A Nation on Trial - Penyberth 1936

978-1-86057-002-5
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This important book throws a good deal of light on one of the defining moments of Welsh politics in the 20th century. Reading it sent a cold shudder down my spine
Western Mail, 1999

To understand what has happened, in ideological terms, in Wales since [Penyberth]...the growth of a great patriotic movement and the long-awaited dynamic towards self-determination, this story needs to be read
Cambria Magazine

Mae'r gyfrol...yn darllen fel rhaglen deledu fyw. Heb os mae'r gyfrol werthfawr hon yn sicr yn ail gynneu'r drafodaeth ac fe allai fod yn agoriad llygad i laweroedd
Y Cymro

This is the first government that has tried to put Wales on trial.
David Lloyd George

the first time...since the days of Owain Glyndwr that charges of lawbreaking have been brought against the protagonists of Welsh Independence.
Western Mail, 1937

On 8 September 1936, in what is recognised as one of the defining moments in modern Welsh history, a Baptist minister, a University lecturer and a school teacher set fire to the partly built RAF aerodrome at Penyberth, then calmly reported their actions to the police at nearby Pwllheli, north Wales. The 'Fire' represented the final act in an unsuccessful eighteen month battle to prevent the building of an RAF bombing school on the Llyn Peninsular. On the proposed site stood an old stone house that had been, in the Middle Ages, a resting place for pilgrims on their way to Ynys Enlli (Bardsey Island - The Isle of Saints) traditionally believed to be the burial ground of 20,000 saints such as Padarn, Dyfrig and Beuno.

A Nation on Trial is the first comprehensive account of the 'Fire' to be published in English and includes an updated Introduction from the author, sixty one years after the publication of the original Welsh language edition.