Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:55 pm on 24 April 2018.
May I thank the Minister for his statement on accessible monuments for all? Now, of course, accessibility to monuments isn’t a new challenge. The castles of the middle ages naturally were built to prevent accessibility, and it was quite a challenge to survive that. It cost a great deal at the time to prevent people from accessing these sites. Notably, Owain Glyndŵr had a few successes in overcoming the lack of accessibility to a number of castles here in Wales, which naturally builds a route for the work of the Minister in improving the accessibility of those monuments from the middle ages. Of course, things have now changed, and castles that once suppressed now attract visitors. The question that follows on from that is: what exactly are you as Minister doing to promote the real history of oppression of our nation, more than just encouraging people to look at these monuments through an architectural orbit only?
Later in your statement, you mentioned Live the Legends 2017, and in considering that, I’m reminded of that time when someone had the wonderful idea of having an iron ring at Flint castle. I don’t know what analysis has been done of that initiative or who had that absurd idea in the first place. You mentioned towards the end of your statement, and I agree with you, that we must encourage community ownership of our monuments and heritage in order to secure their future for years to come. 'Hear, hear', I say.
And, of course, local historical place names play a crucial part in our heritage. Indeed, our historic place names in and of themselves are part of the story of accessibility to monuments. Without a name, where does one go? Given the failure of my Bill last year in this place to safeguard historic place names, as you will know, there is no statutory safeguarding for our historical place names now, unlike other issues: certain plant species have greater protection than our historical place names. So, what steps will you be taking to safeguard historical place names here in Wales? Thank you.