A place where people choose to take a stroll with beautiful views across the water acts as a reminder to many of their abandoned homes and a horrible chapter in their history
It was once a vibrant and traditional Welsh-speaking village before it was completely abandoned, ready to be drowned with no trace in sight.
The flooding of this beloved village still remains a sensitive subject among locals in the area, as they fought tooth and nail to keep their homes in place. Their efforts, unfortunately, were not enough, as the UK government submerged the village completely to supply water to a much larger English city.
In 1965, the village of Capel Celyn, nestled in the Tryweryn Valley in North Wales, vanished without a trace when its contents were left to sink to the bottom of a huge reservoir. It was a controversial move, to say the least, led by the Liverpool Corporation, to supply water to Liverpool and the Wirral.
While for some it may seem like a simple change in construction, for most, this was a change that ran much deeper, and the disruption it caused to this area and the wider Welsh community went on to have a huge effect politically, leading to a rise in support for the Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru.
The fight for the village
It was in 1955 that the people of Capel Celyn first learned their homes had been sacrificed for a new site set to transform into a reservoir, and it marked the beginning of a 10-year-long battle.
Soon enough, the villagers formed an alliance, known as the Capel Celyn Defense Committee, which debated, protested, and denounced the scheme throughout the country and into Liverpool. On numerous occasions, this saw them march to Liverpool to make their objections loud and clear.
Despite their efforts, Liverpool councillors voted overwhelmingly to proceed with the plans, and in 1957, a private bill sponsored by Liverpool City Council was brought to Parliament.
All 35 Welsh Members of Parliament who voted opposed the bill, and yet it was still passed in 1962. Three years later, the village and its buildings, including people’s homes, were drowned. In total, there were around 800 acres of land, taken by the water, made up of the school, the post office, the chapel and the cemetery.
There were 48 people who lost their homes out of 67 who lived in the valley, with many left to relocate to entirely new areas and start new lives.
What made this move so controversial was the complete erasure of this traditional Welsh culture, as the village stood as a testament to authentic Welsh culture and its dying language.
The site today
People continue to visit the site. One TripAdvisor reviewer described the place as “beautiful but sad”. They wrote: “This wasn’t my first visit to this beautiful area, but after researching the flooding of the village and being Welsh, we spent more time around where the village once stood.
“There is no doubt the scenery is outstanding, but I also found it to be quite sad; people’s lives were completely upturned, and their entire village was drowned. Well worth a visit, especially if you read the history of the village.”
The reservoir provides a wonderful landscape, backed by the rolling hills of the valley, and many choose to take a walk around the site. To commemorate the village that once was, a memorial chapel stands as a place where people can remember their time there.
Another visitor shared: “Poignant and stunning. The heartbreaking history of this reservoir should never be forgotten.”
There is a good chance the village will be visible this year, as it only nudges above the water’s surface during periods of intense heat. The current heatwave may cause the water level to fall far enough, as happened back in 2018.

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