Historic place names

Under the Historic Environment (Wales) Act 2023, the Welsh Ministers must maintain a list of historic place names in Wales. 

They have entrusted that task to the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales. The List of Historic Place Names of Wales is freely available online.

The Act requires the historic environment record (HER) that the Welsh Ministers must maintain for every local authority area to provide access to details of the place names for that area from the list. The information contained in the List of Historic Place Names of Wales is therefore readily accessible alongside other evidence from the HER to inform the decisions of planning authorities, other public bodies, developers and owners on the management of the historic environment.

The Welsh Ministers have issued statutory guidance, Historic Environment Records: Compilation and Use, for local and National Park authorities and Natural Resources Wales. This guidance sets out how these public bodies are expected to use the List of Historic Place Names of Wales when their functions involve naming or renaming places.

Some references in this guidance must now be read as references to provisions in the Historic Environment (Wales) Act 2023. 

The 2023 Act has replaced the following Acts in Wales:

• The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979
• The Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• The Historic Environment (Wales) Act 2016.

Readers may find the 2023 Act’s Table of Destinations useful in identifying specific provisions.