Timeline of Welsh history

This is a timeline of Welsh history, comprising important legal and territorial changes, and political events in Wales.

Prehistory: Mesolithic/Neolithic periodsBronze/Iron Ages
Centuries: 1st2nd3rd4th5th6th7th8th9th10th11th12th13th14th15th16th17th18th19th20th21st
ReferencesSources

Mesolithic and Neolithic periods

Year	Date	Event
c. 31,000 BC		Earliest reliably-dated "modern human" burial with artefacts, first discovered in the 1820s on the Gower in Swansea. After the Red Lady of Paviland bones were recalibrated in 2009, the Homo sapiens bones were determined to be from 33,000 years ago.
		Following the end of glaciation and sea level stabilisation, Wales becomes roughly the shape it is today and is inhabited by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers.
c. 4000 BC		The earliest farming communities become established in Wales, marking the beginning of the Neolithic period. Megalithic tombs still survive from this period, such as the Pentre Ifan Dolmen in Pembrokeshire.

Bronze and Iron Ages

Year	Date	Event
c. 2500–2100 BC		Metal tools first appear, as copper ores are extracted from deep open cast mines in central and northern Wales. Implements are initially made from copper, followed by bronze.
c. 2500–700 BC		Wales is part of Bronze Age Britain, a maritime trading culture, selling tin, lead, iron, silver, gold, pearls, corn, cattle, hides, skins, fleeces, trained hunting dogs and slaves, and buying ivory, amber, glass vessels and other luxuries; bronze axeheads from this area have been found on the coasts of Brittany and Germany.
		Implements start to be produced from iron, the earliest examples are believed to come from Llyn Fawr in South Wales.
c. 400 BC		Iron Age settlements emerge in Wales, two of the earliest being Castell Odo, a small hillfort near the tip of the Llŷn Peninsula and Lodge Wood Camp, above the later Roman fort at Caerleon.
c. 150 BC		Gold coins are being minted at least as early as this date, imitating Macedonian designs.
54 BC		Tacitus later records that Cymry assisted in repelling Julius Caesar's second invasion.

[|1st] century

Year	Date	Event
		Celtic chariot burial in southern Britain discovered in Llanstadwell, Pembrokeshire, in 2018
48		The Roman conquest of Wales begins as the Deceangli tribe in the northeast submits to Publius Ostorius Scapula
51		Caratacus, a defeated chieftain from east England, encourages the Silures and Ordovices to attack Roman territories, ultimately unsuccessfully; he is betrayed by the Brigantes and taken to Rome as a prisoner
52		A Roman legion, probably Legio XX Valeria Victrix, is defeated by the Silures
c. 75		The Silures have been defeated; Romans establish Venta Silurum, a market town in the Roman province of Britannia; the modern village of Caerwent in Monmouthshire is built around the Roman ruins; Roman fortress at Caerleon is established for the Legio II Augusta
77		Roman general Gnaeus Julius Agricola subjugates the Ordovices with "much slaughter"
78		Gaius Suetonius Paulinus completes the Roman conquest of Wales, ending with his campaign to capture Anglesey; the conquest has involved at least thirteen campaigns, up to 30,000 soldiers and, due to Wales's particular terrain, the development of new tactics which were subsequently adopted in other parts of the empire

[|2nd] century

Year	Date	Event
		Roman rule over Britannia is less evident in Wales than in other parts of Britain; there are few Roman settlements, but a number of roads, camps and forts; the Romans exploit resources such as metal ores, and to a lesser extent coal
c. 150		According to Ptolemy, Wales was populated by five indistinct peoples, mostly of Celtic origin: Ordovices, Silures, Demetae, Deceangli and Gangani
c. 162		Llandaff was probably the site of the first Christian church built in Wales

[|3rd] century

Year	Date	Event
—		Evidence of Christianity in Gwent
—		Hoard of more than 3,000 Roman coins buried in a ceramic pot in Powys, discovered in 2011
c. 280		Vines introduced into Britain, including Glamorganshire; also first established around this time, fruit tree, vegetable and game species not previously indigenous

[|4th] century

Year	Date	Event
311–313		The edicts of Serdica and Milan allow Christians throughout the Empire to worship without restriction; there had been periods of persecution in Wales, including two martyrdoms: Julius and Aaron
350–369		Influx of settlers from Ireland take advantage of soft Roman rule in Wales
383		Effective end of Roman rule in Wales; de facto Roman ruler Magnus Maximus leaves Wales defenceless when he embarks on a military campaign with considerable forces, and remains on the continent with his troops
c. 389		Irish, Scots and Saxon invaders begin to fill the vacuum left by Magnus Maximus and his garrison

