Penyberth
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Penyberth was a farmhouse at Penrhos, near Pwllheli, Gwynedd, 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.
The training camp, known to opponents as the bombing school (Welsh: yr ysgol fomio), was opposed by many in Wales for various reasons, but the Government ignored all representations. In protest at this a workmen's shed at the site was the target in September 1936 of an arson attack by three of the leaders of Plaid Cymru Saunders Lewis, Lewis Valentine, and D. J. Williams for which they were subsequently jailed. The jury at their first trial held at Caernarfon failed to agree on a verdict, so the case was transferred to another court and a second trial was held at the Old Bailey, London at which they were found guilty. The three served their sentences in Wormwood Scrubs prison. When they were released on 1937-08-27 a crowd of over 15,000 gathered in Caernarfon to welcome them back to Wales.
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 mythical status in Welsh nationalist circles. It was an act of major significance in the history of Welsh nationalism in the twentieth century.
On a less important note, Penyberth has recently achieved fame as the site of the, now annual, Wakestock contemporary music festival.
[edit] Sources
- Jenkins, Dafydd (1998), A nation on trial : Penyberth, 1936. Translated by Ann Corkett. Cardiff : Welsh Academic Press. ISBN 1-86057-001-1.
[edit] External links
- The bombing school incident, 1936 from the BBC website.
- Admission ticket to the trial of Saunders Lewis, Lewis Valentine and D. J. Williams, at Caernarfon from the Gathering the Jewels website.
- Penyberth - Saunders Lewis on the BBC Wales website.
