:Coleg Harlech

It was Wales' only long-term, mature-student residential education college and was established in 1927 by Thomas Jones, Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet under four prime ministers including David Lloyd George and Stanley Baldwin, to continue the work of Workers' Educational Association in a residential environment, with Ben Bowen Thomas as its first warden. Plas Wernfawr was acquired at a knock-down price from a seller sympathetic to the project to be the base for the college.

Starting with just six students, mostly from the South Wales Coalfield area, numbers increased to 30 in the 1930s, 70 in the 1960s, serving the whole of Wales. Then, with Ieuan Jeffries-Jones as warden, Coleg Harlech began offering a two-year diploma course validated by the University of Wales, which became a preparation for university education for those who had missed out on earlier education: it became well known as a "second chance" college, often for people who, for economic or social reasons, never had a first chance.

By the 1980s and 1990s, higher education institutions generally were growing, and expanding access opportunities wider than before. This began to threaten Coleg Harlech’s niche, and ultimately Coleg Harlech, once funded as a unique institution in Wales, came under the funding regime with other further education colleges, and became less distinctive.”Miraculousy Unfolding Possibilities”:Coleg Harlech and Residential Adult Education, 1927–2007 in England (ed.), 2007

Coleg Harlech always had a close association with the WEA and merged with WEA (North Wales) in 2001 to become Coleg Harlech Workers' Educational Association North Wales (CHWEAN); CHWEAN subsequently evolved via two further mergers into Adult Learning Wales, which operated the site until its sale in 2019.

The college's residential students were once supported financially by bursaries from the Welsh Government, previously the Welsh Office, but as access to higher and further education widenened and the college's provision became less distinctive, these came to an end, in effect bringing about the termination of residential courses.

In February 2017 it was announced that Coleg Harlech would be closing as an adult education site at the end of the academic year.{{cite web|url=http://www.cambrian-news.co.uk/article.cfm?id=111912&headline=Shock+at+closure+of+historic+college+site§ionIs=news&searchyear=2017|title=Shock at closure of historic college site|access-date=8 August 2017|archive-date=8 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170808153839/http://www.cambrian-news.co.uk/article.cfm?id=111912&headline=Shock+at+closure+of+historic+college+site§ionIs=news&searchyear=2017|url-status=dead}} It was sold to local businessman Leslie Banks Irvine in April 2019,{{cite news |last1=Davies |first1=Dylan |title=Local businessman buys old Coleg Harlech |url=http://www.cambrian-news.co.uk/article.cfm?id=128075 |access-date=14 November 2019 |work=Cambrian News |publisher=Tindle Newspapers Ltd |date=4 April 2019 |language=en}} but then put on sale again in September that year{{cite news |last1=Vale |first1=Julie McNicholls |title=Former Coleg Harlech site back on sale once again |url=http://www.aberystwyth-today.co.uk/article.cfm?id=130553&headline=Former%20Coleg%20Harlech%20site%20back%20on%20sale%20once%20again§ionIs=news&searchyear=2019 |access-date=22 January 2020 |work=Aberystwyth Today |publisher=Tindle Newspapers / Cambrian News |date=26 September 2019 |language=en}} as four properties with a total asking price of around £630,000.{{cite web |title=Warriners Estate Agents - Harlech Properties |url=https://www.warriners.co.uk/properties?eapowquicksearch=1&limitstart=0 |website=www.warriners.co.uk |access-date=22 January 2020}}

In 2021 a petition to the Welsh Government stating "The Welsh Government should re-purchase and refurbish Coleg Harlech" gained 6,666 signatures.Petition with 6,666 signatures, closed on 14 February 2021, available at url https://petitions.senedd.wales/petitions/200218 {{cite web |title=Only two days remain for you to help us secure a future for the Coleg Harlech site |url=https://nation.cymru/opinion/only-two-days-remain-for-you-to-help-us-secure-a-future-for-the-coleg-harlech-site/ |website=Nation.Cymru |access-date=22 September 2021 |date=12 February 2021}}

In around February 2022, the Welsh Government approved some funding for emergency works to protect the buildings.{{cite news |last1=Hughes |first1=Owen |title=Welsh Government approves funding for emergency works on landmark North Wales building |url=https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/welsh-government-approves-funding-emergency-23120049 |access-date=25 April 2022 |work=North Wales Live |date=17 February 2022 |language=en}}

The institution has always been named, simply, Coleg Harlech: there is no ‘English version’ of the name even though it translates as 'Harlech College'.

The campus is centred on Plas Wernfawr, a house originally built in 1907–08 for George Davison,{{cite web|url=http://www.secretsnowdonia.co.uk/20thcenturyharlechhistory.htm|title=20th Century History of Harlech|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204072955/http://www.secretsnowdonia.co.uk/20thcenturyharlechhistory.htm|archive-date=4 February 2012}} and designed in Arts and Crafts style by the radical architect George Henry Walton. The building is in simple classical style, built of dressed blocks of local grey stone. The east front demonstrates strong horizontal lines, formed by two rows of sash windows, a projecting dentilated string course at eaves height forming the base of a pediment which contains a central oculus.Haslam, Orbach and Voelker 2009 ‘’The Buildings of Wales: Gwynedd’’ Pevsner Architectural Guides, Yale University Press, p. 615Gwynedd Archaeological Trust, Historical Environment Record PRN 35122 Walton also laid out the garden. After it became Coleg Harlech, a library wing was added, designed by local architect Griffith Morris in an Art Deco style.Gwynedd Archaeological Trust, Historical Environment Record PRN 35124 Plas Wernfawr, together with the terraces revetment walls of the garden on the seaward side is a Grade II* listed building. The forecourt and garden structures on the inland side are listed Grade II.

