Inside UK’'s 'Atlantis' town where church and school only appear in hot weather
A once-bustling town in the UK is now entirely underwater - and can only be seen during periods of extreme hot weather.
The abandoned Welsh village of Capel Celyn, Gwynedd has been dubbed 'Britain's Atlantis' after it was deliberately flooded in 1965 to create a freshwater reserve, known as Llyn Celyn. The flood wiped out farms, a post office, a church, a cemetery, and a school - and their ghostly remains are still visible today when the reservoir is low.
It was a move which attracted fierce opposition at the time, and is still remembered by people in the area today.
Capel Celyn is still visible during periods of extreme heat (Wales On Sunday)In 1960, a controversial private bill sponsored by Liverpool City Council was brought before Parliament to develop a water reservoir in the Tryweryn Valley. The development required the flooding of Capel Celyn, a proposal which brought opposition across Wales. A total of 35 out of 36 Welsh Members of Parliament opposed the proposals for the flooding, with just one abstaining. But the bill was passed in 1962, and the village was flooded three years later - with 67 inhabitants forced to leave their homes.
The controversial flooding of the village is still remembered in the area today (Western Mail)Attempts to stop the development continued while site construction was underway, and three men were sent to prison for planting a bomb on the site, which caused significant damage. Protestors also reportedly cut the wires of the microphones at an event commemorating the completion of the project and chanted anti-English slogans.
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Fragments of crockery were found by one visitor during a heatwave (@calon_gron / calongron.com)Often visible in the summer months during particularly warm spells, the heatwave of 2022 allowed photographers the rare chance to walk around the village for the first time in several years. Eerie reminders of village life were clearly visible, including ruined buildings, hollowed-out tree stumps and even fragments of crockery on the ground.
A second spillway is now being built at Llyn Celyn after concerns were raised by safety engineers in 2019 over faults in the reservoir - and the plans are once again courting controversy. Welsh Water has begun building a second spillway at the reservoir, close to the dam-side car park, to channel surplus water underground. No households are affected by the plans, although concerns have been raised about the impact on nature, particularly trees, scrub, hedgerows and habitats for ground-nesting birds. The water company have said the new development is "carefully designed to blend in with its natural surroundings and work with the land adjacent to the dam".
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