# Boys Village Jan 2011



## astro23 (Jan 12, 2011)

*Boys Village, South Wales, Jan 2011*

St Athan Boys Village was a village-style holiday camp located in West Aberthaw, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. Opened on August 8th 1925 as a summer camp for the sons from families in the South Wales Coalfield, it offered them a place to play and be free, as well as being close to the nearby beach. Over the ages its usage developed (but not necessarily changed) to be used as a camp for youths and apprenticeships etc as well.
The buildings included a dining hall, dormitories, a gym, swimming pool and a church. There was also a full-sized cricket pitch and pavilion. The site also includes a war memorial. There are rumours about Boys Village being haunted or plagued by a troubled past.

The site declined in line with the decline in coal mining in the Welsh valleys and without the money put in by the miners, it no longer had the finances to operate and subsequently closed in the late 1960s.
Sold in 2000 to a new owner, it was stripped of its equipment and left alone. Taken over by graffiti artists and vandals, various buildings were demolished from 2008 due to extensive fire damage, including the Sir Maynard Jenour building, which was built in the 1980s, the recreation building and a few residential and administrative buildings. The swimming pool roof which collapsed many years after the site's closure was also removed. Much of the debris that littered the remaining buildings was been cleared. 

In 2010, the owner placed the site on the market. Unprotected by any form of conservation order, the site could be cleared for redevelopment, also in 2010 the Welsh band 'Funeral For A Friend' shot the video to their song "Serpents in Solitude" from their EP Young and Defenceless here.




























































































































































































Thanks for looking!


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## nelly (Jan 12, 2011)

Nice explore and fantastic photos


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## Tigger (Jan 12, 2011)

Nice report - have to say its not somewhere I've ever been...


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## klempner69 (Jan 12, 2011)

Very good first report and the pics are good too.Even a little history is always good for the peeps who havent heard/seen Boys Village.


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## evilnoodle (Jan 12, 2011)

Nice one. I didn't think this place was still worth seeing, but looks like it is


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## Em_Ux (Jan 12, 2011)

Great photos!

Thanks


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## night crawler (Jan 12, 2011)

Nice to see a place in Reading I remember, just ashame it was shut down years ago. Good photo's


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## astro23 (Jan 12, 2011)

Thanks klempner69, i'll bear that in mind next time, I just thought it had been done so much and was on every forum, everyone would know it. But thanks for the advice!


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## Mad Larkin (Jan 12, 2011)

night crawler said:


> Nice to see a place in Reading I remember, just ashame it was shut down years ago. Good photo's



they moved reading to south wales? that's an impressive feat of engineering!


some good pics there mate, i went there last year during a camping trip and it's nice to see the new graffiti


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## sidsabbath (Jan 21, 2011)

Superb photos, really nice contrast in the B&W ones


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## Zotez (Jan 23, 2011)

Although the village isnt in Reading, that sign is definately a reminder of Reading's once great industries.


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## caddy (Jan 24, 2011)

excellent pics,,,,i appreciate that grafitti is an art but why do the lil fukers have to ruin history...its awefull..its mixing old with new and in the case of what we follow and attempt to keep alive doesnt mix....either way ,,great shoot....


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## nij4829 (Jan 24, 2011)

I beg to differ - I have not been here YET.

Great pics, it amazes me how so many people can get such different pictures of the same place.


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## Afromandaz (Jan 24, 2011)

I'm going to have to make a trip here rather soon, place looks great.

Looks like its took quite a bit of a beating over the course of a year though...


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## 0xygen (Jan 24, 2011)

That church is creepy - like it!

Nice set of shots,

-0xy


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## shj35 (Jan 31, 2011)

Great pics mate.. Think i'll be paying this place a visit very soon


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