The Charity School plaque, High Street, Caerleon

Image: © Jaggery Taken: 1 Nov 2018

On the wall of what is now Charles Williams Church In Wales Primary School, the plaque's text is also in Welsh. The school's website records that the school was founded in 1724 after a £5000 endowment from Charles Williams, a wealthy resident of London who was born in Caerleon in 1633. In 1717 Charles Williams decided to endow a school where, free of charge, the poor children of Caerleon would be taught the principles of the Christian religion "as laid down in the Church Catechism" and be "taught such other things as are most suitable to their condition". Charles Williams died in 1720 and in accordance with the terms of his will, monies invested were used to establish and maintain his charity school in Caerleon. The school, built in 1724, was reminiscent of a wealthy man's large county house and was firmly committed to the Established Church. Like other charity schools, however, it cared for its pupils' material condition as well as for their spiritual and mental condition. For about 100 years the school remained much the same in size with around 30 boys and 30 girls enrolled. The school then began to grow in pupil numbers and a new building was erected at the rear of the original building. Its tall pointed windows, set in brick surrounds into rubble stonework walls, were typical of the neo-Gothic architecture which was much favoured in the 1860s for ecclesiastical and scholastic constructions.

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