Next week marks the 50th anniversary of one of the most poignant events of Wales’ modern history……..

In the early 1950’s, plans were put forward by Liverpool City Council to flood a Welsh village that was at the bottom of a small valley, in order to supply water for its growing city and suburbs. Fury erupted among local residents and there was national outcry across Wales.

Llyn Celyn dam and tower by Velela

Capel Celyn, not far from Bala in north Wales, was a fiercely traditional village with rural values and an entirely Welsh speaking community; no mean feat in an era when modernisation and Anglicisation were sweeping through much of the country. The bitter irony that the village would be lost to provide water for an English city severely damaged Anglo-Welsh relations and sparked a political revolution that saw Wales’ national party, Plaid Cymru gain much new support.

Famous graffiti near Llyn Celyn

Despite countless protests in a desperate fight to save the village, and opposition from 35 of the 36 Welsh MPs, the plans were not stopped. In 1956 a private bill was passed allowing Liverpool Council to press ahead with their plans. By 1965 work was completed – the dam was built and the entire village was flooded. A chapel (including its cemetery), a school, a Quaker meeting hall, a post office and twelve farms and houses were drowned, and almost fifty people lost their homes.

In 2005 Liverpool City Council issued an apology to the people of Capel Celyn, but it was deemed as being much too late by many Welsh politicians and locals.

It’s a local issue which still sparks strong emotion even today, so it’s a commemoration that is bound to be marked with some passion and integrity here in North Wales.