Historic Civil Parish Boundaries of Wales

Thumbnail

Resource ID

ece7877a-b22b-11ef-aac6-36cc4a04afda

Date

Dec. 4, 2024, midnight, Publication Date

Abstract

The parish (from Latin 'Parochia') is probably the most recognisable 'old' administrative boundary. They were created for the administration of the church and first appear in Wales following the Norman conquest in the late eleventh century, although it is likely that a similar system existed at an earlier date. From twelfth century onwards a comprehensive picture emerges and the ecclesiastical taxation records of 1254 and 1291 provide extensive names for Wales, many of which continue in use today, although their boundaries may have changed. Ecclesiastical parishes were the main unit for tithe and Poor law payments, but the Poor Law Amendment Act 1866 facilitated the need for the creation of 'Civic Parishes' which became the main administrative unit. In many instances these were based on the same boundaries as the ecclesiastical parishes, but they developed differently from this point onwards. In Wales the civil parishes were replaced under the Local Government Act 1972. in 1974 with communities and these are still in use today, although boundaries and names frequently continue to change. The mapping of historical boundaries requires many sources to be consulted. The most important has been the large scale first edition Ordnance Survey County Series mapping. The first edition six-inch to the Mile (1:10,560) scale mapping has been digitised by the National Library of Scotland (NLS) and this has provided a reliable source to map the boundaries from. As the project progresses, larger-scale sources such as the 25-inch (1:2,500) scale Ordnance Survey mapping will be used to refine the boundaries. Earlier cartographic sources will also be consulted such as Enclosure and Estate mapping and the Welsh Tithe Maps digitised by the National Library of Wales. All of the digital boundary datasets have been made available for public use under the Open Government Licence for public sector information. This means that you are free to copy, publish, distribute and adapt the information. We ask that when using this information that you acknowledge where this information has come from using the following accreditation: ‘© Crown Copyright, Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales available under Open Government License 3.0’ Or ‘© Crown Copyright, RCAHMW available under Open Government License 3.0’

Edition

Responsible

Charina.Jones

Point of Contact

Jones

charina.jones@rcahmw.gov.uk

Purpose

Historical boundaries are recorded on a variety of sources such as old maps and documents. This project aims to make the information recorded in these sources usable and accessible in a digital environment. https://historical-boundaries-of-wales-rcahmw.hub.arcgis.com/

Maintenance Frequency

None

Type

vector

Restrictions

None

License

Open Government Licence for Public Sector Information

Language

Temporal Extent

Start

Jan. 1, 1866, midnight

End

Jan. 1, 1974, midnight

Supplemental Information

Data Quality

Extent

x0: 169202.609375
x1: 355309.59375
y0: 164529.421875
y1: 395983.5625

Spatial Reference System Identifier

EPSG:27700

Keywords

no keywords

Category

Boundaries

Regions

Global

Resource Metadata

Historic Civil Parish Boundaries of Wales