Hay: Then and Now

This exhibition of photographs was undertaken by University of Wales, Newport student Brydie Lott in 2012.

The archive photographs are courtesy of Eric Pugh.

Hay Primary School

We worked with Hay Primary School on a project called Change, where the children learnt about how Hay has changed since the early Victorian period when the Cheese Market was built. They focused on industry, school, market, social life and home life.

During Welsh Week the children learn a song about Crawshay Bailey, brother to Sir Joseph Bailey who built the Cheese Market. The song tells the story of how the Bailey family made their wealth in the 19th Century Welsh iron and coal industries.

Crawshay (1789-1872) was an English industrialist who became one of the great iron-masters of Wales. His uncle Richard Crawshay was based at Cyfarthfa Castle near Merthyr Tydfil, where Crawshay and Joseph lived and worked from an early age (12 years old) to learn the ironmaster trade.

Hay Primary School Choir singing the Crawshay Bailey

Hay Primary School Choir singing the Crawshay Bailey