27 February 2026
We've just released a new update with two new datasets and a useful improvement to how you can explore sites on the map.
Historic Royal Palaces is an independent charity that manages the unoccupied royal palaces of the United Kingdom - those that are no longer used as official royal residences. It was established in 1989 and became an independent charity in 1998. It receives no government funding or grants from the Crown, and is entirely self-funded through admission charges, memberships, events, and retail.
Its portfolio includes some of the most iconic historic sites in England and Northern Ireland:
All of these sites are now available to browse and log in Visit History.
Note: Visit History is not affiliated with Historic Royal Palaces. All information about the sites is curated from publicly available data.
Cadw is the Welsh Government's historic environment service. The name comes from the Welsh word meaning "to keep" or "to cherish", reflecting its mission to protect and celebrate Wales's historic environment. Cadw is broadly the Welsh equivalent of Historic England, acting as the statutory advisor to the Welsh Government on heritage matters.
Cadw is responsible for maintaining the listed buildings register for Wales. Listed buildings are structures of special architectural or historic interest, and are protected by law. Like in England, they are graded by significance:
Wales has approximately 30,000 listed building entries across all grades.
Cadw also maintains the scheduled monuments register for Wales. Scheduled monuments are nationally important archaeological sites and ancient monuments, legally protected against damage or unauthorised change. They range from prehistoric burial chambers and Roman forts to medieval earthworks and industrial heritage.
There are approximately 4,200 scheduled monuments in Wales.
All listed buildings and scheduled monuments from Cadw's registers are now included in Visit History, giving you full coverage of Wales's nationally protected heritage sites.
Cadw's listed buildings and scheduled monuments datasets are published under the Open Government Licence v3.0 (OGL v3.0), the same licence that covers Historic England's NHLE data. This allows anyone to freely use, share, and adapt the data for commercial or non-commercial purposes, provided the source is acknowledged. You can read the full licence at nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/.
We use this data in accordance with the licence terms, with Cadw acknowledged as the source.
Cadw also manages over 130 historic sites across Wales, ranging from prehistoric standing stones to medieval castles. Iconic Cadw properties include Caernarfon Castle, Harlech Castle, and Tintern Abbey. These sites will be coming soon.
Previously, the search in Visit History showed sites near your current location. In this update, you can now search for sites near any point on the map - not just where you are right now.
This is useful when you're planning a trip. If you're heading to Cornwall next month, or looking for things to do near a friend's house, you can move the map to that area and then search what's nearby. No need to be there in person.
To use it, simply move the map to the area you're interested in and tap the "search from this location" button. Visit History will find historic sites near the centre of your view.
As always, we're continuing to expand the data in the app. If there are datasets or features you'd like to see, we'd love to hear from you.