Dulas valley

What was in PenCambria: Issue 42 Winter 2019?

/ Gay Roberts

EDITORIAL: INTRODUCTION TO PENCAMBRIA NUMBER 42 Winter 2019 

Dear PenCambrians

Welcome to the final edition for 2019 and I am pleased to say that not only are there no more farewells to be said at present but on the contrary I am delighted to welcome a few more new writers to our fold.

Roy Hayter retired as the landlord of Lloyds Hotel in Llanidloes a few years ago and he provides a delightful eye opener into the pleasures and perils of running a small hotel. With the gems of local history drawn from all over mid Wales that he has in his archive and that he is now sharing so generously with us, David Peate has to be the Cartier of PenCambria. This issue begins with his observations on Plygain, that wonderful Welsh tradition of Christmas singing, and for Hallowe’en he tells all about the phantom horsemen that roam the countryside of mid Wales.

I,for one, love hearing about childhood in Wales. While I am sure many that were and are not magical, today when only the worst experiences are considered to be authentic, it is a delight to be reminded that not every adult is a monster for children to fear, that in rural areas certainly, we did feel safe to roam the countryside at will – and the sun always shone! In the late 19th century, Mary Janetta Buxton spent her childhood in Kerry. She recalled it in a memoire transcribed by her daughter Jessica Hawes who has very kindly allowed us to serialise it in PenCambria.

Fifty years ago mid Wales was buzzing furiously with the prospect of yet another valley being flooded to provide water to England. In the last issue Gareth Morgan introduced us to the background of the Dulas Valley project and in this issue he takes us right to the heart of the Inquiry set up to justify the authority’s actions in doing so.

Austin Gwesyn Lewis, who lives in Llanidloes, is a lively intelligent, independent centenarian whom Gaynor Waters discovered from an article in the County Times. Meanwhile Richard Meredith uncovers more of an extraordinary branch of his family, the Manuels of Trefeglwys.

Who would have thought that sleepy Dylife on the mountain road from Llanidloes to Machynlleth was once a thriving mining community of at least 1,000 people? A post card seen in a local exhibition this summer set Chris Barrett off on a quest to found out more about this remote village set in the wasteland of abandoned lead mines high in the Plynlimon range. After leaving Parliament in 1929 David Davies 1st Lord Davies continued with his efforts to bring about world peace although events were building up a momentum which would culminate in the outbreak of the 2nd World War in 1939. His health began to pay the price and Peter Lewis charts his final years in Part 5 of his biographical sketch.There are a great many saints in Wales. Almost every llan has one attached to it. Lawrence Johnson has hung up his boots this month and gone on an indoor trek looking at three of these saints – Gwynnog, Gildas and Cattwg – and comes up with all sorts of interesting information that give us food for thought.

For thousands of years, until the 18th-19th centuries, the grain that formed our staple diet was harvested by hand. The introduction of machinery, from the simple threshing drum to the modern combine harvester, changed a whole way of life almost within living memory. Brian Poole is collecting memories of these changes in rural practices and in this issue he looks at the threshing drum.

Christmas is another institution that has changed so much in our lifetimes from being a communal event to being a more private home-based, one might almost say sofa-based celebration today. Therese Smout has been looking at Christmas as it was reported in the newspapers 100 years ago, the year after the end of the Great War and it is quite sobering to see how those years were still dominating all aspects of life in our country.

Diana Ashworth goes batty with bats in her blog. Michael Limbrey charts a very successful year with the Montgomery Canal. We have two books from the RCAHMW to read during the dark winter hours. Richard Suggett’s Welsh Witches: Narratives of Witchcraft from Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-century Wales was published in 2018; and Wales and the Sea 10,000 years of Welsh Maritime History, an epic study of Wales’ maritime history, published in English and in Welsh, was launched earlie this month on 24th October.

The Dragon’s Crypt houses its usual treasure of prose and poetry. Bruce Mawdesley awakens your imagination with another of his exquisite tales based on his countryside childhood, John Mauel roams down the memory lanes of Llanidloes and the Old Mrket Hall; Julia R. Francis looks into the Void before the Beginning; and we leave you this moth with Norma Allen’s encounter with a werwolf.

