Owain Williams is the leader of Llais Gwynedd, a regionalist political party in Gwynedd, north Wales, and councillor who previously represented the Clynnog Fawr ward for Gwynedd Council.
He is a fervent nationalist committed to an independent Wales. In the 1960s, he was imprisoned twice for bombing the site of the future Llyn Celyn reservoir but later turned to the democratic route, [1] [2] [3] becoming the chairman of the Independent Wales Party as well as a member of, at different times, both the Welsh Labour Party and Plaid Cymru. In May 2008 he was elected chairman of Llais Gwynedd after their emergence following the 2008 Welsh local elections. [4] [5] In the summer of 2009, he was reported to the authorities for leaving the bodies of several dead sheep to rot in his fields. [6]
Williams' story inspired the 2021 film The Welshman. The film was nominated for a BAFTA Cymru award. [7] He also wrote an autobiography, entitled Tryweryn: A Nation Awakes. [8]
Prince of Wales is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest of Wales by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers of independent Wales.
The history of what is now Wales begins with evidence of a Neanderthal presence from at least 230,000 years ago, while Homo sapiens arrived by about 31,000 BC. However, continuous habitation by modern humans dates from the period after the end of the last ice age around 9000 BC, and Wales has many remains from the Mesolithic, Neolithic, and Bronze Age. During the Iron Age the region, like all of Britain south of the Firth of Forth, the culture had become Celtic, with a common Brittonic language. The Romans, who began their conquest of Britain in AD 43, first campaigned in what is now northeast Wales in 48 against the Deceangli, and gained total control of the region with their defeat of the Ordovices in 79. The Romans departed from Britain in the 5th century, opening the door for the Anglo-Saxon settlement. Thereafter, the culture began to splinter into a number of kingdoms. The Welsh people formed with English encroachment that effectively separated them from the other surviving Brittonic-speaking peoples in the early middle ages.
The Kingdom of Gwynedd was a Welsh kingdom and a Roman Empire successor state that emerged in sub-Roman Britain in the 5th century during the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain.
Lewis Edward Valentine M.A. was a Welsh politician, Baptist pastor, author, editor, and Welsh-language activist. He was the first leader of the Welsh political party Plaid Cymru.
Penyberth was a farmhouse at Penrhos, on the Llŷn Peninsula near Pwllheli, Gwynedd, which had been the home to generations of patrons of poets, and also a way-station for pilgrims to Bardsey Island, but destroyed in 1936 in order to build a training camp and aerodrome for the RAF.
Welsh nationalism emphasises and celebrates the distinctiveness of Welsh culture and Wales as a nation or country. Welsh nationalism may also include calls for further autonomy or self determination which includes Welsh devolution, meaning increased powers for the Senedd, or full Welsh independence.
Bala is a town and community in Gwynedd, Wales. Formerly an urban district, Bala lies in the historic county of Merionethshire, at the north end of Bala Lake. According to the 2021 Census, Bala had a population of 1,999 and 72.5 per cent of the population could speak Welsh with a decrease of 6% since 2011.
Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru, abbreviated as MAC, was a paramilitary Welsh nationalist organisation, which was responsible for a number of bombing incidents between 1963 and 1969. The group's activities primarily targeted infrastructure carrying water to the English city of Liverpool.
Llyn Celyn is a reservoir constructed between 1960 and 1965 including the highly controversial Tryweryn flooding in the valley of the River Tryweryn in Gwynedd, Wales. This included the forcible removal of the Capel Celyn village residents despite protest and opposition of Welsh MPs.
The Tryweryn flooding or Tryweryn drowning, refers to the flooding of the rural community of Capel Celyn to the north west of Bala in Gwynedd, Wales, in the Afon Tryweryn valley. The village and other parts of the valley were flooded in 1965 to create Llyn Celyn reservoir, in order to supply Liverpool and Wirral with water for industry.
The Llŷn Peninsula extends 30 miles (50 km) into the Irish Sea from North West Wales, south west of the Isle of Anglesey. It is part of the historic county of Caernarfonshire, and historic region and local authority area of Gwynedd. Much of the eastern part of the peninsula, around Criccieth, may be regarded as part of Eifionydd rather than Llŷn, although the boundary is somewhat vague. The area of Llŷn is about 400 km2 (150 sq mi), and its population is at least 20,000.
Welsh republicanism or republicanism in Wales is the political ideology of a Welsh republic, as opposed to Wales being presided over by the monarchy of the United Kingdom.
Gwynedd Council, which styles itself by its Welsh name Cyngor Gwynedd, is the governing body for the county of Gwynedd, one of the principal areas of Wales. The council administrates internally using the Welsh language.
The Williams-Wynn Baronetcy, of Gray's Inn in the County of Middlesex was created in the Baronetage of England on 6 July 1688 for William Williams, a prominent Welsh politician and lawyer from Anglesey, Wales. A member of the family, Sir Watkin, became one of the richest men in Britain.
Llais Gwynedd is a small regionalist political party based in Gwynedd in North Wales. The party formed following the Plaid Cymru executive's proposal to more than halve the number of primary schools in Gwynedd by closing rural schools. Many of the party's members are former members of Plaid. The campaign was founded as Llais y Bobl, or "People's Voice", but the name was changed because of another party by that name in Blaenau Gwent.
Emyr Llywelyn Jones is a Welsh political activist, who was active during the 1960s and 1970s. Mudiad Adfer was established based on his philosophies, and those of Owain Owain and Professor J. R. Jones. Commonly known as Emyr Llywelyn, he is also known as Emyr Llew. He is the son of author and poet T. Llew Jones.
Pwllheli South is one of the electoral wards in the town of Pwllheli, on the coast of the Llŷn Peninsula in Gwynedd, Wales. It elects representatives to the town and county councils.
The 2022 Gwynedd Council election took place on 5 May 2022 to elect 69 members from 65 wards to Gwynedd Council. On the same day, elections were held to the other 21 local authorities and to community councils in Wales as part of the 2022 Welsh local elections. The previous Gwynedd all-council election took place in May 2017 and future elections will take place every five years.