Carneddau Place Names

Preserving and promoting a sense of place

Historical place names are an integral part of the Carneddau’s rich history and culture. They are often descriptive and tell us about a geographical location, to whom a place belonged, who worked there, or an event during the period when the place name was given. The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW) is developing a comprehensive database of place names throughout Wales. The Carneddau Landscape Partnership will contribute to that database through its place names project. Through interviews, community workshops and by working with volunteers, the project will identify place names that are, as yet, unrecorded but are part of the community’s cultural vocabulary or alive in the memories of local families – whether it’s a field name, stream, path, patch of land or structure.

Living link to our past

Place names provide vital clues about the culture, history and geography of the area, and how people navigated the landscape and lived here in the past.

Archiving for the future

Recording the Carneddau’s place names and depositing the information gathered in the national archive record will ensure it is preserved, and hopefully protected.

Linguistic shift

Place name records show the changes in the Welsh language over quite a short period of time. They also show how community dialects may have influenced place names and the linguistic shifts that take place in relatively small geographical areas.

Carneddau Research Officer with a volunteer inspecting the map for local place names

What are we doing?

We are holding workshops across the Carneddau’s communities to gather and map place names and the stories, myths and legends that surround them.

A digital interactive map of the Carneddau’s place names that links the associated stories and legends will be produced. We are also recording people in communities talking about the place names and their historical significance.

This work will be contributed to the database of Welsh place names that is being compiled by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW).

Why is this important?

Historical place names are a vital part of Wales’ rich history and culture. Welsh place names tend to be descriptive of the conditions, geographical locations or events of the period when the place names were given; they can tell us a lot about the history of that particular place during that particular time. It’s crucial that we record and preserve them.

Interactive place names map (coming soon)

Our interactive map (coming soon) will show the place names and meanings we have gathered so far.

Carneddau Place Names Film Series

Watch our film series on Carneddau Place Names, staring accomplished bards and writers, Ieuan Wyn and Myrddin Ap Daffydd, and Dr Sara Wheeler, at Wrexham Glyndwr University. Discover the natural and historical meanings behind our native place names, their significance, and importance to use to maintain our collective cultural knowledge.

Watch here

Carneddau Farm Place Names
(Welsh Medium – English Subtitles Coming Soon)

Cynefin Hafod Y Gelyn Farm – W. Griffith

How can you get involved?

Come along to one of the community place names recording events where you can tell us about the place and field names you know about and the stories behind them, and help us to identify them on the map. Check out our events page.

If you are part of a group that is interested in local place names, get in touch and we will come to your community to do a workshop.

Have you got a place name to add? Please contact us to tell us about it.