Blwyddyn newydd da I pob.            Gay Roberts 

CONTENTS

Plygain David Peate

An Innkeepers Reflections Roy Hayter

Dam Tylwch and Flood the Dulas Valley: part 2 Gareth Morgan

My Childhood in Wales: part 1 Mary Janette Buxton

Postcard from Dylife Chris Barrett

Coming Home Gaynor Waters

First Lord Davies of Llandinam: part V Peter Lewis

Who were the Manuels Richard Meredith 

The Tenth Order Lawrence Johnson

The Hum of the Threshing Drum  Brian Poole

The Phantom Horseman David Peate

A View From the Hills: Long-Eared Brown Bat Zöe Spencer

Christmas and New Year in Montgomeryshire 100 Years Ago Therese Smout

Bats Diana Ashworth

The Dragons Crypt

The Awakening Bruce Mawdesley      

In Celebration of Llanidloes and the Old Market Hall John Manuel

Before the Beginning Julia R. Francis

Encounter with a Werewolf Norma Allen

The Editor selects one article from each Issue of PenCambria to be posted on this website. Below is her choice, which is very seasonal.

CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR IN MONTGOMERYSHIRE 100 YEARS AGO

Therese Smout

The discussion of events this past year, concerning the centenary of the end of the Great War, made me wonder what had been going on in the locality over Christmas 1918 and into the new year of 1919. There was a lot of information in the newspapers relating to post war issues, such as from The Montgomeryshire War Pensions Committee.  They communicated the news that discharged and disabled soldiers or sailors, who were unfit to carry on with their pre war occupation, could join a training course such as the ones in Forestry at Llanidloes or Basket Making at Newtown.  There were also adverts for metal miners, machine men and labourers to work in the Van lead mine.

The weekly casualty list, produced by the War Office and Air Ministry, was still mentioning local men in December 1918.  Edward Adolphus Matthews (Royal Welsh Fusiliers) from Llanidloes, was listed as “missing” and F. Davies (Welsh Guards), also from Llanidloes, was listed as “wounded”.   Mr and Mrs Hopper of Station View, Llanidloes, had received the sad news that their son, Sgt. Albert Henry Hopper, had died at Minden camp in Germany on 26th October from pulmonary phthisis.  He had been buried in the cemetery for prisoners of war in the presence of his comrades.  He had been reported missing, but then his parents were overjoyed to receive 3 letters from him, telling them he was well and unwounded but begging them to send food.  They had already lost another son, George Hobday Hopper, who went down with the mine-sweeper Mignonette in 1917.

It was sad to see the reports of a soldier’s death after the war had ended.  Pte. J. Rowlands from Freestone Lock, Newtown died in a London hospital, Pte. Edward Stephen Jones from Maes Cottage, Llangurig, died in France and Pte. E. Jones from Severn Porte, Llanidloes died in hospital in Alexandria, all passing away in December from pneumonia.

The Police Gazette dated 31st December, listed William Alfred John Wood (The Welsh Regiment) a woollen worker of Llanidloes in the “Deserters and Absentees” list.  He was 18 years old, 5’5” with brown hair and blue eyes and had been missing from Lowestoft since 19th December.

Released prisoners of war from Germany, were arriving back in England, including W. M. Lloyd of Llanidloes.Pte. Evan Hartwell Jehu returned to Llanfair Caereinion and received a warm welcome home “from the clutches of the Hun”.  The following piece from the newspaper explains what happened to him.  “Pte. Jehu was captured in the big offensive in March and was one of those unfortunate men who were compelled to work behind the German trenches in France.  There he suffered all the brutality which the average German took a fiendish delight in inflicting upon British prisoners-heavy work, brutal treatment, insufficient nourishment, filthy accommodation-in every respect a contrast to the “kid gloves” method of treatment metered out to German prisoners by the English”.

The Montgomeryshire Quarter Sessions sentenced Hugo Suck, a German prisoner stationed at Welshpool, to 9 months hard labour for stealing a sheep.  He was working at Forden for a farmer called Mr Rogers and admitted to killing and cutting up a sheep from a neighbouring farm.  He explained that he had killed it because he had not received the customary parcels from home and was hungry.

