National Gazetteer of Wales -Place Name Index

[terrysfamily]

Found this on another forum. Don't know if it's been posted before.

https://homepage.ntlworld.com/geogdata/ngw/home.htm

On the same site there is also a map showing the counties and some of the places.#

Terry

[Ladkyis]

This is really interesting. It shows how politics has carved up wales to try and gain more votes for one party or another - Fascinating stuff, and it does give a good idea of where places are in relation to others.
Thank you for this

[Mary Anne]

Thank you for that, Terry!

While we're on the subject, does anyone know of a good calendar or timeline describing the administrative divisions of Wales and dates when particular areas were established? (this would be for the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries) I am particularly interested in the shifting borders with England.

I want to describe placenames in my genealogy as they were historically -- so, for example, I have a family living at Wynn Hall in Ruabon through the 18th and 19th centuries: what parish was it in? Was it always in Denbighshire during that period? was Denbighshire always called "Denbighshire" during the period? (or was it called "Denbigh County" at some point, for example?)

Mary Anne

[arthurk]

Hi Mary Anne

I think you'll find at least some of what you're looking for at A Vision of Britain through Time - www.
visionofbritain.org.uk/index.jsp

I found that you need to dig around a bit to get all the information - for what you're looking for, the "Units and Statistics" link on each place's page might be best, but it's all free, so (as they say) grab a cuppa...

Incidentally, I don't think any British county has ever been known as "xxx County". Irish counties and Durham are referred to as "County xxx", but otherwise "County" is only used in more formal contexts, such as "County of York" which you might see in an old will instead of the more usual "Yorkshire".

Arthur

[malcolm99]

but otherwise "County" is only used in more formal contexts, such as "County of York" which you might see in an old will instead of the more usual "Yorkshire".

Although the one exception that comes to mind is the 'County of London' which existed as a separate county from 1889 to 1965.

[arthurk]

OK, there are some exceptions. Now that you've mentioned London, you've reminded me of the "City and County of Kingston upon Hull" which I think was the formal term at one time when Hull was administered independently of the rest of Yorkshire (or the East Riding).

Don't be misled by terms such as "Lincolnshire County Council", which you'll no doubt come across on websites for archives etc. This is the "county council" for Lincolnshire, not the council for "Lincolnshire County" ( shudders at having typed such a phrase)

Arthur

[Mary Anne]

Thanks, Arthur and malcolm99, I am more comfortable with the English use of "County", but not so much with Wales. And Scotland is a whole 'nother story ;-)) Especially the historical uses.

Mary Anne

[Megan Roberts]

A good place to start when looking for historical info on Wales is GENUKI Wales - https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/wal/