Casgliadau Arlein

Brown paper envelope containing 50 small wooden sticks. It is believed that these kindling sticks were carried by Lewis Valentine, Saunders Lewis and D.J. Williams on 8 September 1936 when they set fire to a workmen's shed at the Penyberth RAF 'bombing school' site. The kindling was left over and given to Edward Jones of Rhosllannerchrugog by Lewis Valentine as a momento. Edward Jones, known as 'Ned y Blaid', was one of the founders of the Rhos branch of Plaid Cymru. He became friends with Lewis Valentine when the latter was a minister at Penuel Chapel, Rhos.

Penyberth - a farmhouse at Penrhos, near Pwllheli, Gwynedd - had been a centre of patronage for Welsh poets for generations. It was destroyed in 1936 in order to build a training camp and aerodrome for the RAF. Opponents to its destruction called the RAF ‘the bombing school’ (in Welsh, yr ysgol fomio). Many Welsh people protested against the setting up of the camp for various reasons – nationalistic, pacifictic and environmentalistic. The Government however went ahead with the scheme. As a result, on 8 September 1936, Saunders Lewis, Lewis Valentine, and D.J. Williams, set fire to a workmen's shed at the site. They immediately gave themselves up to the police and were eventually jailed. The jury at their first trial held at Caernarfon failed to agree on a verdict. A second trial was held on 9 January 1937 at the Old Bailey, London, at which they were found guilty. They served their sentences in Wormwood Scrubs prison and were released on 27 August 1937. On their return to Caernarfon, they were welcomed by a crowd of over 15,000 well wishers. This incident has attained iconic status in Welsh nationalist circles and is known in the Welsh language as Llosgi'r ysgol fomio ("the burning of the bombing school") or Tân yn Llyn ("Fire in Llyn").