Andrew RT Davies and Mark Reckless cite 90-year-old iconic incident in attack on Plaid Cymru

Martin Shipton

Former Welsh Conservative Senedd leader Andrew RT Davies has joined with Reform UK’s Mark Reckless in a bizarre bid to smear Plaid Cymru over a celebrated incident involving three of the party’s founders 90 years ago.

In 1936 Saunders Lewis, Rev Lewis Valentine and DJ Williams set fire to a ‘Bombing School’ in the Llyn peninsula, a Welsh language heartland in what is now Gwynedd.

It is seen by many as a pivotal moment in the development of modern Welsh nationalism, when three respected professionals – a university lecturer, a Baptist minister and a teacher – took direct action against what they saw as the desecration of an iconic piece of countryside.

However, both Mr Davies and Mr Reckless took to social media to denounce a tweet commemorating the Penyberth fire that was issued by Plaid Cymru in 2023.

The tweet, dated September 8 2023, read: “87 years ago today, Lewis Valentine, Saunders Lewis, and DJ Williams burned the bombing school in Penyberth, Llŷn. And that fire lives on, in Plaid Cymru.”

Mr Davies wrote: “Plaid Cymru separatists glorifying an arson attack on the British military. Plaid must delete this post, issue an unreserved apology and condemn the arsonists Lewis Valentine, Saunders Lewis and DJ Williams unequivocally. Nothing less will do.”

Mr Reckless, a former Kent Tory MP and Ukip, independent Conservative, Brexit Party and Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party MS who is expected to stand as a Reform candidate in May’s Senedd election, wrote: “So @Plaid_Cymru celebrate arson attacks, here on the RAF as we rearmed to fight the Nazis.”

In his A History of Wales, the renowned historian John Davies considered the significance of the Penyberth incident, stating: “In the mid-1930s, all the energies of the party [Plaid Cymru] were channelled into the battle against the government’s intention of establishing in the Llyn peninsula a centre for training pilots in bombing techniques. There were pacifist, cultural and environmental aspects to the protest against the ‘Bombing School’, but [Saunders] Lewis insisted upon making it primarily a nationalist question.

“To him, the point at issue was that the English government was intent upon turning one of the ‘essential homes of Welsh culture, idiom and literature’ into a place for promoting a barbaric method of warfare.

“The government had intended to establish ‘bombing schools’ in Northumberland and in Dorset, but it had yielded to the protests of naturalists and historians. Baldwin, the prime minister, refused to accept a deputation of Welsh protesters, although they had obtained the support of organisations representing over half a million of the people of Wales.”

Act of Union

The building of the ‘Bombing School’ at Penyberth near Pwllheli began exactly 400 years after the passage of the Act of Union [when Wales was joined to England]. In the early morning of September 8 1936, it was set on fire and responsibility for the act was accepted by Saunders Lewis, Lewis Valentine and DJ Williams. In the trial at Caernarfon on October 13, Lewis and Valentine each made passionate addresses to the jury.

The jury failed to agree on a verdict and the case was taken to the Old Bailey in London, where the ‘Three’ were sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment. They were released on August 27 1937 and were acclaimed by 15,000 of their compatriots at the pavilion at Caernarfon on September 11.

John Davies wrote: “Although the fire was the only example of violence against the ‘Bombing School’, it created a tradition of unconstitutional action to which subsequent generations of nationalists would appeal. In 1936 and 1937, there was some evidence that Penyberth and its aftermath would cause nationalism to become a mass movement in Wales.

“Many were angered by the judge’s scornful treatment of the Welsh language, by the decision to move the case to London and by the decision of University College, Swansea, to dismiss Saunders Lewis from his post in the college’s Department of Welsh before he had been found guilty.

“The ecstatic welcome given to the ‘Three’ – not only in Caernarfon, but also in places such as Maesteg – proves that their action had aroused deep feelings in Wales. But attempts to build upon the enthusiasm were not successful. In the main, nationalism attracted the young and they lacked the resources and the qualities expected of community leaders.”

Culture-war theatrics

A Plaid Cymru spokesperson said: “With so many real challenges facing Wales – from the cost-of-living crisis to struggling public services – the Tories and Reform have decided that their best contribution is to misrepresent events from a chapter in Welsh history for a cheap headline.

“It’s telling that, with so little to say about a positive vision for Wales, Andrew RT Davies and Reform UK have settled on more culture-war theatrics. Meanwhile voters across Wales are increasingly turning to Plaid Cymru for serious, hopeful leadership focused on the future.”