Plaid Cymru History

  • Fighting for Wales Before the Foundation of Plaid Cymru

    The history of the great poet, T.Gwynn Jones (1871-1949)

    Review of the Welsh language biography ‘Byd Gwynn’ by Alan Llwyd

    We have good reason to be grateful to the poet and author Alan Llwyd, who was brought up in the Llŷn peninsula and now lives in Morriston.  His awdl, a poem in strict metres on the subject Llif (stream, or flow) ensured that  the chair could be awarded this year, providing a real climax for the successful Llŷn and Eifionydd National Eisteddfod.

    By now Alan Llwyd has established himself as one of Wales’ outstanding poets and writers.  His output is astonishing, both in quality and quantity , and includes a number of detailed biographies of Welsh poets, among them T. Gwynn Jones.

    Today people remember T. Gwynn Jones as one of the leading poets of the twentieth century but he was much more – for decades a ...

    More 11/03/2024
  • CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION PLAID CYMRU 1924 – 2024

    CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION PLAID CYMRU 1924 – 2024

    7pm Friday, 12th January 2024

    Belle Vue Community Centre, Albert Crescent, Penarth, CF64 1BY

    Entrance fee: £10 (concessions available)

    Host:  Heledd Fychan,  Senedd Member (South Wales Central)

    And in conversation:

    Leanne Wood, Plaid Cymru Leader 2012-18

    Richard Wyn Jones, Director, Welsh Governance Centre

    Come and celebrate the centenary of this historic meeting: 

    In January 1924, four Welsh nationalists met at 9 Bedwas Place, Penarth, and recorded their decision to create “Plaid Genedlaethol Cymru”: the National Party of Wales. A year later this led to the public launch of the new party at the 1925 National Eisteddfod in Pwllheli. Those present at the meeting in Bedwas Place were Ambrose Bebb, Griffith John Williams, Elizabeth Williams and Saunders Lewis, the great poet  and playwright and future leader of the party, who subsequently lived in Penarth from 1952 until his death in 1985.

    Heledd will invite Leanne and Richard to discuss ...

    More 07/12/2023
  • Latest Newsletter Published

    Here is the Autumn 2023 Newsletter about the activities of the Society,

    Click here to read > Linc

    More 10/10/2023
  • Celebrating the first Plaid Cymru Meeting

    Friday 12 January 2024 Plaid Cymru met in Penarth to celebrate 100 years since the first meeting to establish the party.

    Leanne Wood, Rosanne Reeves, Richard Wyn Jones, Gareth Clubb

    Here are the contributions of Leanne Wood and Richard Wyn Jones at the start of the meeting.

     

    Lively Kick-off for Centenary Celebrations

    A series of events marking the foundation of Plaid Cymru nearly a hundred years ago got off to a lively start in Penarth on Friday 12 January 2024 at the Belle Vue Community Centre, Albert Crescent, Penarth. 

    Plaid members and guests took part in an evening to celebrate the formation of a secret group, the Mudiad Cymreig or Welsh movement, one of the organisations whose fusion a year later led to the formal launch of the national party.

    Those present at the meeting  on 7 January ...

    More 13/01/2024
  • Saunders Lewis, Wales and Europe by Dafydd Wigley

    The next three years will be crucially important for refining a model of independence relevant for Wales in today’s world.  In the wake of Brexit, Wales needs to protect its essential connection with the continent of Europe – the source of our values and civilisation, and the context of practical independence for our country. 

    Nearly a century ago, the Plaid Cymru leader Saunders Lewis set out a vision of Wales in Europe.  The Plaid Cymru History Society is proud to publish in full the important lecture delivered by Dafydd Wigley during the 2023 Eisteddfod Llŷn ac Eifionydd National Eisteddfod – which shows that this vision is today more relevant than ever.  

    Saunders Lewis, Wales and Europe

    [In Memory of Emrys Bennett Owen,
    who opened my eyes to his vision]

     

    I am grateful to the Eisteddfod for being for this forum to re-examine ideas that are highly ...

    More 14/11/2023
  • Penyberth – New Research on Old Bailey Switch

    New research reveals that the controversial transfer of the Penyberth Bombing School trial from Wales to London was engineered by a local police chief rather than the Westminster government.

    Three of the Plaid Cymru’s leading members, Saunders Lewis, Lewis Valentine and DJ Williams were imprisoned following the burning of the bombing school under construction at Penyberth near Pwllheli in September 1936.

    The move of the trial to the Old Bailey came after a jury in Caernarfon had failed to find the Three guilty of committing the damage and caused a major furore in Wales.  Former Prime Minster David Lloyd George was one of many who blamed the government of the day – “They crumple when tackled by Mussolini and Hitler, but they take it out on the smallest country in the realm,” he said, “This is the First Government that has tried Wales at the Old Bailey.”

    Now freshly published research by ...

    More 25/08/2023