The fireplace or stove in the Victorian schoolroom made a lot of difference to school life in the Welsh winter ! There are many entries in school Log Books which tell of ink frozen in the inkwells, and of having no wood or coal for winter fuel.

In January 1881 the School Inspector threatened to leave without carrying out his official inspection if Llanllugan School wasn't warm enough on his next visit ! This school seems to have had a lot of trouble with fires. This was written in the Log Book in 1893 ...

Things weren't any better a few years later, in January 1897...

This was happening frequently at Llanllugan school between 1881 and 1898, with children regularly being sent out into the cold while the fire was put out.
You would have thought that the chimney problem could have been sorted out in less than 17 years !

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