Historic Municipal Boundaries of Wales

In the medieval period, many towns (often referred to as ‘Burhs’ or ‘Boroughs’) had the right of self-governing autonomy. This status was usually granted by the reigning monarch in the form of a town charter. These towns would often be able to appoint a member of parliament to represent the interests of the town and its residents. Some town charters where reissued ushering in the foundation of town corporations. These entities would be responsible for the administration of the town usually under the authority of an appointed Mayor. Following the parliamentary reforms implemented by the Great Reform Act of 1832, attention was turned to the management of local government. A Royal Commission was established to assess the validity of these entities. It was concluded that many of these corporations where corrupt and not fit for purpose which led to the enactment of The Municipal Corporations Act 1835. This oversaw the creation of municipal boroughs that were to be governed by town councils that would be elected by ratepayers. The Ordnance Survey recorded these boundaries when undertaking their large-scale mapping of Wales. Municipal boundaries subsequently evolved until they were eventually replaced in Wales by creation of Districts following the Local Government Act 1972. 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’