Tree stumps exposed by low water level of reservoir

Capel Celyn (Welsh: Holly Chapel) was a rural community to the north west of Bala in north Wales, in the Afon Tryweryn Valley that was flooded to create a reservoir, Llyn Celyn, to supply Liverpool and The Wirral, with water for industry. Welsh ( cy Cymraeg or cy y Gymraeg, kəmˈrɑːɨɡ and {{IPA|[ə ɡəmˈrɑːɨɡ]}}, is a member of the Brythonic branch of Celtic Bala (more correctly Y Bala) is a Market town in Gwynedd, North Wales, and formerly an Urban district of the old County For the flooding of the Tryweryn Valley see Llyn Celyn. The Tryweryn is a River in north Wales which starts at Llyn Tryweryn in A reservoir is most broadly a place or hollow vessel where Fluid is kept in Reserve, for later use Llyn Celyn is a large Reservoir constructed between 1960 and 1965 in the valley of the River Tryweryn in North Wales. Liverpool ( is a City and Metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary Wirral or the Wirral (ˈwɪrəl is a Peninsula in the north west of England. The village contained, among other things, a chapel, as the name of the community suggests. A chapel is a holy place or area of Worship for Christians, which may be attached to an institution such as a large church, a College, a

History

In 1956, a private bill sponsored by Liverpool City Council was brought before Parliament to develop a water reservoir from the Tryweryn Valley. Year 1956 ( MCMLVI) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. A private bill is an act considered or acted upon by a Legislature that helps a single individual group of individuals or corporate entity by affording relief from another See City of Liverpool for other meanings Liverpool City Council is the governing body for the city of Liverpool in Merseyside The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories For the flooding of the Tryweryn Valley see Llyn Celyn. The Tryweryn is a River in north Wales which starts at Llyn Tryweryn in The development would include the flooding of Capel Celyn. By obtaining authority via a Parliamentary Act, Liverpool City Council would not require planning consent from the relevant Welsh Local Authorities. This, together with the fact that the village was one of the last Welsh-only speaking communities, ensured that the proposals become deeply controversial. Thirty five out of thirty six Welsh Members of Parliament (MPs) opposed the bill (the other did not vote), but in 1957 it was passed. A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters to a Parliament. Year 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1957 Gregorian calendar) The members of the community waged an eight-year effort, ultimately unsuccessful, to prevent the destruction of their homes.

When the valley was flooded in 1965, the village and its buildings, including the post office, the school, and a chapel with cemetery, were all lost. Twelve houses and farms were drowned, and 48 people of the 67 who lived in the valley lost their homes^[1]. In all some 800 acres (3. 2 km²; 320 ha) of land were submerged. Llyn Celyn, otherwise known as the Tryweryn Reservoir, was formed. Llyn Celyn is a large Reservoir constructed between 1960 and 1965 in the valley of the River Tryweryn in North Wales. Many of the stones from the original chapel were re-used in the construction of the new Memorial Chapel.

A full list of the drowned properties (from largely west to east) is as follows -

Families who had relatives buried in the cemetery were given the option of either moving them to another cemetery, or leaving them. Consequently, eight bodies were disinterred, and the remainder left. All headstones were removed, and the cemetery was then covered in a layer of gravel, then concrete. ^[2]

Hafod Fadog

Plaque recording the loss of a Quaker meeting place

One of the farmsteads covered was Hafod Fadog, a Quaker meeting place. It is recorded on a bronze plaque in a lay-by near to the dam:

Under these water and near this stone stood HAFOD FADOG, a farmstead where in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries Quakers met for worship, on the hillside above the house was a space encircled by a low stone wall where larger meetings were held, and beyond the house was a small burial ground. From this valley came many of the early Quakers who emigrated to Pennsylvania, driven from their homes by persecution to seek freedom of worship in the new world.

Political effects

The building of the reservoir was instrumental in an increase in support for the Welsh Nationalist Party, Plaid Cymru during the late 1950s. Plaid Cymru (plaɪd ˈkəmri The Party of Wales often referred to simply as Plaid) is a Political party in Wales. Almost unanimous Welsh political opposition had failed to stop approval of the scheme, a fact that seemed to underline Plaid Cymru's argument that the Welsh national community was powerless. ^[3]. At the subsequent General Election the party's support increased from 3. Results |} Total votes cast 26759729 All parties shown Conservatives include National Liberal Party and Ulster Unionists Votes 1% to 5. 2%.

