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The flooding of Tryweryn –

In the 1960s the town Tryweryn, in North Wales, was informed and forced upon that the residents of the town were to leave their homes as the council of Liverpool, alongside with the government, decided that it would make a good reservoir to supply the city water. Today it is known as Llyn Celyn reservoir.

The town accommodated 70 people who were forcibly removed, this happened in August 1965, the towns people went to Liverpool’s streets to protest. During the construction of the reservoir three men, Emyr Llywelyn Jones, John Albert Jones and Owain Williams, planted a bomb on the power supply for the workers which erupted and only slowed down the process, the men failing to bring it to a stop.

In recent articles, according to a labour peer, Liverpool’s council did not want the water for the city but to sell it on to other authorities to make a profit. Lord Elystan Morgan made this statement, “The water needs of the population in terms of drinking water decreased. But Liverpool was selling industrial water to 24 other authorities, making a lot of money – and it wanted to maximise that profit. That’s what Tryweryn was about.”

35 out of 36 men who represented wales in this law case all disagreed to support the idea. These figures show how powerless Wales was as a political voice.

60 years later due to the climbing temperature of the planet there has been a water drought at Llyn Celyn and in recent summer months parts of the town have been reappearing to walkers who trek around 4km reservoir.

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TO THE TORRENT AT THE DEVIL’S BRIDGE, NORTH WALES, 1824

HOW, art thou named? In search of what strange land

From what huge height, descending? Can such force

Of waters issue from a British source,

Or hath not Pindus fed thee, where the band

Of Patriots scoop their freedom out, with hand

Desperate as thine? Or come the incessant shocks

From that young Stream, that smites the throbbing rocks

Of Viamala? There I seem to stand,

As in life’s morn; permitted to behold,

From the dread chasm, woods climbing above woods,

In pomp that fades not; everlasting snows;

And skies that ne’er relinquish their repose;

Such power possess the fitmily of floods

Over the minds of Poets, young or old!

This poem, written by William Wordsworth, was inspired by a village high in the mountains near to Aberystwyth, where a very old bridge crosses a deep gorge, above it are two other bridges built at later dates. But the lowest one….Well, they say that the Devil himself built it! Devil’s Bridge is one of the biggest attractions of the "green desert" of central Wales. It is located in a small settlement of the same name, located in County of Ceredigion.

Legend is that a long, long time ago, before the bridge in Devil’s Bridge, a woman’s cow escaped. To the general amazement of the woman, the animal found itself on the other side of the rapid river. There was no way to get there. Old woman fell into deep despair. So there he appeared, as it usually happens, the devil was just walking across Wales and offered his help. Of course not for free. The bridge will be built for the very high payment -a soul whose owner would cross the bridge first. Old woman didn’t want to trust stranger but she agreed with a heavy heart. The following day, astonishingly the bridge was there, so just before entering the bridge, however, she came up with a simple and brilliant idea. She took a piece of bread from her pocket and tossed it over the entire length of the bridge, tempting the dog across. And so the clever woman scolded the devil. The devil was upset and left the area , apparently forever. The bridge remained. What happened to the unlucky dog, the chronicles do not say. Well, the Devil was never seen in Wales again as he was so embarrassed at being outwitted by the old lady.

So much legend, beautifully serving the place for the past two centuries in the form of a magnet for tourists; in fact:

-the first of the three Devil’s Bridge was probably built in circa 1075–1200 by monks residing in the nearby Strata Florida Abbey

- 1753 a Second bridge was built over it, also a stone one, but larger,

- 1901 a third iron bridge was built over both bridges.

-The bridges lean over the deep narrow ravine, which runs the river Mynach

- The action of one episode of very popular series Hinterland takes place in Devil’s Bridge – it is a crime series shot in Wales.

- almost every country in Europe have own devils bridge with similar legend – in Poland there are 2 bridges with this name.

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South Wales miners Timeline

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