Commentary on Sections Part 6 — Other heritage assets and records Section 193 — Duty to maintain and publish list of historic place names
690.Section 193 places a duty on the Welsh Ministers to maintain a list of historic place names in Wales. Historic place names provide valuable evidence for the linguistic, social and historical changes that have shaped Wales. They are important elements of the urban and rural landscape and contribute to local and regional identity. The List of Historic Place Names of Wales is managed on behalf of the Welsh Ministers by the Royal Commission. It is freely available on the Royal Commission’s website and through the Welsh historic environment records. In April 2023, the List contained nearly 700,000 historic names from geo-referenced sources earlier than 1914, including variant names and spellings for the same structure or place at different times. It will continue to grow as further place names are collected from a variety of historical sources.
691.The statutory guidance for historic environment records — Historic Environment Records in Wales: Compilation and Use (2017) — published in accordance with section 196 and kept under review, includes an annex providing guidance for local authorities on the use of the List of Historic Place Names, which can be accessed through the historic environment records.