A new research project will uncover the rich history of herbal medicine in Wales, exploring how plants were used to treat illness and promote health before the creation of the NHS.

Led by Aberystwyth University, the project will investigate what herbal medicine around the turn of the 20th century can reveal about the Welsh experience of health and illness, people’s relationship with nature and the changing role of medicine in modern life.

By examining medical and herbal self-help books published during the period, the study will trace how herbal practices in Wales evolved.

It will consider long-standing indigenous traditions, some dating back to medieval times, such as the work of Meddygon Myddfai that continued to be included in self-help medical herbal books into the nineteenth century.

The research will also consider the influence of British practices from the early modern period and the new herbal approaches arriving from America in the 1840s.

The project will also examine developments in the first half of the twentieth century, when rising living standards, advances in scientific medicine and the establishment of the National Health Service reshaped approaches to health and healing.

Dr Steve Thompson, Head of the Department of History & Welsh History at Aberystwyth University, said: “Exploring the history of herbal medicine in Wales reveals how people understood and cared for their health within their communities.

“These traditions tell us a great deal about Welsh culture, our connection to the land and how people responded to illness before the arrival of modern medicine.”

The project is a collaboration between Aberystwyth University, the National Library of Wales, Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales and the National Botanic Garden of Wales.

It will draw on the National Library of Wales’ collection of nineteenth-century medical and herbal self-help books, alongside Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales’ significant holdings, including manuscript collections of herbal recipes and recordings of oral history interviews.

At the National Botanic Garden of Wales, the study will draw on the Apothecary Hall, plant collection, herbarium and seed bank, providing a living link to the herbal traditions under investigation.

Dafydd Pritchard, Head of Legal Deposit and Study Services at the National Library of Wales, said: “This project is an opportunity to show the worth and range of the many collections to be found in the National Library of Wales, and allows experts and disciplines from various institutions to contribute towards this particular subject.”

The project aims to answer key questions about how herbal medicine in Wales developed in the modern period: how it compared to practices elsewhere and what these changes reveal about wider social, cultural and environmental transformation leading up to the foundation of the NHS in 1948.

Dr Sioned Williams, Principal Curator of Modern History at Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales, added: “This is a special opportunity to delve deep into the collections of St Fagans National History Museum.

“We hope that the fruits of the research will reveal new histories about our national collections and enable us to share them with different audiences.”