[|5th] century

Year	Date	Event
410		Roman garrison withdrawn from Britain, followed by the emergence of Welsh kingdoms, principally Gwynedd, Demetia and Powys
c. 430		Germanus of Auxerre promotes Christianity more widely in Wales and, as a former general, puts himself at the forefront of a British force in a confrontation with raiders near Mold
c. 450		Cunedda Wledig comes "from the north" and founds Gwynedd by driving out the Irish settlers
c. 480		Tydfil, later Saint Tydfil—a daughter of Brychan, king of Brycheiniog —is murdered at Merthyr
c. 490		Dubricius is appointed archbishop of Caerleon and Llandaff; he founds several colleges, including asylums for the aged and schools for the young

[|6th] century

Year	Date	Event
–542		The supposed time of the legendary King Arthur, of Welsh parentage and crowned at Caerleon, referred to by early writers such as Nennius, Geoffrey of Monmouth and many others, but considered by more modern historians as a combination of "monkish legends and chivalrous fiction"
c. 500–589		The time of Dewi ap Sanctus, who later became Saint David, patron saint of Wales
519		Bishop Dubricius presides over the Synod of Llanddewi Brefi, during which he resigns and recommends that Bishop Dewi succeed him; this is approved
c. 522		Dewi moves the seat of the primacy to Mynyw, where the see became known as St David's, but the settlement was called Menevia at least until the 13th century, and later became the city of St David's
547		Death of Maelgwn Gwynedd, king of Gwynedd, known for funding the foundation of Christian churches throughout Wales; Maelgwn may have died of the bubonic plague, a pandemic that spread across Europe and beyond in the early 540s, mostly via trade routes
c.560		Death of Bishop Dewi. His episcopal see at Menevia is renamed Ty Ddewi in his honour

[|7th] century

Year	Date	Event
c. 600		The terms Cymry and Cymru, as opposed to other Celtic peoples and regions, already in use as self-identifiers
615/616		Battle of Chester between Anglo-Saxons and native Britons
630		Welsh/Mercian alliance between King Cadwallon of Gwynedd and Penda of Mercia defeats army of King Edwin of Northumbria at the Battle of Cefn Digoll at Long Mountain near Welshpool
633/4		Cadwallon ap Cadfan, king of Gwynedd, dies in battle in the north of England
c. 655–682		Reign of Cadwaladr ap Cadwallon, king of Gwynedd; 660 is the earliest date recorded in the [\|14th] century Brut y Tywysogion , an important Welsh history source

[|8th] century

Year	Date	Event
700–750		At the height of its powers, Mercia expands westwards to the Dee, Wye, and Severn rivers, at the expense of the Welsh kingdom of Powys; forced back into the upland regions, the Welsh launch a series of raids throughout the late 7th and early 8th centuries, in a bid to regain the rich farming territory of the lowlands.
c. 753		An invading army from Wessex is beaten back by the Welsh at Hereford
c. 754		Death of king Rhodri Molwynog, whose lineage is unclear, and whose predecessor and date of succession are not known; the reign of king Rhodri's successor, Cynan, was one of incessant warfare; Rhodri may have been succeeded by Caradog ap Meirion, or Caradog may have been a district ruler
–794		Offa of Mercia and Cynewulf of Wessex campaign vigorously along the length of the border with the Welsh kingdoms, causing the Welsh to lose lands they would never recover and largely establishing the eastern borders of Wales that exist today; internal Welsh strife continues
–796		Offa's Dyke is built along the Wales–England border to mark the boundary between Anglian Mercia and the Welsh kingdom of Powys; however, radiocarbon dating of samples taken from [\|excavations in 2014] reveal that it may have been constructed much earlier than this, and over an extended time period
768		The Welsh church adopts the Catholic method of calculating Easter through the efforts of bishop Elfodd
795/6		Battle at Rhuddlan Marsh, between the Saxons and Welsh; there is confusion between possible battles at Rhuddlan Marsh in 795 and Rhuddlan in 796
c. 798		When Caradog of Gwynedd and Meredydd of Dyfed die at the hands of the Mercians, Cynan ap Rhodri becomes the next king of Gwynedd

