Bala-Bangor Manuscripts

A collection of 297 items, regarding various individuals and matters associated with the Bala-Bangor College.

They include registers and account books of chapels; (Rev.) William Ambrose's (Emrys) Manuscripts; notebooks of notes and/or sermons; manuscript copies of sermons; diaries; pictures; college registers; bank books; papers relating to Cilgwyn Chapel; papers relating to Rhaeadr Gwy; a file of papers concerning the attitude of the students towards military obligation; letters; papers of the Headmasters Thomas Rees and John Morgan Jones and of the Rev. R. H. Williams.

The history of the Bala-Bangor College is a complex one, which begins in 1842 with the establishment of the Independent College in Bala, Merionethshire. By the 1850's the nature and quality of education being received at the College was under fire and a new constitution was drafted which led to a rift between members. For a while, the Independents had two colleges in Bala - one for the old constitution and one for the new. Then in 1885 the new constitution college received a gift of £1500 from Samuel Morley on the condition that it moved to Bangor, co. Caernarfon. By 1886 the college had moved to a house on College Road in Bangor known as The Poplars and from then on the 2 colleges operated separately. In 1889 John Rylands from Lancashire left £5000 in his will to the Bala College, but it was not too clear which college was to benefit. Luckily, the gift became a means of uniting both colleges. Eventually, in 1892, the department in Bala was moved to Bangor. The new united college was named Bala-Bangor and in time moved from The Poplars to a building at the bottom of Ffriddoedd Road, Bangor, which was once three private houses.

Open

Transferred to University of Wales, Bangor Library in 1970.