Developing the untapped wealth of Britain's ‘Celtic Fringe’: Water engineering and the Welsh landscape, 1870 – 1960

‘It might not be a nuisance in a country cottage’: Sanitary Conditions and Images of Health in Victorian Rural Wales

“…In these images, industry was frequently placed in an idealised landscape that stressed its Arcadian qualities, as seen in Henry Gastineau's Wales Illustrated (1831). 42 Welsh critics of such schemes feared a 'scramble for Wales' but endorsed similar ideas. 33 Other trends reinforced this view of rural Wales as a place of purity and a region that was supposed to be in 'every way by nature favourable to health, both as regards air and water'.…”

Building a Dam, Constructing a Nation: The ‘drowning’ of Capel Celyn

“…The Liverpool Corporation's turn to rural Wales to secure water supply was not a new decision. The Tryweryn scheme represented a new episode of a dominant nature‐state relationship, in which Welsh water was supplied English cities from the 19th century onwards (Hechter, ; Roberts, ; Whitehead et al, ). Examples of this relationship include the creation of Llyn Efyrnwy in the 1880s and Elan Valley reservoirs in 1906 to supply water to the cities of Liverpool and Birmingham respectively (Griffiths, ).…”

“…In 1923, a group of towns in the north‐west of England, including Warrington, planned to dam the Ceiriog river in north‐east Wales for the supply of water. This scheme was ultimately defeated by the mobilisation of local opposition, assisted by influential supporters in the British Houses of Parliament (Roberts, ).…”

“…Within the equivalence of the flooding of Capel Celyn and the destruction of Welsh culture, the Tryweryn scheme became a signifier of a wider conflict between Welsh culture and the demands of English cities (Griffiths, ; Roberts, ). The cultural character of Capel Celyn was fused with storylines that invoked both the assertion of the Welsh nation's need for greater decision‐making powers and the territorialisation of water resources.…”

“…The notion of the English exploitation of Welsh water resources formed a central element in the territorial politics of Welsh nationalism, arguing that the flooding of Welsh villages represented the appropriation of the Welsh landscape by English interests (Gruffudd, ; Roberts, ). The Times () described the protests as arguing for “Welsh resources for the Welsh...…”