History of Neath Abbey Infants

A History of Neath Abbey Infants' School.

The earliest evidence of the existence of a school founded at Neath Abbey was in the middle of the fifteenth century. The monks were teaching children to read and write in the abbey itself.  There is a record of an eisteddfod being held in the abbey in 1490. Part of the gatehouse of the abbey [about a third of the original is next to the current Neath Abbey Infants' School though the great gate and rooms where almoners distributed clothing and food to the poor and sick as well as to wayfarers during the middle ages are long gone.

"University of Neath, famous in England,

A beacon to France and Ireland,

A school sought by scholars

For all science as if it were Zion

With organs for the white friars

And great and varied praise

For its Arithmetic and Music..."

_{An extract form a translation of an Ode by Lewis Morgannwg to Lleision, Abbot of Neath, c.1500}

There is an unsupported account that a school for Neath Abbey was established in 1815 by Peter Price, and Iron Master of the Parish, who was in fact the father of Joseph Tregelles Price. Joseph Tregelles Price  was from a Cornish Quaker family who was  the founder member of the Peace Society in 1816, which was the predated The League of Nations by a century and of the present United Nations. Tregelles Court and Tregelles Road are both named after him.

There is evidence of a school existing in 1847 on a monitorial system, which was the ‘British School for Boys and Girls.' The Education in Wales ‘Blue Book' Mentions that William Morris, Assistant Inspector of Schools found a school in the Neath Abbey area and recorded the following details.

He  interviewed Joseph Price Esq., who told him that the school had a beneficial effect on the working classes of the neighbourhood and that the school had been in operation for over 20 years.This would date the school as being opened around 1825-1827. The school was formerly held in premises which were part of the Neath Abbey Ironworks but Joseph Price told Wiliam Morris that the present buildings were built at the cost of the Price family on lands and with materials supplied by the Lords of the Abbey of whom Lord Dynevor was one. This is the site where the school is today and is probably his most important legacy to the people of Dyffryn Clydach. It is the oldest school in the Neath Area.

Neath Abbey was at that time part of the parish of Cadoxton-Juxta-Neath though education in both areas was separate. There had been three Masters at the school for boys. When the school opened , a young lad of 16 years came to ask Mr Price for a job. He had been to National school and had been assisting the master there to teach the pupils. Mr. Price thought the lad would make a good teacher so he apprenticed him to learn the art of school-mastering.

He was first sent to the British School in Goat Street, Swansea and then on his return to Neath Abbey, the school flourished. During the school holidays Mr. Price sent him to London and Bristol to improve his knowledge and he finally attained a headship of Coatston Public School, Bristol. His successor was much less efficient and under him the school declined so much that he was forced to resign.

A new master took his place and all seemed to augur well for the future of the school,

 " I was told by Mr. Price that a great many of the pupils who had been taught at Neath Abbey were in very good employment for instance, the Superintendent of the Bristol Companies Steamers, the chief engineers of both the Great Britain and the Great Western, many members if the London River Boat Company and various other employments had been educated at the Neath Abbey School"

Mr. Price told Mr. Morris that the mechanical employment from the school to the ironworks could have been responsible for this trend for ex-pupils to have made their way in the world so successfully.

The school was supported by the Neath Abbey Ironworks and was one of the first employers in the area to introduce weekly stoppages from the workmen's pay towards the support of the school although it was understood that should the surplus arising from the stoppages in the good times fail to meet the expenses of the schools I the bad times that the company would still keep the school open. The payments not only provided but insured [on the honour of the employer] the means of education.

We take if for granted these days that education is a birthright and we can only look back and admire the vision that the monks and the Price family had for young people in this locality.

Acknowledgements:

The Official Dyffryn Clydach Council Guide- 1993. " The Community of Dyffryn Clydach" Bernard Lloyd BA, M. Ed.

Neath Abbey- Dyffryn Clydach Community Council,2002 Commemorative publication of Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee. Contributors and Compilers Cllr.Hugh G. Thomas, Cllr.Margaret Smith,Cllr. P.D. Whitehead, Ed. Anne Clements.

Neath Abbey Schools- A paper by Cllr. Gwyn Edwards. 2005

The State of Education in Wales,1847, Blue Book p338 para 5

Neath Reference Library

Malcolm Thomas, Neath Antiquarian Society.

Cllr. Alyson Thomas, Web Editor.