The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (Welsh: Comisiwn Brenhinol Henebion Cymru) is a Welsh Government sponsored body based in Aberystwyth, Wales. It was founded in August 1908. It maintains and curates the National Monuments Record of Wales (NMRW) holding the national collection of information about the archaeological, architectural and historical heritage of Wales and provides a public information service, drawing on both archival and published sources and benefiting from specialist advice from RCAHMW staff. The National Monuments Record includes drawings, photographs, maps, plans and descriptions for a total of over 80,000 sites, buildings and maritime remains. With 1.5 million photographs, it is the largest photographic archive in Wales.
Coflein is the online database for the National Monuments Record of Wales (NMRW). The name is derived from the Welsh cof (memory) and lein (line). Coflein contains details of many thousands of archaeological sites, monuments, buildings and maritime sites in Wales, together with an index to the drawings, manuscripts and photographs held in the NMRW archive collections.
The Commission has published over a hundred books developing and promoting understanding of aspects of the historic environment, including its centenary volume in 2008, Hidden Histories: Discovering the Heritage of Wales, which includes a brief account of the organisation's development and discussions of the history of Wales seen in the light of its first century of discoveries.
A five-episode BBC television series following the field investigations of the Commission, Hidden Histories, was broadcasted in 2008 on BBC2 Wales and in 2009 on BBC4. A second series was in production in summer 2009. Both series were made by Element Productions Ltd and presented by Huw Edwards.
The Royal Commission has a national role in the management of the archaeological, built and maritime heritage of Wales as the originator, curator and supplier of authoritative information for individual, corporate and governmental decision-makers, researchers and the general public. To this end it;