Penyberth
Encyclopedia
Penrhos, Gwynedd
Penrhos is a village and former civil parish in the Welsh county of Gwynedd. The parish was abolished in 1934, and incorporated into Llannor.It was the home of former MP Goronwy Roberts. Penyberth lies within its confines....
, on the Llŷn Peninsula
Llŷn Peninsula
The Llŷn Peninsula extends into the Irish Sea from north west Wales, south west of the Isle of Anglesey. It is part of the modern county and historic region of Gwynedd. The name is thought to be of Irish origin, and to have the same root Laigin in Irish as the word Leinster...
near Pwllheli
Pwllheli
Pwllheli is a community and the main market town of the Llŷn Peninsula in Gwynedd, north-western Wales. It has a population of 3,861, of which a large proportion, 81 per cent, are Welsh speaking. Pwllheli is the place where Plaid Cymru was founded. It is the birthplace of Albert Evans-Jones -...
, Gwynedd
Gwynedd
Gwynedd is a county in north-west Wales, named after the old Kingdom of Gwynedd. Although the second biggest in terms of geographical area, it is also one of the most sparsely populated...
, which had been the home to generations of patrons of poets, but destroyed in 1936 in order to build a training camp and aerodrome for the RAF
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
.
Welsh nationalism
Welsh nationalism
Welsh nationalism emphasises the distinctiveness of Welsh language, culture, and history, and calls for more self-determination for Wales, which may include more Devolved powers for the Welsh Assembly or full independence from the United Kingdom.-Conquest:...
was ignited in 1936 when the UK government settled on establishing the RAF Penrhos
RAF Penrhos
RAF Penrhos was a World War II Royal Air Force airfield at Penrhos, on the Llŷn Peninsula near Pwllheli, Gwynedd. It was operational from 1 February 1937 to 21 October 1946 for armarment training, air observer, bombing and gunnery schools....
bombing school at Penyberth on the Llŷn peninsula in Gwynedd
Gwynedd
Gwynedd is a county in north-west Wales, named after the old Kingdom of Gwynedd. Although the second biggest in terms of geographical area, it is also one of the most sparsely populated...
. The events surrounding the protest, known as Tân yn Llŷn (Fire in Llŷn), helped define Plaid Genedlaethol Cymru. The UK government settled on Llŷn as the site for its new bombing school after similar locations Northumberland
Northumberland
Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...
and Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
were met with protests.
However, UK Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin
Stanley Baldwin
Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, KG, PC was a British Conservative politician, who dominated the government in his country between the two world wars...
refused to hear the case against the bombing school in Wales, despite a deputation representing half a million Welsh protesters. Protest against the bombing school was summed up by Saunders Lewis
Saunders Lewis
Saunders Lewis was a Welsh poet, dramatist, historian, literary critic, and political activist. He was a prominent Welsh nationalist and a founder of the Welsh National Party...
when he wrote that the UK government was intent upon turning one of the 'essential homes of Welsh culture, idiom
Idiom
Idiom is an expression, word, or phrase that has a figurative meaning that is comprehended in regard to a common use of that expression that is separate from the literal meaning or definition of the words of which it is made...
, and literature
Literature of Wales (Welsh language)
After literature written in the classical languages literature in the Welsh language is the oldest surviving literature in Europe. The Welsh literary tradition stretches from the 6th century to the twenty-first. Its fortunes have fluctuated over the centuries, in line with those of the Welsh...
' into a place for promoting a barbaric method of warfare. Construction of the bombing school building began exactly 400 years after the first Act of Union annexing Wales into England.
On 8 September 1936 the bombing school building was set on fire and in the investigations which followed Plaid Cymru
Plaid Cymru
' is a political party in Wales. It advocates the establishment of an independent Welsh state within the European Union. was formed in 1925 and won its first seat in 1966...
members Saunders Lewis, Lewis Valentine
Lewis Valentine
Lewis Edward Valentine was a Welsh politician, Baptist pastor, author, editor, and Welsh-language activist.-Early life:Valentine was born in Llanddulas, Conwy, the son of Samuel Valentine, a limestone quarryman, and his wife Mary...
, and D.J. Williams claimed responsibility. The trial at Caernarfon
Caernarfon
Caernarfon is a Royal town, community and port in Gwynedd, Wales, with a population of 9,611. It lies along the A487 road, on the east banks of the Menai Straits, opposite the Isle of Anglesey. The city of Bangor is to the northeast, while Snowdonia fringes Caernarfon to the east and southeast...
failed to agree on a verdict and the case was sent to the Old Bailey
Old Bailey
The Central Criminal Court in England and Wales, commonly known as the Old Bailey from the street in which it stands, is a court building in central London, one of a number of buildings housing the Crown Court...
in London. The "Three" were sentenced to nine months imprisonment in Wormwood Scrubs
Wormwood Scrubs (HM Prison)
HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs is a Category B men's prison, located in the Wormwood Scrubs area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, in inner west London, England. The prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service....
, and on their release they were greeted as heroes by fifteen thousand Welsh at a pavilion in Caernarfon
Caernarfon
Caernarfon is a Royal town, community and port in Gwynedd, Wales, with a population of 9,611. It lies along the A487 road, on the east banks of the Menai Straits, opposite the Isle of Anglesey. The city of Bangor is to the northeast, while Snowdonia fringes Caernarfon to the east and southeast...
.
Many Welsh were angered by the judge's scornful treatment of the Welsh language, by the decision to move the trial to London, and by the decision of University College, Swansea, to dismiss Lewis from his post before he had been found guilty. Dafydd Glyn Jones
Dafydd Glyn Jones
Dafydd Glyn Jones is a Welsh scholar and lexicographer, born in the village of Carmel, Gwynedd. He is a specialist in Middle Welsh prose, and his other interests include Welsh history, Robert Jones, Rhoslan, and the life and work of Emrys ap Iwan....
wrote of the fire that it was "the first time in five centuries that Wales struck back at England with a measure of violence... To the Welsh people, who had long ceased to believe that they had it in them, it was a profound shock."
This incident is known in the Welsh language as Llosgi'r ysgol fomio ("the burning of the bombing school") or Tân yn Llŷn ("Fire in Llŷn"), and has attained iconic status in Welsh nationalist circles.
Today Penyberth is the site of the annual Wakestock
Wakestock (Wales)
Wakestock is Europe's largest wakeboard music festival, combining the cultures of music and the world's fastest growing watersport in a weekend of high-octane excitement! It is held on the Llŷn Peninsula in North Wales, in between Pwllheli and Llanbedrog....
contemporary music festival.
External links
- BBC Cymru ar yr Awyr - sound clips of Saunders Lewis and DJ Williams speaking about the incident (in Welsh)
- Sabhal Mòr Ostaig - picture of the three
- National Library of Wales, "Gathering the Jewels" - admission ticket to the trial of Saunders Lewis, Lewis Valentine and D. J. Williams, at Caernarfon