Aberdare Boys County Grammar School |
This is the earliest card so far, from Colin Rees. It is postmarked 1904 and posted to Llandyssil.
Below it is an enlargement of the boys in the centre, who may be wearing some kind of uniform?
This next postcard was used in November 1905
and it was sent from Brickyard Farm, Rhigos.
A view looking up Hirwaun Road towards the Park School, now Ysgol
Y Comin, Trecynon, Aberdâr.
The postmark is very indistinct but could be 1907. The postcard is from the Wrench Series, No. 2104 and
was posted to St Peter's in Jersey.
A similar early view looking up Hirwaun Rd, but a wider view that includes the Park Gates as well as the school.
There’s no statue of Lord Merthyr, so this dates the view as being before 1913.
Here's one from Steve Hammonds. The print on front of the card is almost identical
to the Wrench series card above and to other postcards.
On the back it says it was published
by James Parr of 14 Canon Street Aberdare. It was postmarked September
1907,
though we think the photo must have been taken earlier because it
doesn't include the Chemistry block.
It was sent to Honiton, Devon.
The next card is from a similar period, 1901 to 1906. There is no indication that the children on the left are pupils of the school.
This next card is postmarked 1906, and it shows the school with a covering
of snow.
Note that the block housing the Chemistry lab has now been added at the far end of the building.
This one is postmarked Aug 14, 1908, sent by a D. Jenkins to John Roberts of Manchester House, Aberayron.
An undated card, but the picture was taken after the Chemistry block had
been added to the top end of the main building
and therefore taken after 1906. This photo also shows the old cottages which were located
in Gadlys Road near the school.
Another from the well-used view point opposite the old school.
Although the building is pre-1906, the card is post-marked 9 Nov 1912, and was written by E.W. Lloyd to
Mrs Llewellyn, at Brynawel, Glanamman.
Again, an undated postcard. However, because there are no rails or overhead electricity
poles for the trams, a date
prior to 1913 is indicated. The presence of the Chemistry Lab indicates post-1906.
In the lower left corner we see that the postcard is captioned incorrectly;
it states the school to be a council school,
a term applied to local Aberdare
Board of Education Schools, but the school was funded by the Glamorgan
County Council.
This is why the school was known as The County School
during most of its existence. Although in 1896 referred to as
The Aberdare Intermediate School, we have never seen it referred to as
The Aberdare Technical & Intermediate Schools,
which is the name carved
into the grey Forest dressings above the main hall windows. All the Intermediate
Schools were required to provide
a technical subject that was to be matched
to the needs of the surrounding area.
In the case of the Aberdare school,
Commercial Subjects were offered: shorthand and bookkeeping.
Subsequently, a strong commercial department developed under the leadership of R.V. Hoggins.
Here's one postmarked 1915.
This is the same image as the last one, but it has been coloured, and the caption has moved new
Here's the back of another postcard which doesn't show the school but has an interesting postmark.
For many years mail from Aberdare was franked as "Aberdare".
Since then the mark has changed more than once.
However, we were surprised to see the postmark on this birthday postcard of 1927.
It implies that Cwmbach must have had its own sorting office at that time.
This one shows Lord Merthyr and the field gun that was on display at the Park during the inter war period.
It was a German 10cm Kanone which, from the early years of World War 1, became the main long range gun of the German Corps Artillery.
The view also shows the chimney stack of the mining laboratory, later to be converted to the
biology laboratory.
The tramway support poles for the electricity supply cables can also be seen.
The card is a stained monochrome photograph with some careless addition of the red pigment.
This next card is postmarked 1932. It shows the school from the usual angle, but the interesting
feature of this picture is that
on the far left behind the main building it shows the skylights which were located on the roof of the buildings in the upper
playground which
housed our Biology lab, thus proving that they were built before
this time. I haven't seen any earlier pictures which show this part of the school.
The picture on the card is of poor quality, especially the colour, and the scan
has made it even worse.
You might have noticed that none of these photos show
the bus shelter which was below the bottom gate during the 1960s.
Here's one postmarked 1961. It shows part of the school buildings in the upper playground,
and again shows the skylights
on top of the building which was the Biology lab
in the later period of the school's existence. This one also shows the bus shelter.
Malcolm Lloyd has told us that this bus shelter was present in his time in school (1942-49), and it
is also visible on
the Christmas card photo from the late 1950s and
early 1960s. However, this bus shelter may have been replaced with
something more substantial in later years as the
OS map published in 1973 suggests
that it was inset into the wall of the school grounds.
Here's a relatively recent picture postcard of the school sent to Leighton Jones in his first term at
University, 1964.
This is the picture that we've adapted for use in the banner heading on
the front page of the new web site because
it is a rare view of the whole face of the main building.
