Penyberth
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Penyberth was a farmhouse at Penrhos, on the Llŷn Peninsula 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 (in 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 on 8 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 on 9 January 1937 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 27 August 1937 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 iconic status in Welsh nationalist circles.
Today Penyberth is the site of the 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
- 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
