Did you know that Ostium Ayron is the first recorded name for Aberaeron from way back in the 13th Century? I don’t think many of us did until our November lecture when Dr James January-McCann of The Royal Commission on Ancient Monuments of Wales gave a fascinating talk about his work collecting the historic place names in Wales.
Here is his brief introduction to the List of Historic Place Names of Wales:
https://historicplacenames.rcahmw.gov.uk is a groundbreaking and innovative resource, unique to Wales. The List contains over 700,000 historic place names collected from a variety of sources, which provide a fascinating insight into the land-use, archaeology and history of Wales. The place names included in the List reflect the various forms and spellings used from the Middle Ages to the present day, often including elements that refer to buildings, people, archaeological or topographical features.
The creation of this List and its availability online, as well as through four regional Historic Environment Records, means that for the first time, members of the public, researchers and those involved in decision making on matters affecting the Welsh historic environment are able to easily make reference to a geo-located, national, authoritative record of historic place names.
The names are collected from a variety of sources, such as historic maps, local history projects, books of place names, medieval poetry and old documents such as wills or deeds. We also have many thousands of names contributed by members of the public.
The List is used by local and national government, developers and governmental bodies such as Cadw and Natural Resources Wales in the naming and renaming of new sites, streets and housing developments, to ensure that they are named with historic names, and that our place name heritage remains visible in the landscape.”
Dr James January- McCann
Dec 2023.
Below is a copy of James' Powerpoint presentation that sadly we were unable to see on the night. It contains a number of helpful links: