| AdminHistory | In his chapter on "Church Street" in "Old Karnarvon" (publ. 1888), W.H. Jones has the following account of this establishment : "The Earl of Uxbridge erected public baths in this street in 1823 at a cost of £10,000; this occupied the site now held by the Training College. I believe the rooms in which the baths were, are still standing, and form part of the College, being used as dormitories. The baths were on the ground floor, and the room overhead contained a billiard-table, which was the first billiard-table introduced into the town. Above this room there was a lesser room, used as a concert-room and theatre. This theatre was in its day the favourite resort of the gentry and townsfolk, and its boards were trodden by some of the best actors of the day. The baths being in this street caused it to be commonly called Bath-Street for a long period." (p.98)
The Training College referred to was the North Wales Training College, an institution which was started by Caernarvon people on a non-resident basis i nthe early 40s, but which in 1856 ceased to be a local concern, and became under the auspices of the National Schools Society a College in the real sense. In that year, the College Committee completed its negotiations with the trustees of the First Marquess of Anglesey for the purchase of the Baths and the adjoining premises, and in August, 1857, the College moved into its first permanent quarters. |