This is a one-roomed rural school built in 1880. By this time, every child between five and twelve years old could expec an education.

In 1900, the Headmistress, Miss Rachel Ann Thomas, taught thirty six pupils aged between five and fourteen. The lessons were in English, although the children’s fist language was Welsh. The emphasisi was on the ‘three R’s’ – reding, writing and arithmetic.

The school used to close on harvest days, as the children had to help on the farms.

The brightest senior girl would help the Headmistress as pupil-teacher. Her high desk faced the rows of pupils.*

*from a signboard next to the school

Evan Jenkins built this small commercial bakehouse in the garden of Derwen House. Thespian Street, Aberystwyth. His daughters, Catherine and Mary, ran the business. They worked from 6am to 10pm.

Home ovens were too small to bake enough bread for large families. People prepared their dough in tins and took it to be baked in commercial ovens. Successful bakehouses expanded their operations, delivering their own bread to wide areas.

The oven takes 3-5 hours to heat up from cold, and will take about 220 loaves of bread.*

*from a signboard next to the bakehouse

The mill has three storeys. Grain is stored on the top floor, ground into flour on the middle floor and bagged on the lowest floor. Because of the wet climate, farmers would often harvest corn before it was thoroughly dry. The miller then had to dry the grain before grinding it. This was done on a drying-floor on the upper level, heated by a fireplace.*

*From the St Fagans National Museum of History guidebook

These roundhouses have been reconstructed based on archaeological remains excavated in Anglesey in the 1980s. The original dwellings would have been built aroundx 2,300 years ago.

During the Iron Age people lived in circular houses with thatched roofs. Most had walls of stone ore wattle and daub. We know from archaeological evidence that these examples were made from ‘clom’ which is a mixture of clay, stone and straw.*

*from a signboard next to the roundhouses

When the house was built in 1508, it was a luxurious house by Tudor standards. We know that by 1754, Robert and Ann Foulkes lived here. The last of the family to live at Hendre’r-ywyd, Mary Elizabeth Foulkes, died in 1912.

The family shared their home with the cattle which were kept in the two lower bays. The three upper bays formed the family home.

Originally, there was no chimney – the smoke from the fire would escape through the open windows and the rood.*

*from a signboard next to the farmhouse

Albert Einstein

At one time roads were built and maintained by Turnpike Trusts. They placed toll gates, barriers ofr chains across popular routes. These roads were used by poor farmers who often got charged several times a day.

This unfairness made people angry. The ‘Daughters of Rebecca’ led the protests: these were mostly men who wore women’s clothes to disguise themselves. They attacked 250 tollhouses between 1839 and 1844.

Some leaders were sent to Australia as punishment. However, tollhouses remained for another 20 years. *

*from a signboard next to the tollhouse

Circular pigsties like this one were common in South Wales.

Pigs love to dig, especially in corners. This is why this sty is circular, so it’s harder for them to dig their  way out.*

*from a nearby signboard

During the Second World War, this small two-room building was a hub of communications for the countryside around Blaenwaun in south-west Wales.

Letters, telegrams, newspapers and phone calls all radiated from here. During the war, Blaenwaun Post Office had a War Department radio receiver for urgent messages.*

*from a signboard next to the building.