The Denbigh Lenten Pool National School opened on 4th October 1847.
Denbigh already had a school for the poor in the existence of the Bluecoat Charity school founded in 1714 by the bequest of a Mrs Oldfield. In a report on the school by the Council of Education in 1846-7 the conditions in this school were described as 'frightful'.
This report went on to describe the removal of the Bluecoat school to a new purpose built school to be funded by the National Schools Society designed by Henry Kennedy Esq. for the sum of £1,168 for 350 scholars. The funding of the building of this new school was to be a joint project between the National Society, which proposed to give basic education to poor children according to the Church of England teachings, the Council on Education and private subscriptions. It was built on the bed of the ancient Lenten Pool. The central gable of the building was inscribed with the title Bluecoat National School 1847.
The school was divided into a National boys school and a National girls and infants school (1857). A new infants building was erected in 1879. The school was further extended in 1908 to accommodate better facilities for boys' and girls' areas.
In 1862 grants were paid to maintain schools such as the National School in Denbigh but were dependent on reports from annual government inspections being favourable of both staff and pupils. This existed up till 1898. There was also a Denbigh School Board scale of fees payable by parents for their child's school attendance. In 1876 it ranged from 1d - 6d dependent on the father's profession. Fees were abolished in 1891.
The school closed to infants in 1968 and juniors in 1976 after a long campaign to provide a new school because of the inadequate facilities at the old Victorian school building. Pupils were transferred Ysgol Heulfre in Gwaenynog Road in 1976.
Location of school-
Street name- Smithfield Road, Denbigh, LL16 3LG
Related Material held at Denbighshire Archives-
BD/A/81- Account of property 1816
BD/A/152- Grant 13 Jun 1844
BD/A/458- Draft Grant 1844
BD/A/475- Letter 1861
PD/24/1/136- Correspondence and Report 1896-1897
PD/24/1/137- Agreement 1926
PD/24/1/138- Insurance Policy 1930
CD/A/4/196- Plan 1975