Of perhaps greater significance, however, was the impetus the episode gave to Welsh devolution. The Council of Wales recommended the creation of a Welsh Office and Secretary of State for Wales early in 1957, a time when the governance of Wales on a national level was so demonstrably lacking in many people's eyes. See also the Council of Wales and the Marches for the council governing Wales between 1473 and 1689 See also Council of Wales The Welsh Office ( Swyddfa Gymreig) was The Secretary of State for Wales (Ysgrifennydd Gwladol Cymru is the head of the Wales Office within the United Kingdom cabinet. ^[4] By 1964 the Wilson Government gave effect to these proposals. Year 1964 ( MCMLXIV) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the 1964 Gregorian calendar. James Harold Wilson Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, PC (11 March 1916 &ndash 24 May 1995 was one of the most prominent British politicians

The flooding of Capel Celyn also sharpened debate within Plaid Cymru about the use of direct action. Direct action is political action which happens outside normal political channels via indirect actions such as electing representatives. While the party emphasised its constitutional approach to stopping the development, it also sympathised with the actions of two party members (who of their own accord) attempted to sabotage the power supply at the site of the Tryweryn dam in 1962. Year 1962 ( MCMLXII) was a Common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. ^[5]

A more militant response was the formation of Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru or MAC, which blew up a transformer on the dam construction site in February 1963. Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru (Welsh Defence Movement abbreviated as MAC, was a Paramilitary Welsh nationalist organisation modelled to some degree on the MAC went on to carry out a number of other bombings in the next six years.

In October 1965 the Llyn Celyn reservoir opened to a sizeable Plaid Cymru organised demonstration. Year 1965 ( MCMLXV) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the 1965 Gregorian calendar. Llyn Celyn is a large Reservoir constructed between 1960 and 1965 in the valley of the River Tryweryn in North Wales. Plaid Cymru (plaɪd ˈkəmri The Party of Wales often referred to simply as Plaid) is a Political party in Wales. A year later, Gwynfor Evans won Plaid Cymru's first Parliamenary seat in Carmarthen. Dr Richard Gwynfor Evans ( 1 September 1912 – 21 April 2005) was a Welsh politician lawyer and author Carmarthen was the name of a parliamentary constituency in Wales which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the The role Capel Celyn played in Evans' victory should not, however, be overstated. Apart from Carmarthen's distance from Tryweryn, Plaid Cymru's victory owed as much to an anti-Labour backlash in the constituency's mining communities as it did Plaid's successful depiction of Labour's policies as being a threat to the viability of small Welsh communities. ^[6]

On 19 October 2005, Liverpool City Council issued a formal apology for the flooding. Events 202 BCE - The Battle of Zama results in the defeat of Carthage and Hannibal. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. See City of Liverpool for other meanings Liverpool City Council is the governing body for the city of Liverpool in Merseyside

See also

• Llyn Celyn

References

1. ^ Capel Celyn, Ten Years of Destruction: 1955 - 1965, by Einion Thomas, published by Cyhoeddiadau Barddas & Gwynedd Council, 2007, ISBN 978 1 900437 92 9
2. ^ Capel Celyn, Ten Years of Destruction: 1955 - 1965, by Einion Thomas, published by Cyhoeddiadau Barddas & Gwynedd Council, 2007, ISBN 978 1 900437 92 9
3. ^ Davies, J, A History of Wales, (1990, rev. Llyn Celyn is a large Reservoir constructed between 1960 and 1965 in the valley of the River Tryweryn in North Wales. 2007), Penguin
4. ^ Butt-Phillip, A, The Welsh Question, (1975), University of Wales Press
5. ^ Butt-Phillip, A, The Welsh Question, (1975), University of Wales Press
6. ^ Francis, H and Smith, D, The Fed: A History of the South Wales Miners in the Twentieth Century, (1980), University of Wales. See also Tanner, D, Facing the New Challenge: Labour and Politics 1970 - 2000 in The Labour Party in Wales 1900-2000 (Ed. Tanner, D, Williams, C and Hopkin, D), (2000), University of Wales Press

External links

• Picture gallery
• Apology on BBC News
• Apology on Guardian Unlimited
• National Library of Wales page on Tryweryn
• Capel Celyn and other Welsh communities flooded to create reservoirs