It was noted in an Army Council Instruction, that non-commissioned officers and soldiers, when in mourning, could now wear a black band around their left arm, above the elbow. Previously only officers and warrant officers had been permitted. The Merioneth and Montgomeryshire District Wages Committee adopted a resolution, urging the desirability of establishing village clubs as a memorial to the men who had fallen in the war, in those rural localities where no such facilities were provided. At a public meeting in the village hall in Caersws, there was a discussion on the form their memorial should take for Llanwnog parish.  Mr Richard Jones, Chairman of the parish council, wrote a letter stating that he was convinced more than ever that the most fitting memorial would be a monument with the names of the deceased men inscribed thereon, to be erected near the Cross in Caersws.

Forden Rural District Council received offers of free gifts of land for the erection of houses to be used as homes for ex-soldiers from the parish.  Those giving the land expected the council to erect well-built cottages with not less than 3 good bedrooms, a pig sty in the garden and have at least one sixth of an acre of land attached to them.

“The Comrades of The Great War” was a worldwide association whose chief object was the welfare of discharged and disabled soldiers and the dependants of those who had fallen.  In Montgomeryshire, it was reported, they had dealt with 560 cases and secured increased pensions and grants to start men in business or stock a farm.

Cambrian railways announced their train arrangements for Christmas 1918, with various alterations, but on Christmas Day there were no trains at all between Llanfair Caereinion and Welshpool.  Further particulars, however, were given on handbills to be obtained at stations.  The Cambrian Railways first and second prizes for the best kept horse, harness etc. were awarded to Carters John Jones and T. J. Probert, both of Newtown.  Moat Lane (West) and Newtown both got prizes for the high standard of cleanliness and neatness of their signal cabins.

The Border Counties Advertiser published a letter in their Christmas Eve edition. It was “My Christmas message to women workers” by Mrs Lloyd George.  It was thanking them for their efforts, but contained this passage

“Away back in those far-away days before the war, when thousands of our womenfolk were content to spend comparatively useless lives and to whom the great gift of time was often itself a burden, I held a firm conviction that in times of emergency these same women would not fail to exhibit the noblest qualities of our sex and race”.

Private Nicholas Bennett from Cilhaul, Llawryglyn, wrote from Egypt to the secretary of the War Contributions Committee.  He confirmed the safe arrival of his last parcel and was most pleased with the contents.  He thanked them for all the useful articles which had been sent out and commented that the cigarettes had often been a regular God-send.  He fancied that most of the committee would be as pleased as they were that the war was over at last and trusted that they might spend a very happy Christmas.

St. Mary’s church at Llanfair Caereinion held 4 services on Christmas day.  Holy Communion at 8am, 10am, 11am and Evensong and carol singing in the evening.  The services were well attended throughout the day.  Miss Maggie Jehu sang the solo parts of the carols and the collections were given to the Waifs and Strays society.  A band of choristers also paraded the town singing carols in aid of St. Dunstan’s Home for the blind.  “A large number of the boys were home on leave, looking very fit and enjoyed their peaceful Christmas to the full”.

Christmas was quietly celebrated in Welshpool, but on Christmas Eve the streets were crowded and the shops were besieged with purchasers.  There were 3 celebrations of Communion at St Mary’s church and a shortened service in the evening.

Miss Matilda Hamer, aged 15, was buried in Beulah churchyard on Christmas day, after being in a nursing home in Baschurch for 18 months and having her leg amputated the week before.

Oakley Park Literary Society held a successful entertainment on Christmas night, and the schoolroom was filled. The first part was by the school children and the second an operetta entitled “Inspector for an hour”.  Special mention was made of Mr Gwilym Morgan, whose acting of the bogus Inspector “brought the house down”.  In the third part, letters were read out from the boys serving with the forces, thanking the society for the parcels etc. received.

John Kinsey Jones of Llanidloes died on 29th December after a long illness.  He was a Chemist on Long Bridge St, a Town Councillor and Mayor of Llanidloes from 1897 to 1899.  There was a vote of congratulation at the monthly council meeting in Llanidloes, on the return of the Mayor’s son, Sgt. Davies, who had been a prisoner of the Turks.

There was a discussion on the question of obtaining German prisoners to work on the roads, with the Clerk confirming that they would have to pay local rates and if a prisoner was killed they would be responsible, if the War Office later decided to pay compensation. A rummage sale was held in the National school, organised by Mrs Jones of The Vicarage and the Church sewing class.  They raised £27 for the church war fund.