[|12th] century

[|16th] century

[|18th] century

Year	Date	Event
1717		Skerries Lighthouse begins operation, guiding ships past the low tract of submerged land off Carmel Head, northwest Anglesey
1723		The Workhouse Test Act is passed by UK government, leading to the establishment of numerous workhouses in England and Wales over the next two decades
1746		The Wales and Berwick Act is passed, creating a statutory definition of "England" as including England, Wales and Berwick-upon-Tweed
1761		Bersham Ironworks employs a new boring machine for the accurate production of smooth bore cannon, later supplying cannon for use in the American War of Independence and the Napoleonic wars
1765		Opening of the Cyfarthfa Ironworks and construction of the first coke blast furnace for the production of pig iron
1768		A rich seam of copper ore is discovered at Parys Mountain, Anglesey, leading to the formation of the Parys Mine Company, soon to become the world's most productive copper mining concern. Wales dominates the world copper markets throughout this period.
1782		The Relief of the Poor Act is passed by UK government, enabling poor relief to be provided at home for the able-bodied poor
1793		Pont-y-Cafnau, the world's earliest surviving iron railway bridge, is constructed to support a tramway and aqueduct for the transport of raw materials to the Cyfarthfa Ironworks
1797	22–24 February	The Pembrokeshire coast is invaded by Republican France in the Battle of Fishguard, often referred to as the "last invasion of Britain" as it represents the last assault launched on British soil by a hostile foreign power

