Free Wales Army

The Free Wales Army (FWA; Welsh: Byddin Rhyddid Cymru) was a Welsh nationalist paramilitary organisation formed in Lampeter in Ceredigion (formerly Cardiganshire) by Julian Cayo-Evans in 1963. Its objective was to establish an independent Welsh republic.

Free Wales Army
Welsh: Byddin Rhyddid Cymru
Flag of the Free Wales Army
Leaders	Julian Cayo-Evans Dennis Coslett
Dates of operation	1963–1969
Headquarters	Lampeter, Ceredigion, Wales
Active regions	Wales
Ideology	Welsh nationalism Welsh republicanism
Allies	Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru Irish Republican Army (alleged)
Opponents	United Kingdom

History

Overview

The FWA first appeared in public at a 1965 protest against the construction of the Llyn Celyn reservoir.^[1] In 1966 they took part in Irish celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising, marching in Dublin.^[2] A 1967 late-night television interview with David Frost brought the group to the attention of a wider audience.^[3] The group courted publicity,^[1] and its leaders attracted a great deal of media attention with extravagant claims of financial support from millionaires, "links with the IRA and Basque separatists," dogs trained to carry explosives, etc.^[4] Members wore home-made uniforms and marched in historic sites like Machynlleth, as well as carrying out manoeuvres with small arms and explosives in the Welsh countryside and claiming responsibility for many of Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru's bombings.^[3][4][5]

Militancy

The organisation attempted a single militant action of its own, which involved a failed bombing of the water pipeline connecting the Elan Valley Reservoirs to Birmingham.^[6][7] In his biography, John Jenkins recounted how an associate of Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru (MAC) had been contacted by the FWA in February 1967, requesting that they be supplied with an explosive device.^[7] Being both the leader and bomb manufacturer of MAC, Jenkins decided to agree, and through a chain of contacts, supplied the FWA with the gelignite device as requested, while maintaining the identity of its manufacturer a secret.^[6][7]

Following weeks of scouting the pipeline, the group had identified a section they believed to be vulnerable at Cefn Penarth near Llandrindod Wells, where the line crossed a river via the Fron Aqueduct.^[8][7] Planted in late February, the intention was for the device to detonate in the early hours of the morning, totally destroying the midsection of the pipe and dominating the news headlines on Saint David's Day shortly after.^[7] The bomb, an inflated car inner tube with forty sticks of gelignite and a detonator attached, was tied to a tree with a rope before being lowered down an access manhole, where the flowing water pulled it towards the pipe's interior midsection.^[6][9] Having primed the bomb to detonate at 3 a.m., the would-be saboteurs fled the scene, leaving the device suspended in the pipe.^[10] The following morning, Dennis Coslett telephoned the Western Mail news desk to announce the attack and, speaking to the confused and dismissive editor John Humphries, stated, "There's a bomb in the pipeline for you, Humphries!"^[10][6] However, unbeknownst to Coslett, the bomb had failed to detonate and was subsequently discovered by Tom Powell, a local sheep farmer, who informed the authorities.^[6][10] British Army bomb disposal units from Western Command were dispatched to dismantle the device and safely detonated it in a nearby forest.^[11] Coslett later recounted how the operation had unfolded, and had cited a priming error made as a result of the group's haste during execution.^[7] Following the failure of the bombing, Jenkins made the decision to never trust the FWA with another device and employed a far stricter approach to his own operations, later stating in his biography, "They made a mess of it."^[12]

The Aberfan disaster

In September 1967, the group advocated for families of victims of the Aberfan disaster, whose compensation claims were being blocked by the Charity Commission, "marching on their behalf and working behind the scenes for them."^[1][4] The organisation was made aware of the dispute by John Summers, a freelance journalist who had been contacted by victims of the disaster looking for support.^[13][14] Upon being informed, Dennis Coslett and Dai Bonar Thomas met with the Aberfan Parents and Residents Association to discuss what immediate action could be taken to support the victims.^[15] The following day, the FWA hosted a press conference at the Morlais Arms public house in nearby Merthyr Tydfil, at which an ultimatum to the involved authorities was issued, in the presence of journalists, which read:

If a sum of £5,000 was not paid within a week to each of the bereaved families of Aberfan then the Active Service Units of the Free Wales Army would take immediate action. The Merthyr Tydfil Town Hall, the Committee Rooms of the Fund, plus the offices of the solicitor being paid to act as Secretary/Treasurer of the Fund would all be blown up. If, after this, nothing was still done, then the County Government Offices would be blasted, and following that the Government Offices in Cardiff would be destroyed...^[16]

There was alleged to be a significant turnout of uniformed members of the paramilitary present at the conference, who subsequently marched along the high street of the town while brandishing flags and chanting hymns.^[16][17] Given the campaign of MAC bombings that had occurred in Wales in the years preceding the disaster, there is some reason to believe that the ultimatum may not have been taken lightly by the authorities. Notably, the shadowy group had attacked the Clywedog Reservoir construction site a year preceding the disaster, causing an estimated £30,000 in damages and delaying construction by six months.^[18][19] The MAC saboteurs responsible had planted an FWA cap near the site of the explosion to deliberately mislead the authorities, and no suspect was ever identified.^[18] It is not known how much of an impact this intervention ultimately had on the outcome of the dispute; the commission agreed on the following Friday that the amount of £5,000 was to be paid to the victims.^[16][20]