There was a special sale of army horses and mules (due to demobilisation) on every Saturday in January 1919 at the Raven Repository in Shrewsbury and a sale had been proposed in Newtown.  However, this caused great concern to the Montgomeryshire War Agricultural Executive Committee, who had passed a resolution asking that no horses (with the exception of Food Production Dept horses already working here) should be sold there, as it was a horse breeding county.   They were worried that by bringing in cheap horses it would reduce the quality, the reputation and prices of Montgomeryshire horses.  The committee also had a lengthy debate on the “plough quota” for the 1919 harvest.  Although the official view was that the food position was as serious as ever, they felt that owing to the cessation of hostilities, orders to plough should not be insisted on where it would be necessary to plough up valuable grasslands in order to comply. The quota of “pivotal” men (those who created work for others, such as blacksmiths and wheelwrights) had been increased so that the Montgomeryshire quota was now 90.  There were also 480 soldier workers.  The distribution of coal in the county was uneven. The only coal merchant in Llanfair “hadn’t a ton yesterday” and the Caersws and Tregynon threshing machine was held up because they couldn’t get any to work it”.

In an advert for Rinso washing powder it claimed:  “For your country’s sake you must save coal.  For your own sake you can’t afford to use coal to boil clothes-it means less coal for cooking and warming purposes.   Rinso washes in cold water.  Sold in packets everywhere by all Grocers, Stores, Oilmen, chandlers etc”.

The Montgomeryshire Butchers Association, chaired by Edward Hamer of Llanidloes, met at the beginning of January to discuss “the frozen meat question”.  The Ministry of Food was trying to send frozen meat from abroad to be sold in shops and the local butchers were not happy.  Mr Sayce (Welshpool), William Jones (Trefeglwys), William Jones (Caersws) and Martin Harris (Newtown) said they had canvassed their customers and not had one favourable reply.  After much discussion they decided to try the experiment and small orders were lodged. However, a letter writer to the County Times who had obviously not been asked their opinion, wrote “Had I been approached on the matter I would have unhesitatingly said, “Give me anything that a steel knife can cut and you can keep the fibrous material over which I have wasted cash, coupons, teeth and knives for 2 years”.

Poultry keepers were not happy about the price of eggs being controlled.  Feed was expensive and difficult to obtain and it did not pay to keep hens.  A similar situation had previously occurred with butter.  Controlling the cost of butter to below the cost of production had caused producers to stop making it and a shortage to ensue.

At Llanidloes sessions, with Mr S.P. Davies as chairman, the following case was heard.  Mr William Savage of Emporium, Trefeglwys, was charged by the food inspector, of selling currants to 2 customers above the maximum price.  He had charged 1s 3d per pound, when the controlled price was 1s 2d.  At the Police Court, Mrs Mary Morris, Greengrocer of Short Bridge Street, Llanidloes, was charged with selling apples to 2 customers at above the maximum price.

Meanwhile, Welshpool Food Control Committee was complaining that they were getting inferior margarine to Oswestry and the Postmaster of Oswestry was being approached by Llanfyllin Town Council, to try to get an earlier delivery of letters.

Miss Beatrice Beresford Wood, of Llwyn-on, Newtown, had returned from Russia where she had been staying with Princess Radzwill throughout the war.  She afterwards went to Minsk, where she witnessed and heard of instances of the frightfulness of the Bolshevik, but was not subjected to any annoyances herself.

On Thursday the 2nd January, a football match had taken place between the wounded soldiers and the Newtown county school boys, which resulted in a 4-2 win for the soldiers. At a Newtown Urban Council meeting, the medical officer warned that all precautions should be taken against the influenza epidemic, but unfortunately this had not been done.  The unfortunate result was that there were several fresh outbreaks, particularly in the country districts.  He earnestly advised those contemplating getting up entertainments of any sort to postpone doing so for the present.  It was hoped that all would take notice of the Doctor’s remarks and stop, if possible, the spread of the epidemic.  An account of the inquest into the death of a Llanwddelan woman who died after an attack of influenza, stated that owing to the prevalence of the epidemic, the doctors were too busy to attend her.  A doctor who gave evidence said that even if he had had time to attend, he could have done nothing.  She died from wasting paralysis.