[|21st] century

Year	Date	Event
2000	June	Don Wales sets a UK electric land speed record of on Pendine Sands in Bluebird Electric 2.
2000	30 June	Cardiff Bay Development Corporation is dissolved, after the completion of a major regeneration project at Cardiff Bay.
2000	21 July	Charles, Prince of Wales officially opens the National Botanic Garden of Wales, which has been open to the public since 24 May.
2000	14 September	Penderyn whisky begins production at its distillery in the Brecon Beacons National Park; this is the first commercially available malt whisky made in Wales since the 19th century.
2000	5 October	After operating as a minority government for seventeen months, the Welsh Labour Party agrees to form a coalition government with the Welsh Liberal Democrats in the Welsh Assembly; the coalition agreement is officially signed twelve days later.
2000	2 December	Blaenavon Industrial Landscape in southeast Wales is added to the UNESCO World Heritage List, making it the second World Heritage Site in Wales.
2000		Glyndwr's Way, a long-distance footpath in mid Wales, is granted National Trail status; the footpath runs for in an extended loop through Powys between Knighton and Welshpool.
2001	1 June	Official opening of Cardiff Bay Barrage, one of the largest civil engineering projects in Europe.
2001	July	Welsh communities pressure group Cymuned is launched at a meeting in Mynytho on the Llŷn Peninsula; the group aims to protect and foster the Welsh language and way of life.
2001		Actress Siân Phillips unveils a memorial statue to Catrin Glyndŵr in London, to commemorate "Glyndwr Day".
2002	June	The Newport medieval ship is discovered on the west bank of the River Usk during construction of Newport's Riverfront Arts Centre.
2002	5 August	Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Wales, is honoured by admission to the Gorsedd of bards.
2002	July/August	Closure and demolition of Ebbw Vale Steelworks, resulting from the collapse of the international steel market.
2002	16 October	The Banc Ty'nddôl sun-disc is recovered during archaeological excavations on a Bronze Age site at Cwmystwyth in central Wales.
2002	2 December	Dr Rowan Williams is confirmed as the next Archbishop of Canterbury.
2003		The North Wales edition of the Daily Post separates from the Liverpool Daily Post to become a standalone title.
2003	29 March	The Cob at Porthmadog is purchased by the Welsh Government and the road toll is discontinued after 192 years.
2003	1 May	The second National Assembly for Wales election is held, resulting in a minority government by Welsh Labour who choose not to enter into another coalition agreement.
2003	19 June	HRH Prince William of Wales visits Bangor and Anglesey, to mark his 21st birthday.
2003	15 August	A memorial to Owain Lawgoch, descendant of Llywelyn the Great, is unveiled at Mortagne-sur-Gironde, France.
2003	November	A £1.1 million DTI grant is awarded to Energybuild, the private owner of the Aberpergwm Colliery in the Neath Valley, to upgrade facilities and allow new coal reserves to be accessed.
2003	21 November	North Hoyle Offshore Wind Farm, Wales' first offshore wind farm, commences operation.
2004	1 March	Penderyn whisky is officially launched in the presence of HRH Prince Charles; demand is so high that the whisky sells out almost immediately.
2004	13 March	The market town of Cowbridge, one of the smallest and oldest walled towns in Wales, celebrates the 750th anniversary of its royal charter.
2004	26 November	Official opening of the Wales Millennium Centre, a large arts centre in Cardiff Bay.
2005	30 January	Cardiff's David Morgan store, the largest independent department store in Wales, closes after 125 years of trading.
2005	26 May	Big Pit National Coal Museum wins the Gulbenkian Prize for Museum of the Year 2005.
2005	13 July	Prince Charles opens a new building to house the Narrow Gauge Railway Museum at Tywyn Wharf railway station in Gwynedd.
2005	October	A Welsh language version of Scrabble is marketed for the first time.
2005	17 October	The National Waterfront Museum opens to the public in Swansea's Maritime Quarter.
2005	19 October	Liverpool City Council issues a formal apology for the flooding of the Afon Tryweryn valley to create the Llyn Celyn reservoir in 1965.
2005	1 December	Outlying properties in the Nedd Fechan valley, near Ystradfellte in southern Powys, are connected to mains electricity, probably the last community in the whole of England and Wales to be wired.
2006	1 March	The new National Assembly building opens in Cardiff Bay; designed by Richard Rogers and costing £67 million, it is known as the Senedd.
2006	25 July	Government of Wales Act 2006 comes into effect, conferring additional law-making powers on the National Assembly for Wales.
2007	1 April	Prescription charges are abolished by NHS Wales; the Welsh Government is the first devolved government of the UK to remove these charges.
2007	3 May	The third National Assembly for Wales election is held, resulting in a relative majority for Welsh Labour, while Plaid Cymru make considerable gains.
2007	27 June	Labour and Plaid Cymru announce their intention to form a coalition government, and enter into the One Wales agreement which includes holding a referendum on full law-making powers for the Welsh Assembly.
2008	25 January	Official closure of Tower Colliery in the Cynon Valley, South Wales, the last remaining deep coal mine to be worked in the whole of Wales.
2008	12 June	Cardiff Castle opens a new interpretation centre at a cost of £6 million.
2008	12 September	Completion of the Meridian Tower in Swansea's Maritime Quarter; the Tower is the tallest building in Wales, standing at a height of.
2008	20 November	AM and Heritage Minister Alun Ffred Jones becomes the first person to use the Welsh language as a representative of the UK government at a European Union meeting in Brussels.
2009	27 June	The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct is added to the UNESCO World Heritage List, making it the third World Heritage Site in Wales.
2009	22 October	The St David's Centre in Cardiff re-opens as one of the largest shopping centres in the United Kingdom after its multimillion-pound extension and the reconstruction of the surrounding area.
2010	18 March	Marriage (Wales) Act 2010 brings the Church in Wales' marriage regulations into line with those of the Church of England.
2010	31 March	Digital switchover is completed in Wales when the analogue transmissions at Wenvoe are switched off. Consequently, S4C begins broadcasting solely in Welsh and the channel no longer carries Channel 4 programmes due to Channel 4 becoming available full-time across all of Wales for the first time.
2010	12 May	Cardiff-born Conservative MP Cheryl Gillan is confirmed as Secretary of State for Wales in the new UK government, the first woman to hold the post.
2010	25 May	The Learned Society of Wales is launched at the National Museum in Cardiff.
