Welsh partners collaborated on a project to crowdsource the transcription of historic place names from Ordnance Survey maps of Wales from the late 19th century. The project, Cymru1900wales.org, launched in 2013 and involved over 300 volunteers who transcribed nearly 300,000 place names. This data was later used to develop the statutory List of Historic Place Names of Wales, launched in 2017, which aims to promote awareness of Welsh historic place names and support their use and preservation.

1. Cymru1900andtheListof
HistoricPlaceNamesin
Wales
CBHC | RCAHMW
TomPert

2. Alongtimeagoinaseasidetownfar,faraway….
CBHC | RCAHMW
• March 2011 – Archives Discovery Forum, The National Archives, Kew.
Humphrey and I discussed the opportunities for generating an historic place
name gazetteer for Wales
• May 2011 - Meeting organised by Humphrey (Porstmouth), Paul Ell (QUB) and
Lorna Hughes (NLW) at the Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies,
University of Wales to discuss approaches to generating place name gazetteers,
and decide to pursue “Crowdsourcing”.

3. Walesleadstheway!
CBHC | RCAHMW
• Welsh partners decide to collaborate on project to create a Welsh historic place
names gazetteer
• Users will transcribe all names featured on historic Ordnance Survey mapping
(all text, other then benchmarks and height data)
• OS 2nd edition County Series 6”/mile – better legibility
1st edition 2nd edition

4. DevelopingCymru1900Wales.org
CBHC | RCAHMW
• Contacted Zooniverse – crowdsourcing/citizen science pioneer (Galaxy Zoo, Old
Weather etc.)
• Welsh partners raise £30,000 to develop the system (Centre for Advanced
Welsh and Celtic Studies, National Library of Wales, Royal Commission on the
Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, People’s Collection Wales)

5. Launchingcymru1900wales.org
CBHC | RCAHMW
• 22nd October 2013 – cymru1900wales.org launched

6. Ourhopesatlaunch….
CBHC | RCAHMW
Dr. David Parsons
“We hope to use the power of online volunteers to capture historic forms of place-names,
and also to tell us about modern variations or alternatives that are used locally. There is
no software that can collect this information automatically, so we really need people to go
online, register and help us out.”
Tom Pert
“This is a fantastic opportunity for us to gather a massive amount of information very
rapidly. Through this process the location of every mill, milestone, smithy and dock will be
captured and used to enhance the National Monuments Record of Wales. Every volunteer
will be helping us to create a complete record of the cultural landscape of Wales at the
end of the Victorian period”.
Prof. Lorna Hughes
“This is a groundbreaking website, with Wales leading the way for the rest of the United
Kingdom. Crowd-sourcing projects of this sort have proven very successful when used to
gather information for astronomers or biologists. We are sure this project will prove to be
equally successful, and will pave the way for further collaborative research and online
volunteering projects in the future”.

7. Whatdidweachieve?
CBHC | RCAHMW
Between October 2013 –
September 2016:
• 292,714 names
• 18,650 terms
• 371 contributors
• 176 memories

8. PlaceNamesinWales–apoliticalissue
CBHC | RCAHMW

9. HistoricEnvironment(Wales)Act2016
CBHC | RCAHMW
• 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.
• The Royal Commission compile and maintain the List on behalf of Welsh
Ministers.
• List of Historic Place Names of Wales was launched on 8th May, 2017.

10. ListofHistoricPlaceNamesofWales
CBHC | RCAHMW
The List aims to raise public awareness of the rich legacy of historic place names in Wales
and encourage the continuing use of these important elements of our nation’s heritage.
The List is a developing record of authoritative information on historic place names that can
be used to:
• 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.
Local and National Park authorities and Natural Resources Wales are expected to use the list
when taking decisions on the naming or renaming of streets and properties.

11. ListofHistoricPlaceNamesofWales
CBHC | RCAHMW
• Cymru1900wales.org launched 22nd October 2013
• GB1900.org launched 7th Sept 2016

12. ListofHistoricPlaceNamesofWales
CBHC | RCAHMW
At launch data was drawn from three principal sources:
Cymru1900Wales, Cynefin tithe maps project and Dr David Parsons’Historic Place-Names of
Wales‘ data

13. ListofHistoricPlaceNamesofWales
CBHC | RCAHMW
Interactive glossary of common name elements

14. ListofHistoricPlaceNamesofWales
CBHC | RCAHMW
Interactive glossary of common name elements

15. ListofHistoricPlaceNamesofWales
CBHC | RCAHMW
Interactive glossary of common name elements

16. ListofHistoricPlaceNamesofWales
CBHC | RCAHMW
Interactive glossary of common name elements

17. WebFeatureServicefeedsdatadirecttoLocalAuthorities
CBHC | RCAHMW
Interactive glossary of common name elements

18. Conclusion
CBHC | RCAHMW
• THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!
• Without the work of Cymru1900 volunteers, the creation of a statutory List of
Historic Place Names would not have been possible
• It will be fascinating to see the developments that result from the GB1900 dataset
• This is a really good time to be interested in, or working on, place names!

19. Diolchynfawriawnamwrando
CBHC | RCAHMW
Contact
Email: tom.pert@rcahmw.gov.uk
Place Names: historicplacenames.rcahmw.gov.uk