Llanidloes County Intermediate School was advertising itself, claiming it had every facility for boys and girls, from 11 to 19, under a staff of specially trained teachers.  They had a science lab for the teaching of chemistry, physics and agriculture, a library and typewriting room, a workshop, a kitchen for cookery and laundry teaching and cottage rooms for instruction in housewifery.  Meanwhile the proportion of women electors in Montgomeryshire, was reported as being about 3 to 5 men.

A Cow belonging to Mr Joseph Grice of Salop Road, Montgomery, had given birth to 3 Heifer calves and all were alive and doing well.  Mr Grice, aged 68, was a general labourer on a farm.  Early lambs were reported from a ewe belonging to Mrs Evans of Caethro, Welshpool, which had been born on 19th December.

The “lost and found” section is invariably interesting.  A 2 yr old Hereford bullock had been lost from Welshpool Smithfield.  Any information was to be rewarded, but there was also the warning that anyone found detaining the bullock after this date would be prosecuted. A 5s reward was offered for the return of a pair of gold-rimmed spectacles lost on 23rd December in Newtown Railway Station.  Also, very specifically, “Lost from a field close to Welshpool about a week ago, 3 sheep.  Information to Police, Welshpool”.

The “Wanted” section is also an interesting read.  Along with 2 respectable farm labourers able to milk, a farmer wanted “a strong boy, to run milk and make himself useful”.  A “good chap” was wanted to work in light timber haulage at Glasbwll, Machynlleth.

In the “Sales by Private Treaty” section, a piano was being sold from Oswestry, for £24 or so, because the owner had been disabled through the war.

The Lloyd-Verney family of Clochfaen Hall in Llangurig showed seasonal kindness as usual.  They gave gifts of coal, tea and rice to the aged and indigent of the parish. The “Tommies and Jacks” native to the parish were also remembered with gifts of tobacco, stationary, books and domino sets.

  1. Harold Thomas of Welshpool Motor Garages, was advertising 1919 cars. They were the sole district agent for the new modal 20 h.p. Austin. It had a self-starter, concealed hood and detachable wheels for £400.  A 20 h.p. Ford cost £250.

Apart from the war references, not so very different subjects from the ones that concern us today, I decided.

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What was in PenCambria: Issue 41 Summer 2019?

/ Gay Roberts

EDITORIAL: INTRODUCTION TO PENCAMBRIA NUMBER 41 Summer 2019 

Dear PenCambrians

Well, after wondering if our unusually hot, dry spring was a sign of global warming, our summer seems to have settled into its usual unpredictable state albeit on the fine and dry side as I write this introduction. Summers were always fine in our childhood memories and Gaynor Waters evokes some wonderful memories of cinema going in Llanidloes in the 1950s and 60s.

Still in Llanidloes, the annual exhibition of quilts is a great visitor attraction and Chris Shercliff, a trustee of The Quilt Association gives a fascinating account of its history and some of the exhibits. Diana Ashworth takes to the choppy waters on a brief visit to Bardsey Island, hunting the chough. Does she find one? You will have to read and out.The centenary of the 1st World War and its aftermath continues to affect our lives and in this edition Peter Francis takes a journey across mid Wales using the war memorials as markers. So many names on them, so many young lives taken.The life of the First Lord Davies of Llandinam was also touched by the 1914-18 World War, so much so that he was driven to campaign for the formation of the League of Nations to try and prevent a future war. This and his many other activities are touched on in this excerpt from Peter Lewis. Fishing is an integral part of life in rural mid Wales and Val Church looks at the impact of the Vyrnwy dam on the migration of trout and salmon at Dolanog.

Time was when every other vehicle you saw on the roads in mid Wales was a Land Rover. Not so now with a huge variety of 4x4s to choose from, Brian Poole has fond memories of the Land Rover and its workhorse capacity and he takes us through them with illustrations which will surely bring back memories to many of us as well. It was a magpie and a buzzard that stopped Lawrence Johnson in his tracks in the hills above Carno and Trefeglwys and he found himself musing how nature gets along very well, much better in fact, without us. This observation is certainly reinforced by Gareth Morgan’s account of the proposal in 1966 to make a reservoir out of the Dulas Valley with a dam at Tylwch to provide water for the south east of England. There was a vigorous campaign against it in which he, along with several other legal professionals, such as Emlyn Hooson, gave their services for free to ensure the project would not go ahead. Marian Harris, born and bred in the Dulas Valley, has written a book about it which was published in April this year and reviewed in this edition by Chris Barrett. Meanwhile Gareth himself has written a two-part article for PenCambria about the event and in this issue he looks briefly at the history behind flooding valleys of Wales to supply water to English towns and cities and the preliminary build up to the Public Enquiry, which will be the subject of his article in the October edition.

