic Environment (Wales) Act 2016 and has tasked the Royal Commission to compile and maintain the List on behalf of the Welsh Ministers. Since that date the Commission has been working with partners to create a website that will make permanently accessible data from three major sources:

• names collected by online volunteers from historic Ordnance Survey maps through the Cymru1900Wales project;
• names collected by online volunteers from tithe apportionments through the Cynefin project; and
• names collected by Dr David Parsons in his research for the Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies on the ’Historic Place-Names of Wales‘.

Over time, many more names will be added as further projects and research are completed — visit the blog to find out more about our ongoing work to develop the List.

• help members of the public learn about the history of their communities;
• support academic research; and
• inform decisions on the management of the historic environment.

A full-time member of staff is responsible for the curation of the List and is able to assist with enquiries.

Go now to historicplacenames.rcahmw.gov.uk to explore the hidden histories of place names near you and throughout Wales.

 

Example map of Bridgend showing how placename data is displayed on the website mapping

 

05/08/2017