Access to academic learning was restricted in Wales before 1701—though interest and availability did increase over the centuries—women and peasants were largely excluded from formal education.
Little evidence of formal education dates from the Roman period. Formal education was restricted largely to the clergy throughout most of the Middle Ages; though by late in the period it had expanded to the wider social elite. Grammar schools increasingly educated boys from commercial families in the early modern period. Most people remained illiterate and few options existed for peasant children to be educated; some experiments in educating a wider group of children took place in the second half of the 17th century. No higher education was available in Wales during this period; some Welshmen studied at universities in England or continental Europe. Women and girls were excluded from grammar schools and universities.