| Capel Celyn |
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HISTORY In 1957 Harold Macmillan 's Conservative government passed the Tryweryn Bill , a compulsory purchase order to flood the valley. Protests The village was one of the last Welsh-only speaking communities. Additional controversy was caused and thirty five out of thirty six Welsh MPs opposed the bill. There was also an eight-year attempt by the community to prevent the destruction of their homes. When the valley was flooded in 1965 the village, including Post Office , school and chapel with Cemetery were all lost. In addition 12 farms and 800 acres (3.2 km&2) of land were submerged. Llyn Celyn , otherwise known as the Tryweryn Reservoir, was formed. POLITICAL EFFECTS The building of the reservoir caused significant political changes over the years. The desire of the Welsh people to have a stronger political force behind them, rather than being ruled by an often England -oriented centralised UK government in London 's House Of Commons led to Plaid Cymru becoming a major political party and eventually to Welsh Devolution . It also led to the formation of Cymdeithas Yr Iaith Gymraeg , the Welsh Language Society. A more militant response to the drowning of Capel Celyn was the formation of Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru or MAC, which blew up a transformer on the dam construction site in February 1963. MAC went on to carry out a number of other bombings in the next six years. On October 19 2005 Liverpool City Council issued a formal apology for the flooding. EXTERNAL LINKS
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