Education in Aberdare and the
Surrounding Districts

B EFORE dealing with the state of education, and the schools which the Commissioners found here during their inquiry, it may be well to refer to the earliest records we have of the establishment of schools in this area.

The Puritan Parliament of 1650 A.D. took great interest in the education of the children of Wales and established the first state system of education. Schools were opened in all the large market towns, free for all classes, and in some cases for both sexes. Possibly some children from our Valley attended those schools at Merthyr, Neath, Cowbridge or Cardiff? With the restoration these schools were closed.

The next schools founded in Wales, apart from private Grammar Schools and seminaries, were those of the “Welsh Trust,” which were established principally through the efforts of the Rev. Stephen Hughes and the Rev. Thomas Gouge, from about 1674 to 1681. However, these schools were established at Cardiff, Cowbridge, Bridgend, etc. Again, there were none in the Aberdare Valley.

In 1699, the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (S.P.C.K.) was founded, and through the efforts of Sir Humphrey Mackworth, of Neath, several schools were opened in Wales, and among them two in the parish of Llantrisant. Sir Humphrey was aided by Sir John Phillips, of Picton Castle, Pem., and by many Anglican clergymen. The Rev. James Harris, an earnest and zealous clergyman in charge of the large parish of Llantrisant (which included Aberdare, Llanwynno etc.), was actively associated with the work of the S.P.C.K. It was he who established in Llantrisant (with the assistance of the S.P.C.K.), in 1699, the two Charity Schools to educate poor children in reading, writing, arid arithmetic, and in the Christian religion. One of these schools was still in existence in 1716, with thirty boys under the care of the curate. In 1724, he reported that they were erecting a “Charity School for twenty boys at Llanwynno, near Llantrisant,” and that the number of children in the school at Llantrisant, had increased. Here it must be remembered that the parish of Llanwynno stretched from a few yards above the present bridge at Mountain Ash, down the Valley of the Cynon and the Taff, to the junction of the latter with the River Rhondda, then up the latter stream to Hafod and Porth. So this “school at Llanwynno” was probably built at some place near the present Pontypridd.

The Rev. James Harris was conscious of the need of instructing his scattered parishioners, and did his best under the circumstances, by beginning (in 1699), “Catechetical Lectures” in the several chapels of his great parish, Aberdare, Llanwynno, Ystradyfodwg (Rhondda), etc.

The next schools established in our area, were the Circulating Schools of the Rev. Griffith Jones, of Llanddowror. His great object was “to save souls,” and to do this, monoglot Welsh people were to be instructed to read this Bible and the Church Catechism in their own language. Schools were established throughout Wales for three or six months at a time, and then the teachers were moved to the next parish. These Circulating Schools were held in the winter, when the farmers were not so busy with their occupations, in the porches of churches and in barns, etc. The children attended in the day-time and the adults in the evening. No writing was attempted in these schools, through which Wales became Europe’s best-versed nation in the Scriptures.

After Griffith Jones’s death in 1761, the Circulating Schools were carried on by Madam Bevan until her death in 1779.

Several Circulating Schools were established in this district—in Aberdare, Llanwynno, Penderyn and Ystradfellte, etc. The earliest of these schools in our neighbourhood were established during the winter of 1738-39, at Ynysybwl (49 pupils), and Pontypridd (40 pupils). During 1739-40, they were held in Ystradfellte, Penderyn, and Aberdare. At Aberdare, there were 67 pupils before Christmas, and 60 after Christmas.

In 1744-45, there was a school at Gadlys Issa, then a farmhouse, and now the residence of Mr. T. Botting, BA., B.Sc. (former Director of Education for Aberdare). During 1745-46, Circulating Schools were held in Llanwynno Parish (38 pupils); Gadlys, in Aberdare (61); Aberdare Parish Church (46); Pombrenllwyd, in Penderyn (39). Later, the Circulating Schools visited Bodwigiad, Penderyn, Pontycynon (near the present Abercynon), Llwydcoed, Nant-y-groes (Cwmbach), Monachdy-barn (Llanwynno), etc. The last of these schools in the parishes of Aberdare and Llanwynno ware held during 1772-73, and at Troedyrhiw, in Penderyn Parish, in 1773-74.

For the next quarter of a century, we have no knowledge of any schools in the district. From about 1800 there are traditions of schools kept by “old dames,” and by persons who had failed at some other occupation—schools generally known as private adventure schools, some good, some bad, and some indifferent. But just at the time of the great Reform Act of 1832, the first Education Enquiry was held, and an “Abstract of the Answers and Returns made pursuant to an Address of the House of Commons” (dated 24/5/1833), was published in 1835. This return was made by the Overseers of the Poor in each parish. The following is the report furnished of the state of the schools in this area in 1833.

“Aberdare Parish (population 3,961): Six daily schools, one (containing 22 children) is supported by endowment (being the present National School). In the other five schools (which are connected with Dissenters), 171 children of both sexes are instructed at the expense of their parents. Five Sunday Schools, consisting of about 600 males and females, appertaining to various denominations of Dissenters, by whom they are respectively supported. All the above daily and Sunday Schools, except one, have commenced since 1818.”

“Llanwynno Parish, consisting of the hamlets of Glyn-cynon and Hafodydriniog (population 1,094): Two daily schools, one with 25 children of both sexes, and the other with 30 males and 24 females. Instruction in both schools is at the expense of the parents. One day and Sunday School, attended by seven males and five females daily, and by 25 males and 20 females on Sundays. Instruction at the expense of the parents. It commenced in 1833, and is connected with the Calvinistic Methodists. Two Sunday Schools, in one whereof are 120 males and females of the Baptist persuasion; the other appertains to the Calvinistic Methodists and contains 60 males and 40 females. Both schools are conducted gratuitously.”