Phil Brachi discovered the magic of mid Wales some 40 years ago when he made a new life here for himself and his family. The Upper Cledan Valley is his special place and here he found many things that challenged his severely intellectual outlook on life, not the least being the Tylwyth Teg, those faerie phenomena that just catch your eye when you’re looking the other way… Life along the Montgomery Canal continues to thrive and Michael Limbrey has us a report on the progress of its restoration and the annual triathlon event held there and filmed for television in May this year. It is part of the Restore Montgomery Canal! Appeal, which in 2018 was enhanced by the appearance of Timothy West and Prunella Scales.

Mid Wales Arts Centre has a full programme of exhibitions of paintings and sculpture this summer, and sculpture, pottery and printing workshops for adults and children. A Poetry Party in September will be great fun, so do along if you can. The King’s Rent Hole and the Red Lady of Paviland are our topics from the Royal Commission this month. Read the article to find out what they are about.In the Dragon’s Crypt a surprise at the Show from Bruce Mawdesley, summer musings from Julia R. Francis and from Norma Allen, a story based on the tale of the man who was wrongfully hanged in Montgomery in 1821 and whose grave has been a source of mystery ever since. Enjoy your read.               Gay Roberts       PenCambria Editor and Founder

CONTENTS PenCambria 41

  • Llanidloes Cinema Gaynor Waters
  • The Quilt Association, Llanidloes Chris Shercliff
  • Bardsey Island Chough Hunt Diana Ashworth
  • How We Remembered: the War Memorials of Mid Wales Peter Francis
  • The First Lord Davies of Llandinam: part II  Peter LewiS
  • Trout and Salmon in the River Vyrnwy above Dolanog Val Church
  • Remembering the Land Rover Brian Poole
  • We Do Not Belong Lawrence Johnson
  • The Dulas Valley Victory and the Treweryn Factor – book review Chris Barrett
  • Dam Tylwch and Flood the Dulas Valley Gareth Morgan
  • A View from the Hills : Little Wing Zöe Spencer
  • The Truth Fairy Phil Brachi
  • Montgomery Waterway Restoration Trust
  • The King’s Rent Hole; the Red Lady of Paviland Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Wales

Article in PC 41 selected by the Editor to be reproduced in full on this website:

DAM TYLWCH AND FLOOD THE DULAS VALLEY : The 1966 threat to build another reservoir in mid Wales: Part 1, by Gareth Morgan

As a solicitor, I found that once a case was closed and the decision made, it became a closed book. No more was heard of it. However, Tryweryn and the threats to flood the Dulas Valley do not to fit into that category. After 50 years or more they both still have a life of their own!

The year 2019 saw the publication of an excellent account of the campaign to save the Dulas Valley from being flooded. Entitled The Dulas Valley Victory, and the Tryweryn Factor. It has been written by Marian Harris, who was born and brought up in the Valley. The launch took place at Chatwood in Llanidloes on the 18th April 2019. It was a sell out. The story is still alive in the minds of many people. I doubt there has been a better book launch in Llanidloes; venue packed to the rafters, and many standing outside on the pavement.

The episode clearly still resonates with so many people. At the time I was often told that “all former attempts to stop the powerful machine preparing to flood your valley, had failed”. Mind you, I recollect someone telling me how David Lloyd George had been the only successful solicitor in this respect when an attempt was made to flood the Ceiriog Valley in an era lost in time. A part of our history never recorded in print. A big “Thank you” to Marian Harris for ensuring that the Dulas experience is recorded for posterity. 

