School

The present school is not the first. In 1734 Griffith Jones set up his circulating schools with the aim of bringing religious education to the illiterate. One of these was in Pennant. Lewis Gwynne of Mynachty wrote that the school had 137 pupils and so a second teacher was provided. These schools came to an end in 1779.
The land for the present school was donated by the Davies family of Tirdu.
It was built in 1870 as a result of the Education Act of that year. While this Act provided education for all, attendance was not compusory. It ws not until the Act of 1876 that education became compulsory and then only up to the age of eight. However, the discovery in 1891 that children of ten were working down the mines resulted in the Act of 1899 which made education compulsory up to the age of twelve.
Prior to these Acts, elementary education for the poorer classes had been provided by the Anglican church or by the Nonconformists. The Act provided basic skills for the children of the lower classes and continued until the child was thirteen.
It was not primary education as we know it today. There was no intention of the children going on to higher education.
There are some old school photographs here.
The first Anglican school was held in the cottage known as Blaenllan, next to the church, under the supervision of the Reverend Timothy Evans, the Vicar from 1793 to 1835. It was here that James Hughes, "Iago Trichrug" the famous 18th Century preacher and hymn writer received his education.
The school board meetings began in Oct 1874 and it is first mentioned in the Education Committee of Minutes in 1874-5.