It's been a very long time since I had a big outing - lifestyle and work changes and a general lack of enthusiasm for it all lately has meant I've not really been up to much since July. However a friend of mine I hadn't seen for a year wanted a weekend out in Wales, and I love exploring in Wales so any excuse for a trip I will jump on, so I set about organising one.

This particular school I had spotted on the way home from another trip back in the spring. At that time we didn't have time to stop and look at it, and my friends weren't overly enthusiastic about how it looked, however I made a note of where it was and thought I'd factor it in to another trip. Sadly it took until now to get around to doing it! South Wales is kind of a bit like Detroit when it comes to schools, albeit on a much much smaller scale. Lots of smaller towns and villages have seen their small Victorian-era schools close down either due to declining enrolment or merging with other larger, newer schools nearby. Over 100 communities have lost their old schools in the last 15 years, many of them now demolished or converted. This particular school was one which closed a long while back along with a number of others, and ever since has been sat there decaying.

I honestly didn't have high hopes for this place at all - it's located on a busy road and so I thought it would be trashed and ruined, however...it wasn't. Stepping inside, it was far beyond anything I could have expected from the outside - the school is small even by Welsh standards, with just two large classrooms, a hall, kitchen, cloakroom and washroom - but inside it was a totally untouched example of completely natural decay. Other than having some double glazed windows installed at some point, the school was completely unmodernised, with no ghastly suspended ceilings, and it even included it's original toilet block located away from the building in the playground - it too, totally unmodernised.

It was quite late in the day when we got here but we had just enough time to shoot the whole place before it got dark - this place is right up there in my favourite finds ever and now, of course, the friends who poo-pooed it all want to go...

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Thanks for looking

Sooooo peel-y *drool* And no dick "art"! Gorgeous location - great pics!

That's really a prime spot for a school!

Great pictures too!

Great pictures of what looks to be an amazing school. Who knew that construction paper on a cork board would last longer than floor tiles

all this old tech... I want a find like this! I'd totally geek out

Just goes to show you can never judge a abandoned building by it's exterior. Some of my favorite places did not look promising from the outside.

Great find bud!

nice photos

Very cool location! Well done.

Very cool spot and great pictures. I love in the US and this is something that would be hard to come by if even get into.ost schools at least for my area are either locked u super tight or get demoed or sold.

Great shots. Love the peeling paint and all of the vintage tech.

I like this school and those photos are great