# Boy's Village, Saint Athan - June 09



## ukmayhem (Jun 22, 2009)

Visted with Randomnut, Catscratch and Jim

This was the 1st stop on our Wales road trip. Nice little site pretty bare and trashed but still worth a look if anything for the pool and church.

*History*

Boys Village, St. Athans opened in 1930 as a summer camp for boys from mining communities in the South Wales Valleys. 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 training camp for youths and apprenticeships etc as well.

Now a derelict village, demolition work commenced late 2008. Since then several buildings have been removed or cleared including the fire-damaged 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 has also been removed from site. Much of the debris that littered the remaining buildings has been cleared, partially by looters and partially by the demolition services.

Despite being derelict, on-site there is no evidence of drug users or homeless persons inhabiting Boys Village. There is however much vandalism from local youths and it is frequented by numerous graffiti artists. Much of the graffiti is in the gym, as the walls are both large and clear, thus acting as perfect canvases for graffiti art.

There are many rumours about Boys Village being haunted or plagued by a troubled past. This is entirely untrue; there were no murders in the church or fires that killed many young boys. Much of this folklore is spread by locals who simply think of explanations to themselves as to why it is left in its derelict condition. The simple answer is, times have change as have social trends regarding holidays. Also, there is a great big power station next to it that obviously wasn't there when it opened.


*My Pictures*

















































































































Matt


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## Marley85 (Jun 22, 2009)

Theres some real nice pics there mate I realy like number 2 realy nice with the clouds


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## klempner69 (Jun 22, 2009)

A very interesting place..love the old pool,and would have expected it to have had some water in it too.


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## swanseamale47 (Jun 22, 2009)

Nice pics, it doesn't look as if any more of the building have gone since my last visit anyway, which is something.


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## night crawler (Jun 23, 2009)

Very interesting report.


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## swanseamale47 (Jun 23, 2009)

Be advised extra police present in the area at the moment due to the pickiting at the power station


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## Lightbuoy (Jun 23, 2009)

Quality! Looks like there's a fair bit left to see. Nice bit of glazed brickwork going on there too! 

Thanks for posting


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## garethrhyss (Jul 21, 2009)

Really want to visit this place though, although i've heard a lot fo discouraging things from other people regarding security etc..


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## Milner08 (Jul 21, 2009)

Ive been a few times and never seen any security, Once a group of about 30 of us went down and the people who live in the house by there came out to see what we where doing (Someone did try and park on there drive so i don't blame them lol) but thats about it.

Although, ive heard reports that demolition has finally started, which if true is quite sad :'(

TM


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## JulesP (Jul 21, 2009)

I was there about two weeks ago and it looked fairly the same as the pics above.
Was a nice easy explore.
Not worth putting my pics up cos they are just about the same lol

Stupid thing is, I looked for it the week before and couldnt find it, came home and looked at photos and matched them to google earth, went back and realised I was within 20 meters of it last time


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## swanseamale47 (Jul 22, 2009)

Never seen any security, locals walk their dogs there though. You could easily miss the place if you don't know where it is, I only found the first time by accident after driving around for a while looking for it.


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## strokesboy21 (Jul 23, 2009)

sad to see these building taken apart


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