Plas Wernfawr once held a collection of artworks which had been donated or purchased by the college over the years.The Public Catalogue Foundation (2013) Oil Paintings in Public Ownership in North and Mid-Wales, pp. 203–206 However, a financial crisis at the college in 2013 forced the sale of these artefacts and many rare books from the college library.{{cite web|last1=BBC News|title=Coleg Harlech art auction raises around £100,000 to clear debts|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-west-wales-22525949|work=BBC News |access-date=5 January 2016}}

The Great Hall, part of Walton's original design, was destroyed by fire in 1968. It was replaced by a brutalist theatre building, designed by Gerald Latter for Colwyn Foulkes & Partners.{{Coflein|desc=Theatr Ardudwy, Harlech|num=407907|access-date=22 September 2021|date=11 July 2008}} Includes a series of images of the theatre{{cite news |last1=Halliday |first1=Peter |title=How grey was my valley: forgotten Welsh architecture - in pictures |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2021/mar/16/how-grey-was-my-valley-forgotten-welsh-architecture-in-pictures |access-date=22 May 2022 |work=The Guardian |date=16 March 2021}} The theatre building was opened as Theatr Ardudwy in 1973 but subsequently changed its name to Theatr Harlech. It was operated by a separate body from the college until the Coleg closed its doors to learners in 2017. It is considered by The Twentieth Century Society to be a building at risk, along with the college's 12-storey residential tower, also designed by Latter in 1968.{{cite web |title=Ardudwy Theatre & Residential Tower, Coleg Harlech, Merionnydd, Wales |url=https://c20society.org.uk/buildings-at-risk/ardudwy-theatre-residential-tower-coleg-harlech-merionnydd-wales |website=c20society.org.uk |publisher=The Twentieth Century Society |access-date=22 September 2021}}

It was reported in 2021 that the theatre "could be set to reopen",{{cite news |last1=Masso |first1=Giverny |title=Plans afoot to reopen Welsh theatre at centre of controversy |url=https://www.thestage.co.uk/news/plans-afoot-to-reopen-welsh-theatre-at-centre-of-controversy |access-date=22 September 2021 |work=The Stage |date=8 September 2021 |language=En}} after previous reports of police investigations into earlier plans.{{cite news |title=Theatr Ardudwy: 'Fraudulent' theatre producer 'misled' community |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-58023864 |access-date=22 September 2021 |work=BBC News |date=30 July 2021}}{{cite news |last1=Masso |first1=Giverny |title=Police investigate planned reopening of derelict theatre in Wales |url=https://www.thestage.co.uk/news/police-investigate-planned-reopening-of-derelict-theatre-in-wales |access-date=22 September 2021 |work=The Stage |date=23 August 2021 |language=En}}

In 2025 the South Wales Building Preservation Trust was awarded £8000 for a survey to assess what was needed to bring it up to modern standards and back into community use.{{cite news |last1=Forgrave |first1=Andrew |title=Fresh hope for 'Brutalist' Eryri theatre shut for seven years |url=https://www.msn.com/en-gb/travel/news/fresh-hope-for-brutalist-eryri-theatre-shut-for-seven-years/ar-AA1CRggP |access-date=19 April 2025 |work=Daily Post via www.msn.com |date=14 April 2025}}

The campus also includes a Gymnasium built c. 1970 to designs by Colwyn FoulkesGwynedd Archaeological Trust, Historical Environment Record PRN 35127 and an Amenity Centre, designed in 1985 by the Percy Thomas Partnership.Gwynedd Archaeological Trust, Historical Environment Record PRN 35128 Other buildings including a concrete tower block once used for accommodation and Wern Fach, once the Warden's residence.

;Notes

{{Reflist}}

;Bibliography

• Davidson, Andrew (2008) Coleg Harlech: Archaeological Assessment Gwynedd Archaeological Trust report number 761
• England, Joe (ed.) (2007) Changing Lives: Workers’ Education in Wales 1907–2007 {{ISBN|978-0-9514580-1-3}}
• Stead, Peter (1977) Coleg Harlech: The First Fifty Years, {{ISBN|978-0-7083-0657-4}}
• White, Eirene (1977) Thomas Jones: Founder of Coleg Harlech, {{ISBN|0-901833-84-3}}

• [http://www.weacymru.org.uk/ WEA YMCA CC Cymru]
• [https://www.planetmagazine.org.uk/planet-extra/requiem-coleg-harlech A Requiem for Coleg Harlech] documentary
• [https://www.itv.com/news/wales/2024-03-01/the-welsh-college-that-could-turn-a-milkman-into-a-professor-of-economics Vanished Wales: Coleg Harlech - The place that gave people a second chance at education] article accompanying [https://www.itv.com/walesprogrammes/articles/vanished-wales-series-3-episode-5 short documentary]

{{Universities and colleges in Wales}}

{{Gwynedd}}

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Category:Further education colleges in Gwynedd

Category:Grade II* listed buildings in Gwynedd

Category:1927 establishments in Wales

Category:Educational institutions established in 1927

Category:The Twentieth Century Society Risk List

Category:Harlech