Born in Swansea, Peter Wakelin is an independent writer, curator and consultant who writes about history, built heritage, art and landscape. He studied at the universities of Oxford, Birmingham and Wolverhampton and was formerly Secretary of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales and Director of Collections and Research at Amgueddfa Cymru-National Museum Wales.
He has written numerous articles, catalogue essays and monographs about artists in Wales, including: Worktown: The Drawings of Falcon Hildred (2012), Roger Cecil: A Secret Artist (2017), Charles Burton: Painting Still (2019), Sally Moore: Acting Up (2019) and George Little: The Ugly Lovely Landscape (2023). Other books about aspects of art history are: Romancing Wales: Romanticism in the Welsh Landscape since 1770 (2016), Ffiniau: Four Painters in Raymond Williams’ Border Country (2016), Then + Now: 80 Years of Collecting Contemporary Art for Wales (2018), Refuge and Renewal: Migration and British Art (2019) and Hill-rhythms: David Jones + Capel-y-ffin (2023).
His books on history and built heritage include the official guides to the Blaenavon and Pontcysyllte World Heritage sites, Hidden Histories: Discovering the Heritage of Wales (edited with R. A. Griffiths, 2008), War Underground: Memoirs of a Bevin Boy in the South Wales Coalfield by Michael Edmonds (2013) and a new edition of Miner’s Day by B. L. Coombes with Rhondda images by Isabel Alexander (2021).
