Llanon in WW II                                     RADAR STATION                           

 Alltwyd and Maesfron farms were requisitioned for the construction of a Chain Home RADAR Establishment. At intervals of 60 miles, these coastal RADAR Stations gave early warning of aircraft approaching Britain, and guided RAF interceptors to their target.

 RAF personnel were accommodated in a base camp built where Cylch Peris is today.  The RAF is reported to have moved out very quietly about the time of D-Day.

CYLCH PERIS CAMP           

	Portrait on a flour sack

 The camp was later used to hold prisoners of war, first Italians and then Germans. The prisoners worked on local farms. Farmers paid their ‘wages’ to the County War Agricultural Executive Committee. Some Italian prisoners lived on the farms. They made willow baskets to earn some pocket money.  One German prisoner was an artist. He asked if he could paint a portrait of Olwyn,  daughter of one of the camp guards. He made a canvas from a white flour sack provided by Llanon bakery.

At the end of the war the camp was used to house displaced persons.

Lawruk Nicholaj was one of 60 at the Llanon Nissan Hut camp.  He came from Market Harborough, having been released from Auschwitz by the Americans. They were working on land drains in Cardiganshire farms for the usual agricultural wages.  They were monoglot but were being taught English.’                                           Welsh Gazette 25.12.1947

Memories of the late Mr Dewi Rowlands