Ysgol Bach
For years, Abersoch was known as the village ‘with the wooden school, and the tin church’.
Abersoch’s little wooden school, originally built for 23 pupils, has been the heart of the community since January 1924. It was built following a campaign by local businessman Abel Williams, who felt the 2.5-mile journey to Sarn Bach school was too far for small children to walk. He enlisted the help of the wealthy Winterbotham family, who holidayed locally, and who donated the land for both the school and the village hall.
The Minoprio family, cotton merchants from Liverpool via north Italy, were also a prominent family who were keen visitors to the village.
They donated the building materials and supervised the construction work. Graig Chapel was constructed in 1904, the Golf Club in 1908, the Village Hall in 1914, and South Caernarvonshire Yacht Club in 1925. Many of the large houses along the High Street were built over the next 30 years, several by sea captains who rented them out during the summer to visitors. The distinctive wooden style of the school was also used in the coach house adjacent to the Minoprio family’s holiday home, Haulfryn House.
The Minoprios went on to develop the Warren holiday park. The facility is now part of the Haulfryn group, which operates caravan parks across the UK, named after the family’s original Abersoch holiday home.
However, when pupil numbers dwindled to just seven, Cyngor Gwynedd felt it was no longer justifiable to keep the school open. In December 2021, following a hard-fought campaign, Ysgol Abersoch finally closed its doors. Its pupils moved to Ysgol Sarn Bach.
The closure was devastating for many; yet the powerful response proved that Abersoch has a community to be proud of, capable of organising a highly efficient campaign. And the spirit of innovation and cooperation that opened the school in 1924 is still alive, over 100 years later.
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