The remarkable history of renowned county school
FOLLOWING the death of Geoffrey Glynne in 1557 the monastery that he owned and it’s lands at Bangor for the purpose of establishing a grammar school in the town of Bangor “for the better education and bringing up of poor men’s children”. In 1561 the school was legally established by Elizabeth I. No boys were to be admitted unless they could read or write competently and the curriculum, as in most grammar schools of the time, consisted of nothing but Latin and Greek. By the eighteenth century the school was flourishing and writing and arithmetic were added to the curriculum and by 1721 there were 76 boys in the school. However by 1785 the old Friary buildings were in a poor state of repair and Bishop Warren had to persuade the Dean and Chapter to build a new site for the school which meant that the school had to be closed for two years while the funds to be rebuild was raised. Unfortunately these days were not to last as following the appointment of Rev W C Totton in 1838 the school became an exclusively classical school to which poor boys were not admitted. Despite criticism from Dr Roberts, a Bangor physician that the school was not being run according to its founder Geoffrey Glynne’s wishes and the introduction of some changes by the governors including the establishment of ten scholarships for “ten poor boys” the numbers at Friars continued to decline and by 1860 the school was down to twenty eight boys. By 1866 Friars school was forced to close its doors and it remained closed for the next six years.
The school reopened in 1873 with a new headmaster, Rev Daniel Lewis Lloyd and under his leadership the school introduced a new curriculum that was to include mathematics, history and geography. The schools reputation grew rapidly and numbers reached seventy pupils by 1873. By the 1880s the school buildings were once again in need of repair and the governors decided to purchase a new six acre site in Ffriddoedd. The old school buildings and site were sold and the purchase money was used for the building costs of a new school. By December 1900 the new school building designed by John Douglas of Chester was complete. In 1971 Friars, along with all other grammar schools in Wales changed into being a comprehensive school which included joining three schools (the County school for Girls, The Secondary Modern and Friars) into one school true to the aim of its founder Geoffrey Glynne of providing the young people of Bangor with a sound education.
The images shown here show the school, it’s teachers and pupils at various times throughout its history. The exhibition can be seen at Storiel, Bangor from the 18th of March until the 29th of April.