Llanfyllin and district
Victorian school days
  Nowhere to go at Hirnant School !  
 

There was still a big problem at Hirnant School over a year after the report about the school being full of church pews. It was bad enough not having proper desks, blackboards, and maps. But how about a school with no toilets !
The School Inspector's official report in 1878 complained that the school did not have any 'privies'. The children were probably a bit unhappy about this as well !

 
4th November
1878
School diary entry
Rude drawing
by Rob Davies
This is part of the 1878 report in the school Log Book -
"...The school is without privies. I advise that the Grant be not paid till the Clerk of the School Board reports that the privies are erected and in use".

This meant that the authorities were refusing to pay the money to run the school until the toilets had been built for the use of the children. (Teachers can wait !)
The toilets in most Victorian schools were just simple sheds out in the yard, but that was a lot better than nothing ! They were also mostly called by the very polite name of 'the offices' in many school log books.
Got to go

They get a mention in most of them because they were usually in a very bad state !
An Inspector's Report for 1893 in the Log Book of Pen-y-bont Fawr School said "The offices should be repaired and have some doors put on them" !

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