Monthly Archives: June 2016

Who owned Wales?

There’s a great opportunity to help make a fantastic digital resource relating to land in Wales in the mid-19th century. Using tithe maps, the Cynefin Project is creating a picture of land ownership, occupation and use, as well as the increasingly unpopular tithing system, across the country. The documents are not too difficult to read, and there is a wealth of fascinating material here – about who did what, and who owned what. Once it is all done, this will be a really valuable resource, for those interested in particular individuals, places, industries. I have already noticed some interesting material on how much land was held on trust, and concentrations of ownership in particular individuals (and, in one I’ve just done, Eton College). Feeling more than a little Rebecca-Rioty about it all!

Find the project at: http://cynefin.archiveswales.org.uk/en/ and do a few pages!

[22/06/2016] Working my way through some parts of Monmouthshire. Fascinating material on use of Welsh and English in this border area. Mostly English personal names, but still a lot of Welsh names for fields. There’s a Ph.D. in there for somebody.