This publication seems to have revived raw memories of the many Welsh Valleys that had been flooded to supply water to English cities. The most celebrated was the drowning of the village of Capel Celyn in Merioneth in the 1950s to create the Tryweryn reservoir supplying water for the city of Liverpool. Prior to this there had been the construction of the Vyrnwy Reservoir in North Montgomeryshire to supply a city in England. Tryweryn, built in the 1950s, seems to have left the greatest hurt in the Welsh mind and memory. After 70 years it is still a sensitive point in Welsh history. I doubt it will ever heal. It has even prompted the construction of one of Wales’s most famous pieces of graffiti. On a roadside wall in Ceredigion near Llanrhystyd, there is painted on a lay-by wall the words “Cofiwch Dryweryn” “Remember Tryweryn”. These are poignant words, challenging everyone who passes on the main coast road never to forget how Capel Celyn was taken against the will of the people to satiate the needs of a large city in England.

Occasionally one sees film of the opening ceremony when a large crowd tried their best to disrupt the ceremony. Plaid Cymru had led and sustained a long campaign to try and stop the project. This was a period when Plaid was a rising political force even though it had not at that time seen anyone elected to Parliament as its representative. It also led to the seed being sown that enabled the founding of Cymdeithas yr Iaith Cymraeg, an organisation that has without doubt helped enormously to raise the cause for saving our language. It was against this background that we entered the 1960s and 70s in Wales. The Welsh conscience had been roused by Tryweryn. No other valley was to be flooded in Wales. If every Welsh Member of Parliament had voted against it, as was the case with Tryweryn, the huge majority of English M.P.s were more than enough to drive it through. Consider for a moment that all the Welsh M.P.s  totalled a mere 36, in those days. Very small in number compared to the total of 650 members in the House of Commons. I mention this background, because it shows that political pressure alone was insufficient to stop the Parliamentary machine when it embarked on a programme to legislate enabling it to acquire the land to build a reservoir in Wales.

The early 1960s brought the news that the Severn River Authority, as it then was, had identified 24 sites in Montgomeryshire that were potential reservoir sites to supply water for the South East of England. There is some doubt as to whether this information had been made public at that stage. Later in 1966 it became publicly known that 29 sites in Montgomeryshire (including the Dulas Valley) were being examined as potential reservoir sites. These sites were being investigated on the instructions of the then Secretary of State for Wales the Rt. Hon. James Griffiths M.P. He was the first Secretary of State for Wales, a new office with a seat in the Cabinet, created by the Prime Minister Harold Wilson. He had set up a Welsh Water Committee to advise him on water matters. There also existed a Water Resources Board charged under the Water Resources Act 1963 with taking “all such action as they may from time to time consider necessary and expedient, or as they may be directed to take by virtue of this Act, for the purpose of conserving, redistributing or otherwise augmenting water resources in their area, or of transferring any such resources to the area of another authority”.

At this time industrial growth was expected to accelerate along with significant increases in population in the south east of England. The Central Electricity Generating Board was by now responsible for the investigation and selection of sites in both England and Wales for large sources of water to meet future demand for water abstraction from the river Severn to provide water for electricity generating purposes. At the time, demand for water was growing year by year for cooling purposes at power stations. It is believed that there was a need to double the daily flow of water over the measuring gauge on the Severn at Bewdley in Worcestershire. That gauge still plays a vital part in Severn river flows from the Clywedog reservoir outside Llanidloes. There is a statutory obligation in the Clywedog Reservoir Joint Authority Act of 1965 to maintain a minimum flow over the gauge. In 1966 it was stated that future demand as then estimated required a daily flow of 300 million gallons of an “unfailing supply” of cold water. The high rainfall in Montgomeryshire coupled with its topography, and low population, classified the County as a suitable area to conserve water to meet the future demands of England.

Publication of this information produced huge concern and considerable unrest in the County. The then M.P. was the Liberal Mr Emlyn Hooson Q.C. who had been elected in a by-election in 1962 following the death of his predecessor the Rt Hon. Clement Davies Q.C. who had been the Leader of the Liberal Party for many years. There was so much consternation, that a county wide defence committee was created comprising representatives of all the areas affected. The Secretary was Mr R.P. Davies the County Secretary of the Farmers Union of Wales all under the Chairmanship of Mr Leslie Morgan the owner of an agricultural engineering business and ironmongers in Llanfair Caereinion.

