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Semantic Name Authority Repository Cymru

Linked database of authority records and related data for people and places in Welsh archives

130,892 Items.

 Introduction

The Semantic Name Authority Repository Cymru (SNARC) was established in order to provide a central hub for name authority records relating to Wales and in the Welsh language. The dataset includes data about peoples with National Library of Wales authority records, Places with standardized names in English and Welsh, and all the data needed to describe these things, from languages and occupations to historic buildings, administrative areas, cities and countries. Based on Wikidata, but using a simplified and customized ontology, the data is presented as Linked Open Data and this makes it easier for us to define relationships between entities in our collections. All the data is bilingual and available on an Open Licence. The dataset can be explored using the search box on this page, the links below or using the API or Query Service. Our goal is to grow the dataset using data from Welsh cultural organizations, connecting our heritage in one central hub. It will also act as an important bridge between 3rd party linked open data from Wikidata and other sources, and data curated by GLAM professionals around the world.

 People

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Useful queries and data visualisations for exploring the data

Explore People

• Image Gallery of People in our collections
• Keeping up with the Joneses; all known family of people with the surname Jones
• Interactive map of birth places of people in our archives
• Graph of Welsh estates, houses and their owners
• Timeline of Aberystwyth University Alumni

Search People

• People with NLW Authority record
• NLW Images of People
• Dictionary of Welsh Biography people with Archives at NLW
• Pseudonyms and Bardic Names

Featured Family Trees (Uses Wikidata)

• Augustus John
• Charlotte Guest
• Owain Glyndwr
• Megan Lloyd George

 Places

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Useful queries and data visualisations for exploring the data

Maps and visualisations

• Simple World Map of places in the dataset
• Interactive map of Welsh place data

• NLW Images of places

• Welsh Ecclesiastical Parishes
• Map of Welsh hills and mountains

Place names

• Standardised Welsh Place Names
• Search Welsh place names by type

Historic buildings and monuments

• CADW Listed Buildings

• Coflein (RCAHMW)

• CADW Monuments

• Chapels with related archives at NLW

 Projects

Data related to, or created as part of, focused projects

Diversity Project of the Dictionary of Welsh Biography

• All people in project scope
• Map with birth place of all people with Welsh Biography article born outside of the UK
• Languages spoken by those in project scope
• List of people in scope reputed to have been enslaved

Welsh Place Names Project (2024-25)

• All places where Welsh labels and discriptions were added

 Data hierarchy

As structured data, all entities in the dataset should form part of a hierarchy. This dataset uses the bespoke high level hierarchy below, which simplifies the class system imported with items from Wikidata. Click on the items below to see subclasses of each type.

Guidelines on the data structure can be found here

Place

Any place whether natural or human made

Concept

Semantic unit understood in different ways

Life

Any living physical entity such as an animal, plant, fungus, or bacterium

Creation

Intentional intellectual or artistic creation

 Reusing this data

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The data in SNARC along with all associated documentation and queries are freely available for reuse with no requirement for attribution under a CC-0 licence. In return, we would greatly appreciate it if, in your project, you mention The National Library of Wales and Wikidata as the origin of your data. In so doing you help ensure that we can monitor reuse and justify the continued development of this resource.