2010	24 June	Barry-born Julia Gillard becomes Australia's first female prime minister.
2011	3 March	A further Welsh devolution referendum is held, which results in the Welsh Assembly receiving full law-making powers on all matters in the twenty fields where it has jurisdiction.
2011	5 May	In the 2011 National Assembly for Wales election, Welsh Labour wins exactly half of the contested seats and regains overall power in the Assembly.
2011	9 July	The National Museum of Art opens in Cardiff, created with £6.5 million of private and Welsh Government funding.
2011	1 October	Wales becomes the first UK nation to introduce a minimum 5p charge on single-use plastic carrier bags.
2012	April	New visitor centre opens at Conwy Castle.
2012	26–27 April	Queen Elizabeth II makes a two-day visit to South Wales as part of her Diamond Jubilee tour; the visit includes engagements in Llandaff, Margam, Merthyr Tydfil, Aberfan, Ebbw Vale and Glanusk Park.
2012	5 May	Opening of the Wales Coast Path, a long-distance walking route that closely follows the Welsh coastline for.
2012	25 May	The Olympic Torch starts its five-day tour of Wales, as part of the 2012 Summer Olympics torch relay; Gareth John, the chairman of Disability Sport Wales, is the first person to bring the torch onto Welsh soil.
2012	25 July	The first events of the London 2012 Summer Olympics take place in Cardiff: two matches in the women's football competition are held at the Millennium Stadium.
2012	12 November	The National Assembly for Wales (Official Languages) Act 2012 receives royal assent; the first bill to be passed under the assembly's new legislative powers, it gives the Welsh and English languages equal status in the assembly.
2012	31 December	Rowan Williams retires from the position of Archbishop of Canterbury.
2013	February	The Brecon Beacons National Park is granted International Dark Sky Reserve status, to restrict artificial light pollution above the park; it is the first such area in Wales, the second in the UK and only the fifth worldwide.
2013	2 July	The Welsh Assembly brings into law a presumed consent organ donation scheme,.
2013	12 September	The Church in Wales passes a bill that will allow women to be consecrated as bishops.
2013	14 October	On the centenary of Britain's worst-ever mining disaster, the Welsh National Mining Memorial is unveiled within a dedicated garden at Senghenydd, in memory of all those who have died in the Welsh mines.
2014		Excavations carried out by the Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust, on parts of Offa's Dyke near Chirk, place construction in the period 541–651 AD, with lower layers dating to as early as 430 AD, suggesting that the Dyke may have been a long-term project by several Mercian kings.
2014	29–30 April	Queen Elizabeth II visits South Wales, two years after her previous visit for the Diamond Jubilee; her two-day itinerary includes Narberth, Picton Castle, Pembroke Dock, Ystrad Mynach and Llantwit Major.
2014	4–5 September	The 2014 NATO Summit is held at the Celtic Manor Resort in Newport; it is the first NATO summit to be held in the UK since 1990 and the first held anywhere in the UK other than London.
2015	15 April	After a £12 million restoration project, Cardigan Castle reopens as a heritage attraction and events venue.
2015	25 September	Ford approves a new £181 million range of petrol engines to be built at its car manufacturing plant in Bridgend, South Wales, securing 750 skilled jobs at the facility; production of the new engines will begin in 2018.
2015	1 December	Wales becomes the first nation in the UK to introduce a presumed consent scheme for organ donation, whereby adults are regarded as consenting to become donors unless they have specifically opted out.
2016	January	The Millennium Stadium, home of Welsh rugby, is renamed the Principality Stadium.
2016	23 June	In the United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, a 52.5% majority of voters in Wales vote to leave the EU, with 47.5% voting to remain.
2017	22 February	The British government confirms that MPs will be permitted in future to use the Welsh language during meetings of the Welsh Grand Committee.
2017	8 November	Tata Steel announces its intention to invest £30 million in its Port Talbot Steelworks, in a bid to safeguard the jobs of 4,000 employees at the plant, following plans to merge with German steel manufacturer ThyssenKrupp.
2018	20 March	Planning permission is granted by Neath Port Talbot Council to restart coal production at Aberpergwm Colliery, the last surviving drift mine in Wales, after operations were previously suspended in July 2015.
2018	2 July	Prince Charles attends a lowkey ceremony to rename the Second Severn Crossing as the "Prince of Wales Bridge", a move which is widely disliked by the Welsh public.
2019	January	Completion of a major blast furnace upgrade at the Port Talbot Steelworks, after a £50 million investment by Tata Steel; this follows years of uncertainty at the plant, with particular concerns over the UK's withdrawal from the European Union.
2019	6 June	Ford announces that its Bridgend Engine Plant will close in September 2020, with the loss of 1,700 jobs, blaming reduced global demand for the Ford GTDi 1.5-litre engine.
2019	3 July	National Museum of History wins the Museum of the Year award for 2019.
2020	13 January	The Welsh Government approves the construction of a new bridge across the River Dyfi at Machynlleth, at a cost of £46 million.
2020	24 January	The Slate Landscape of North West Wales is nominated by the UK government for consideration as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
2020	28 February	Authorities confirm the first case of COVID-19 in Wales, an individual who recently returned from holiday in Italy.
2020	18 March	The Welsh Government announces that all schools in Wales will close from the end of the week as a measure to help contain the spread of COVID-19 in Wales; the school closure lasts until the end of June.
2020	12 April	The new, temporary, Dragon's Heart Hospital opens at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium to admit its first COVID-19 patients.
2020	6 May	The National Assembly for Wales becomes "Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament" and its members become "Members of the Senedd" .
2020	25 September	Ford's Bridgend Engine Plant closes for decommissioning, ending 40 years of engine production at the site.
2021	28 July	The Slate Landscape of North West Wales is added to the UNESCO World Heritage List, making it the fourth World Heritage Site in Wales.
2022	8 September	Charles, Prince of Wales, becomes King Charles III of the United Kingdom following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.
2022	9 September	William, the elder son of King Charles III, is confirmed as the new Prince of Wales. His wife Catherine becomes Princess of Wales.
2022	16 September	King Charles III pays his first visit to Wales as monarch, to meet political leaders and attend a religious service.