The Dulas site was not only situated in Montgomeryshire but it also extended into Radnorshire close to the village of Pantydwr. The main dam or buttress was proposed to be erected adjacent to Tylwch rocks. In view of the inclusion of part of Radnorshire, the Labour Member of Parliament for Brecon and Radnor, Mr Tudor Watkins was a member of the Defence Committee. Mr Watkins was the member from 1945 until the early 1970s when he retired and became the first Chair of Powys County Council. By this time he had been elevated to the peerage, becoming Lord Watkins of Glantawe. He was known for his diligence as an M.P. and for the care and attention he gave to his constituents.

The arrival of crisis point, that is the threat posed by 29 reservoir sites, led to Emlyn Hooson Q.C. the distinguished member for Montgomeryshire obtaining an emergency Adjournment Debate in the House of Commons on Friday the 27th May 1966. Mr Hooson delivered a masterful speech. A poignant sentence in his speech is worth quoting:

“ in response to a request of mine, the Authority (Severn River Authority) sent me a plan on the 8th April and I think that all who have seen it will agree that it is a horrific document in itself because it purports to show, by way of illustration, about one-third of the land surface of Montgomeryshire under water.”

He went on: “ In the hearts and minds of most of the people affected it was a preliminary step which would eventually lead to the submergence of their valleys. The production of the map and plan, more than anything else, had a deep psychological impact on the population of the area. I feel justified in saying that in many cases people have been caused needless anxiety and fear by these proposals.”

He concluded: “ It would be a great help if the Secretary of State (now The Rt. Hon Cledwyn Hughes Labour M.P. for Anglesey) were today to make the authoritative statement which I have asked for as to precisely what the Government’s policy is and what kind of proposal he would definitely not even consider on sociological and economic grounds.  It might be possible for him to announce today the elimination of these sites from any further consideration. I hope he will do so.”

An English poet wrote:  

“ Breathes there the man, with soul as dead,  Who never to himself hath said,  This is my own, my native land!

Never was this matter so well expressed, even though it was expressed by an English poet. It expresses the feelings of many of hundreds of my constituents who are affected by this proposal.

The Member of Parliament for Denbigh Mr W.G. Morgan also spoke in support of Mr Hooson. In his reply the Secretary of State made some cogent comments for example “ I am quite sure that the Welsh Committee (the Water Committee) and the river authority will take the most careful account of the sociological objections before they make any final recommendations……. Let me say now, so that there may be no more misunderstanding or further misconception, that as Secretary of State for Wales I do not propose to consent to the drowning of any villages in Mid Wales ….. I can assure the hon and learned Gentleman and the hon. Gentleman the member for Denbigh that communities count as far as I am concerned. The need for preserving first-class agricultural land will also be very much in my mind”.. The Secretary of State concluded “I intend to see that the interests of our country and its people are fully safeguarded. This is my responsibility and privilege as Secretary of State for Wales.”

What was the result of this debate and these assurances extracted by Mr Emlyn Hooson? We know that Secretaries of State change from time to time and even though they have a seat in the Cabinet, they may not be there for too long. Cledwyn Hughes did in fact deliver good news. It did appear on reading the debate that some lessons might have been learnt following the Tryweryn debacle. In September 1966 it was announced that no less than 19 sites were eliminated, but this left a further 10 in the melting pot. Further investigations were carried out by Binnie and Partners Consulting Engineers who then reduced the number to 6.which still included the Dulas Valley. The latter was presented in the form of two different projects, still in the valley but differing in capacity.

After much deliberation by the promoting authorities ( there were several representing their area of benefit, with the Severn River Authority as lead authority supported by the Water Resources Board) the decision was made to publish an application for consent under section 67 of the Water Resources Act 1963 for compulsory powers to carry out trial borings at Tylwch near Llanidloes in connection with the proposed Dulas Regulating Reservoir. At this stage it was clear that 17 farmhouses and their outbuildings were to be inundated as well as 6 other residences and a further 20 farms were to be affected by land acquisitions. The Severn River Authority admitted “disturbance would be relatively high and disruption appreciable”. That was an understatement if ever there was one. In fact 50% of the valley with a total population of 380 persons was to be affected.

Shortly after this a draft Order was published by Severn River Authority, and the date of the Public Enquiry to consider the application was announced. At this the stage the Dulas Defence Committee had no legal representation and at most about 6 weeks before the hearing. This called for urgent action. This will be outlined in part 2 of the story.