St Athan Boys’ Village – South Wales

I first came across St Athan Boys Village in 2015 on a camera club trip from Gloucestershire where I lived at the time. The village started life in the 1920s as a holiday camp for the sons of miners; then in the war it was requisitioned for military use. In 1962 it was refurbished as a youth hostel and teaching centre but in 1990 it was closed when its parent organisation went into administration.

By 2015 it had well and truly suffered the ravages of time and had become an urbex destination. It was easy to get into, not being fenced off, which meant it was easy to vandalise too. While we were there a young lady was scouting it for a fashion shoot. What amazed me was how things had changed when we went back a year later – it had been further vandalised to the extent that there was little left worth photographing compared to the year before. The swimming pool had been partially filled in (quite a job to do) and it had lost most of its photographic allure. We never went back. Perhaps that was the idea?

However, since our last visit it seems that the final episode of Doctor Who series 12 was filmed there in 2019 using the site as the last human colony far in the future. I rather like that!

A planning application was granted in 2023 to demolish most of the remaining buildings to redevelop the site for housing.