Tag: William Thompson Crawshay

Following on from a post that appeared on 20 July last year (http://www.merthyr-history.com/?p=1011), 150 years ago today, Abermorlais School was officially opened.

Below is a transcription of an article from the Monmouthshire Merlin dated 18 April 1868 reporting the opening ceremony.

OPENING OF THE BRITISH SCHOOLS.

These schools were opened on Easter Monday, when a tea party was held in the rooms, which was attended by some thousands of persons. Simultaneously with the tea party, from the hour of four, a concert was given in the Drill Hall, to which parties who had taken tea obtained gratuitous admission. In the evening a public meeting was held at the Drill Hall, at which G. T. Clark, Esq,, of Dowlais House, took the chair. The hall was crowded, and addresses were delivered in English and Welsh, by Messrs. W. T. Crawshay, J. C. Fowler, Judge Falconer, T. Williams, D. Williams, J. Lloyd, and J. G. Phillips. The secretary of the British School Committee announced that only £135 were required to clear off the debt, and he sincerely hoped that before the schools opened for real work, on Wednesday morning, that amount would be subscribed, so that they might start with every possible advantage.

The schools are a series of buildings connected with each other and presenting an unbroken front, plain as a cottage, but they are most substantially built, and for accommodation will be found second to no school in South Wales. The entrance is by a double porch leading into first the central room, running from front to back of the building, and is intended as the infant’s school. This room is 95 feet long by 28 feet wide. On the east side of this is the girls’ schoolroom, 86 feet by 20 feet; and on the west side the boys’ room, 98 feet by 30 feet. These rooms are all lofty and well ventilated, and provided with admirable class rooms, lavatories, etc. At the back there are spacious playgrounds communicating with each other, but divided for the separate use of boys and girls, and a high boundary wall encloses them from the edge of the tip.

The coat of the building, including site, is somewhat over £4,700. The contract of the building alone was let to Mr. Williams, of Swansea, for £3,199. 19s. 9d., and the work was carried out under the superintendence of the architect, Mr. John Williams, of Morgan Street, Merthyr. A house for the master has been built adjoining the schools. The master is Mr. J. E. Jones, the mistress Miss Jenkins; there are two assistant masters and two assistant mistresses.

Abermorlais School closed in 1970 and was demolished the following year.