Thursday, July 13, 2006

Attack on the Birmingham Water Pipeline, 1952

Many people are aware of the bomb attacks in Wales during the 1960s, far less well known is an earlier incident which occured in Radnorshire on Sunday 19th October 1952.

The explosion at the Fron aquaduct near Crossgates caused a good deal of damage but failed to destroy the pipeline itself. Happening as it did just a few days before the Queen was due to open the new Claerwen reservoir on Thursday 23rd October, the explosion led to increased police activity against the Welsh Republican Movement, a small but influential group of left-wing nationalists. In May 1953, a 29 year old machine operator from Bangor, Peter Lewis, was convicted of sentenced to 18 months in jail for possesing explosives but no-one was ever convicted of the attack..

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