We Will Never Forget That 60 years ago Today- Capel Celyn was flooded!

 

We now have a so called Welsh Government but we bow to English Law! And those at the Senedd refuse to listen to us on Heritage, Farming, Immigration, Second Homes, Language and so much more. This destruction was not just about the Village but the powerlessness of the Welsh people to have a voice, has anything really changed? They should have dismantled the Village and built it further up the Valley. On this day 60 years ago - Capel Celyn was flooded to supply water to Liverpool. Its memory still runs deep beneath the Tryweryn waters.

Capel Celyn lay in the Tryweryn Valley, near Bala, Gwynedd .The valley had been settled for centuries, with farming communities shaping the land into smallholdings, fields, and stone-built homesteads. By the 19th century, Capel Celyn had developed into a distinct rural hamlet, named after the chapel (Capel Celyn Chapel) that formed the heart of the settlement. Like many parts of north Wales, it was a close-knit, Welsh-speaking community, where life revolved around agriculture, chapel worship, and education.

The village supported a school, post office, and farms. The chapel, built in 1820, was both a religious and social hub. Nonconformist traditions ran strong here, and the Welsh language was the everyday medium of life. By the mid-20th century, about 70 people lived in the village, spread across roughly a dozen farms and cottages.

The Tryweryn Reservoir Scheme

In the 1950s, Liverpool City Council sought to secure water supplies for its growing population and industries. Rather than build within England, they looked across the border. The Tryweryn Valley was chosen for flooding, despite it being one of the rare wholly Welsh-speaking communities.

In 1957, Liverpool promoted a private bill in the UK Parliament to authorise the flooding. Crucially, the bill bypassed Welsh local authorities, none of which supported the plan. Of the 36 Welsh MPs, 35 opposed it (the only supporter was an English MP). Despite this, Westminster passed the bill, highlighting Wales’s lack of political power at the time.

The Drowning of Capel Celyn

Work on the reservoir began soon after. Families were forced to sell their land and leave their homes. The chapel, school, post office, and farms were all demolished. Even the cemetery had to be disinterred; bodies were moved and reburied elsewhere before the water rose. On October 21st 1965, Llyn Celyn reservoir was officially opened, submerging the village forever beneath its waters.

Political and Cultural Impact

The flooding of Capel Celyn was not just a local tragedy, but a national turning point. It ignited Welsh political consciousness and resentment toward Westminster’s disregard for Welsh communities. Protests and campaigns surrounding Tryweryn drew attention to the lack of self-government in Wales and helped strengthen movements for devolution, cultural preservation, and language rights.

The slogan “Cofiwch Dryweryn” (“Remember Tryweryn”) became a rallying cry. It is still seen painted on walls and monuments across Wales, reminding future generations of the injustice.

Written word from the facebook grpup Hiraeth Gogledd Cymru-The Official North Wales Nostalgia Community see https://www.facebook.com/groups/381688085599512/