Welsh Journals

Schooling In Ewyas James D. P. Graham The district called The Vale of Ewyas lies in the northernmost parts of Gwent and in many ways also included the remote parishes of Glynfach and Ffwddog in its daily life; being so isolated it has never been in the forefront of administrative change and thus presents a long preserved picture of schooling as it was until recently in a rural district. The Priory of Llanthony prima was renowned as a centre of knowledge in its early period, say 1110—1135 AD, but this was an eccentric sort of learning restricted to the Benedictine canons which did not affect the local people. Much later the King Henry Grammar School was founded in Abergavenny in 1543 on the proceeds of the Dissolution to which the priory made a modest contribution in 1538, but there is no record that any one of its few pupils came from the Vale2, nor is any known to have attended the experimental Free Grammar School founded by James Powell of Cymmerau at nearby Llantilio Crosseny3 in 1654. Ewyas remained uninstructed even after the upsurge of evangelical schools which followed the Propagation Act for Wales during the heady days of the Commonwealth. More surprisingly the voluminous correspondence of the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge makes no mention of Cwmyoy or Llanthony. In so far as can be determined the first school to be held in the Vale was one of the Circulating Charity School type run by Gryffith Jones of Llandower in Caermarthenshire about 1738-39. It was held in the church of St. Martin's Cwmyoy and possibly also in St. David's Llanthony and is included in the list of Welsh Circulating Schools opened between 1731 and 1761.5,6 The main object was to lighten the pagan darkness which prevailed at that time. Teaching was in the Welsh language then spoken exclusively by common people in the area; evangelical in nature, very popular but tragically brief, held only of an evening between September and May of one year. Darkness closed once more on the minds of the inhabitants of the Vale until the desirability of providing some basic education for everyone dawned upon the governing classes of the nation; it was agreed in 1833 that this should apply to juniors only with a leaving age of ten years. Rural schools were dominated by the religious denominations, despite the degree of state aid. The Anglican Church predominated and no school specifically for chapel goers was opened in Ewyas; Sunday and home instruction filled the gap in observance for Dissenters. Two schools were established, one at Cwmyoy and the other at Llanthony; they are long closed and all children are removed daily to other