Trial and imprisonment

The group was generally not taken seriously by the media,^[1] and one government memo warned against "taking the organisation's activities too seriously" saying this "would give to it an unmerited importance and publicity which its leaders are plainly seeking".^[21] However, against a backdrop of Welsh nationalist bombings and protests against the investiture of Charles III as Prince of Wales, the FWA presented an appealing target to the government. In 1969, nine members were arrested and charged with public order offences.^[4][5] The trial, in Swansea, lasted 53 days, ending on the day of the investiture.^[5] On the first day of the trial the defendants were "greeted with an impromptu recital of Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau from the public gallery."^[4] Almost all of the prosecution's evidence came from journalists who had reported the group's claims.^[4][5] Julian Cayo-Evans, his second-in-command, Dennis Coslett (who refused to speak English throughout the trial), Gethin ap Gruffydd, and three other members were convicted; Cayo-Evans and Coslett spent 15 months in jail.^[4]

Present at the trial was Saunders Lewis, a founding member and former president of Plaid Cymru. Lewis had himself been among "the Three" convicted for arson during the Tân yn Llŷn (Fire in Llŷn) protest at Penyberth in 1936, likely explaining his sympathies for the accused.^[22] Allegedly, Lewis "never forgave" the then president of the party, Gwynfor Evans, for refusing to attend the trial or show support for the FWA men.^[23]

Rumoured IRA links

The FWA was rumoured to have received arms from the Official IRA (OIRA), although Cayo-Evans later denied this.^[3] In Ireland, one rumour—used against the OIRA by its rivals within Irish Republicanism—was that the OIRA had given or sold most of its weapons to the FWA as part of its turn away from political violence, leaving it defenceless when intercommunal violence erupted in Northern Ireland in August 1969.^{[24][25][26][27]} Scott Millar, co-author of a history of the OIRA, wrote that there was contact between the two groups (including FWA members training in Ireland)^[28] but no large-scale transfer of arms took place.^{[29][unreliable source?]}

Symbols

The army's motto was "Fe godwn ni eto", Welsh for "We shall rise again".^[30] Its adopted symbol was Yr Eryr Wen ("The White Eagle"), a shorthand heraldic white eagle that adorned the flags and uniforms of the organisation. The symbol was designed in 1952 by Harri Webb, a republican socialist poet who edited The Welsh Republican throughout the 1950s.^[31][32][33] Drawing from the ancient Welsh poetic tradition, the eagle is intended to represent the eagles of Snowdonia, which in Welsh mythology are said to protect Wales. This symbolism features in Llywarch ap Llywelyn's 13th century poem, Mab Darogan. Translated from Middle Welsh into English, the poem reads: "Myrddin's prophecy is that a king shall come with heroism from among the Welsh people. Prophets have said that generous men shall be reborn of the lineage of the eagles of Snowdonia."

The Cofiwch Dryweryn mural near Llanrhystud, Ceredigion. The Eryr Wen is visible on the top right of the wall, photographed in 2019.

While the FWA adopted the Eryr Wen, the paramilitary's association with the symbol has seen its legacy endure into the present day. During the Meibion Glyndŵr arson campaign throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the symbol was often seen as graffiti or daubed on the ruins of burnt-out holiday homes.^[34] Nationalist murals across Wales frequently feature the symbol, the most notable of these being the Cofiwch Dryweryn (Remember Tryweryn) mural near Llanrhystud, Ceredigion.^[35] More recently, the symbol has returned to prominence as a result of the socialist republican youth movement, Mudiad Eryr Wen (Movement of the White Eagle). In addition to adopting both its namesake and symbolism, the movement has painted the symbol on defaced English-language road signs on numerous occasions.^[36][37]

Legacy

In 2000, the Apollo Hotel on Cathedral Road in Cardiff was rebranded by brewers Tomos Watkins as the Cayo Arms in reference to Julian-Cayo Evans, and a hanging pub sign in his likeness was present outside the front of the pub.^[38][39]However, the pub later closed for refurbishment and was subsequently reopened in 2018 as the Pontcanna Inn by the City Pub Company.^[40]

In 2005, the Western Mail newspaper published information from The National Archives, asserting that Cayo-Evans had a "mental age of 12", and that Coslett was "unbalanced". These claims have been disputed by those close to the men, with writer and artist Robert ap Steffan stating in 2005: "Cayo was a highly intelligent man and Dennis was well loved in his home town of Llanelli, it's ridiculous to call them undeveloped or unbalanced. They were both tough guys who did not suffer fools but to call them that is over the top. I would expect a thing like that – ridiculing the enemy – but I had tremendous respect for both of them and Cayo was a fabulous individual, one of the last great characters of West Wales." Similarly, the writer Meic Stephens commented: "I did not really know Coslett but I met Cayo several times and I don't remember him being retarded, I always found him a charming lad and great company late at night. He always seemed to have a sunny temperament and he was a wonderful accordion player. We talked about horses most of the time and he seemed to be perfectly ordinary and normal."^[41]

In 2009, photos of the group's exercises taken by undercover police officers (and introduced as evidence at the 1969 trial) were brought out of storage and put on display in a museum exhibit.^[42]

In 2025, the ITN Archive published archived footage of the FWA to YouTube. This included an interview with Julian Cayo-Evans and the then Plaid Cymru president, Gwynfor Evans.^[43]