Name: Llanwddyn
Age: Pretty old. Though not as old as Zakhiku.
I don’t know what Zakhiku is – can we stick to Llanwddyn for now? I’m thinking maybe something in Wales? Correctamundo! It’s a village in the Vyrnwy valley in Montgomeryshire. The name comes from a saint named Wddyn, said to have lived in a nearby cave in the sixth century.
So, appearance? Wild, unkempt, possibly naked.
Not Wddyn! Llanwddyn, the village. Oh, sorry: 37 houses, a church, two chapels, three pubs, a few shops – though we are talking about the mid-19th century here.
Fascinating. And what is its recent significance? Wait, we’ll get to that, but first to the 1880s.
Go on, what happened in the 1880s? Llanwddyn became submerged.
Punishment by God? The villagers spending too much time in the pubs, not the chapels? “The fountains of the Great Deep burst apart and the floodgates of heaven broke open …” Actually, it was the Liverpool Corporation Waterworks.
How so? Well, the rapidly growing city of Liverpool needed a source of fresh water and the Vyrnwy valley was selected for the construction of a dam and reservoir. The village was demolished, the valley flooded, and the level of the new lake reached the lip of the dam on 22 November 1889.
What about the villagers? Not consulted, and not happy, though a new village was built for them below the dam.
And now? During droughts, reservoir levels fall …
I think I can see where this is going. Yes, old Llanwddyn is back, back, back. This happened once before, in the drought of 1976, and it’s happening now. The reservoir is only 60% full, and the water level is so low that old Llanwddyn has reemerged, revealing the foundations of lost buildings, a bridge and dry-stone walls.
It’s like that French TV drama, The Returned. Thankfully, there are no reports of any dead people returning. Yet …
Not to be confused with: Haweswater in Cumbria, as described in Sarah Hall’s brilliant 2002 novel of the same name; any number of other villages flooded to make reservoirs; Zakhiku.
Oh, yeah, so what is that? Earlier this year, the low level of the Mosul reservoir in Iraq led to the appearance what archeologists think is the 3,400-year-old city Zakhiku of the Mittani empire. The recent drought has also seen the emergence of human bones in Lake Mead in Nevada, a Roman camp in Galicia, Spain, and an ancient bridge in Yorkshire.
Do say: “Wake up! There is no Planet B.”
Don’t say: (In your best Scouse accent) “Why’s there no water coming out of the tap, just a load of old Welsh singing …”
