Hillgrove School (Llwyn Eithin / Llwyneithin)

[Admin (Matt)]

The home of William Farrar Roberts (Builder) - including 'Farrar Road'


1894


1895



A 'Voluntary Auxiliary Detachment' (VAD) Hospital during WWI (as were Bodlondeb and Penrhyn Cottage)

Llwyn Eithin / Llwyneithin (now Hillgrove School) Ffriddoedd Road
Hillgrove School is a co-educational independent school for pupils from age three to 16 years. It was founded in 1934 and the current proprietors took ownership of the school in 1975 (2013).

[Admin (Matt)]

HILLGROVE was founded in 1934 by James Morgan and his wife as a Preparatory Boarding School,for children aged seven to 13.

The house which they bought had been built in Ffriddoedd Road in Bangor by Farrer Roberts on the Plas Lodwig Estate which he owned.

According to the North Wales Chronicle of May 17,1902, this Estate was considered as the prime site for the new University which was eventually built at Penrallt.

Farrer Roberts built Farrer Road which he named after his great uncle Dean Farrer, who was a renowned Victorian author of children's books.

He also owned the British Hotel. After building his house which he named Llwyn Eithin,he sold the remainder of the estate to Lord Penrhyn.

During the First World War, the house was one of two Cottage Hospitals in Bangor, called Penrhyn Cottage Hospital and was used for gassed and wounded troops back from the trenches in France.

After the war, theBreen Turner family bought it and lived in it until 1934.

Mr Morgan had returned from Egypt and it was suggested to him that Bangor needed a prep school and that Llwyn Ethin was the place to open it.

He called the school Hillgrove,gave it its school motto of ``Succurere Disco'' or ``I learn to serve'' and continued as its headmaster until 1945.

Claude Chapman,an Oxford graduate took over the school in 1945.

He had accompanied children from Liverpool Collegiate who had been evacuated from Liverpool and were being taught in Friars School.

Michael Bramble,one time head of Chester Zoo,attended the school in the years 1939-- 1945. Dafydd Wigley was another pupil at about that time. Dr David Christie was the school doctor during those years.

Mr Chapman remained in charge until 1955 when three teachers from the school,jointly took over its running.

Mrs Griffiths,Mrs Jackson and Mrs Wicherley changed the format of the school from a boarding to a day school and remained in charge until 1965 when the school was taken over by its fourth head David Wigram.

During his time at Hillgrove,Mr Wigram married Jennifer, a lady he had met in Bangor and they had a daughter,Lesley.

This was a time when there were numerous small Independent Schools in North Wales, many of them boarding schools. It was quite common for pupils to board at the schools, even if they lived in the same town.

Mr Wigram decided to move back to the south of England in 1974 and in 1975,he sold the school to Jim and Sylvia Porter, whose two young sons were pupils.

The usual pattern for prep schools used to be quite academic and the curriculum was modified through the '70s and the early '80s to include more practical subjects.

It also expanded upwards to give the children the opportunity to take the O-level exams,now the GCSE.

[Admin (Matt)]

A private school in Gwynedd with 150 pupils has announced it will close.

Hillgrove School, in Bangor, caters for boys and girls aged four to 16 but will shut at the end of this academic term (2017).



It is with great sadness that my wife and I have to announce that Hillgrove School will not be continuing beyond the end of this term.

As you will readily appreciate, this decision has not been taken suddenly or lightly, but the economic realities mean that the School will not be able to function into the next academic year.

This School has served the families of  Bangor and North Wales since 1934 and it has been our privilege to have personally overseen its activities since 1975.  We remember with pride and fondness the children who have passed through our care over the years and wish our current pupils every success as they leave us for pastures new.

With best wishes,

James and Sylvia Porter

[Admin (Matt)]