When I was a child in the late 1970s and early 1980s, I felt there was a great mystery about children that went to that ‘big’ looking school on Clive Road, Barry Island, for I went to Romilly.
Showing on the 1898 Ordnance Survey, only part of the school site was occupied at that stage, with a small rear block. The stretch of red brick building had not reached Archer Road to the east in 1898. The first stage of the school, the Infants opened in September 1898. In fact, the school mainly in the form you visit today wasn’t completed in 1925. One interesting fact is that the Glamorgan Archives in Cardiff, still hold the original Infant logbooks from 1898 until 1936, the other junior logbooks exist for 1900 to 1925.
It is unclear who built what at Clive Road school. The first stage of building for around the late 1897 to 1898 period, I’m not sure who the contractor was. But the next stage was approved in April 1899 and awarded to a Barry Dock builders known as ‘Messrs Jones Brothers’ for the sum of £2,894. You could not add anything else to the bill back in the day, unlike these times.
More to the detail of the building. Although there is a level of uniformity to the frontage of the school, the image today is the middle of three frontal gables, and was part of the 1899 stage of construction. The lettering on a fine grain sandstone; which I don’t believe is Bathstone, dividing the roof projection reads: CLIVE ROAD BOARD SCHOOL.
The Clive Road Board School, as it was then known, is unusual in that it is only at ground floor level. It doesn’t tower over the landscape like Cadoxton, Hannah Street or Gladstone Road. But, in many ways, Clive Road Board School has similarities with Romilly.
The Barry and district schools were of the modern age in the late 1890s, in that they mainly used local brick. Clive Road Board School had an interesting window arrangement using a mix of brick and stone in its arches. Four sets of windows per bay along its Clive Road frontage.
To add more of a context to the main Barry Island school history, some of my Facebook Barry and District Museumeers have offered us some extra stories for the Barry and District newspaper. There are nothing but fond memories of the Barry Island School, whatever name you want to call it. Bethan Jones, tells us, “Best school ever!” and Matthew Jones comments, “Great days there.” Lorraine Morris, who left the school in 1974, refers to, “Lovely memories of attending the school. Had a few reunions since leaving.”
Martin Day and Paul Case remembers the head teacher in the 1970s, a Mr. Latham, and not forgetting “good dinner ladies who were respected by all the pupils,” and they “loved the food in the little canteen all prepared by local ladies.”
A story picked up by John Anzevino of our Barry and District Museumeers, in connection with two pupils of the Barry Island Council School (yet another name for the same school). Both boys are war heroes, one sadly didn’t survive the First World War. Sam McMurtry (a great uncle of Mary Young) died of the Spanish flu pandemic months after the end of the war, having been put ashore in Melbourne, Australia.
James McMurtry, who became a Sergeant in the Royal Field Artillery, was awarded the Military Medal for heroism and magnificent gallantry, ‘for bravery on the field’ as reported in the Barry Dock News of December 29, 1916. James had been an engineer apprentice at Barry Docks for Bailey’s, a renowned footballer and athlete.
Many thanks for joining us this week in the Barry and District Newspaper. Before I go this week, and prepare for next week’s offering. I wanted to invite anyone interested to a history walk for all abilities (and wheelchair users) for an hour next Thursday, April 30, at 5pm, meet at the Canon Hill Artspace, St. Nicholas Road. We will take a small collection of £3, which will go towards creating new signage for our heritage sites.
