Capel Celyn: New BBC podcast explores most controversial construction project in modern Welsh history

A new 7-part BBC Sounds podcast explores the burning sense of injustice that remains to this day which led to activists bombing the most controversial construction project in modern Welsh history, sparking decades of civil unrest.

The series, Drowned, launches 60 years after three Welsh activists bombed the Tryweryn reservoir in North Wales, igniting almost thirty years of campaigning and bitter protest in support of the Welsh language and culture.

Presented by former BBC Wales Political Editor and journalist, Betsan Powys, the podcast tells the deeply personal stories of the people at the very heart of this controversial chapter in Welsh history – the families forced to leave behind everything they knew and loved in Capel Celyn; and the bombers themselves – who felt that all other means of protest had failed.

Listeners will hear eye witness accounts from residents of Capel Celyn, the Tryweryn bombers and the young witness forced to give evidence against them, as well as establishment and political figures of the time.

This is a story that has spanned generations and made headlines. Now a rich sound archive brings the events and the lost voices of the last sixty years to life.

Executive Producer, Karen Voisey says, “Drowned is a powerful story looking back at the decisions surrounding the contentious drowning of Capel Celyn.”

“In the series Betsan really gets to the heart of the anger and grievances leading to the Tryweryn reservoir bombing with new insights and accounts.”

“It explores how the sense of injustice in Wales which led to that fateful night acted as a catalyst for the political and cultural battles that ensued into the 70s and 80s and still remain to this day”.

The first episode is available now, click here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0f245q6