Welsh Journals

Moreover, there is also a brief comment on the next fifty years with thoughts on The EEC and 'green' politics. The work is well-illustrated with maps by Jeremy Yates; there are also a number of diagrams and predominantly black-and-white photographs. The front cover is from an original painting by David Woodford of Llyn Bochlwyd and Nant Ffrancon; the back cover is a photo by Steve Ashton of climbing the direct route on Glyder Fach. Other Woodford works appear in the text and there is a screenprint of Cwm Coch, Nant Ffrancon, by John Piper. There is a useful glossary giving the meaning in English of some of the Welsh names in and around the Nant Ffrancon, sectioned according to mountains, farms, cwms, and lakes. There is a brief general and chapter-by-chapter bibliography. The work is well indexed and an easy read for both Welsh and non-Welsh speakers. Perhaps above all it is an excellent demonstration of the value of long-lived local inhabitants in the proliferation of local studies. This style of local template for teamwork local productions could conveniently be used as a model in other localities. The integrative, illustrative and interdisciplinary styles are demonstrably appealing and a recommendable blend of physical and human geography. Hubback's Time and The Valley is a well-written amenable read; it is a brief text appealing to a wide range of tastes. It is a neat package and a good advertisement for Gwasg Carreg Gwalch. GARETH MORGAN Keele THE CAERNARVON COUNTY SCHOOL: A HISTORY. By J. Ifor Davies. Gwynedd Archives Service, Caernarfon, 1989. Pp. 560. £ 18.00. In 1989, on the occasion of the centenary of the Welsh Intermediate Education Act, the publication of a history of the first of the county schools of Wales was most appropriate. The school has been fortunate that the author, a distinguished headmaster at Caernarfon from 1944 to 1973, has undertaken painstaking research to compile a volume of 560 pages. Undoubtedly, the work will prove most interesting to generations of old pupils who can now enjoy a well written record of the school's achievements and tribulations. The first half-century of the school's existence from 1894 to 1944 is examined in detail, followed by a briefer survey of the post-war years, 1945-1968. For a wider audience, too, this volume provides a worthwhile case-study of key developments in the history of intermediate and secondary education in Wales. The author has chosen a straightforward narrative approach, and rather than impose a pattern upon events, he thought it 'more interesting to allow the pattern to reveal itself as the events of each year evolve in a loose natural sequence'. This approach has provided a detailed, year-by-year chronicle of the school's fortunes. Inevitably, it leads at times to some monotony and repetition. It is arguable that a more structured,