The Ogmore Valley Archive was erected in November 2006 thanks to a £10,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. In discussion with the Head on safety grounds the Archive was moved from the Infants Southern Entranceway to the Junior North Entraceway by local tradesman, Mr Maurice Glover.

Electronic Data Archive capturing the history and heritage of the Ogmore Valley, it`s envrions and its inhabitants.

Ever since the Ogmore Valley Local History & Heritage Society was formed in 1999, we have actively archived in electronic format any photographs, data and ephemera connected in any way to the valley.

Whether that is our growing collection of both digital and scanned photographs, or the collection of paperwork and ephemera that we have either scanned ourselves or contracted professional companies to undertake, typically where the work involves large volumes of printed data such as School Admission Registers or the complete surviving company registers of the Ogmore Valley Electric light & Power Supply Company (1892 – 1944).

The Society is enormously indebted to many individuals and organisations for loaning their personal images for us to scan and retain within our archive, which will avoid the tragedy of epic proportions when eminent local photographer, Luis Lusardi`s vast collection was literally thrown in the skip in the 1970`s, sadly long before we were formed to rescue the collection and long before “Heritage” was foremost in anyone’s minds in the South Wales Valleys.

We are fortunate to live in more enlightened times and we have as a result of the generosity of the local population, organisations and supporters from far afield, we have managed to amass several thousand electronic images dating from the 18th century onwards.

There now exists an image of just about anything connected to the valley however there are some notable omissions that *may* just still exist out there somewhere, so if you know of any we do not currently have, we would love to hear from you…….

A selection of images from our archive can be found below…..

Notable Omissions:

Steam train traversing Blackmill viaduct – rumoured to exist, but only in painted form discovered so far.

Ogmore (Dance) Rink – Located at the site of the current Ogmore Valley Builders Merchant yard on St. Johns Square and burned down in 1933.

Ogmore Valley Electric Light & Power Supply Co. Ltd. Nantymoel Depot.

WWII “Bomb” shelter, Taylors Field (River Street).

Original Fire Station adjacent to Police Station, Ogmore Vale

Frontage views of: Peglers, Llanharan Arms, Blandy Arms, Early Non-political Club, WEXA Club, Pre 1950`s shop fronts.

For more information contact the secretary, Huw Daniel via email: huw@ovlhs.co.uk