PROTEST June 2001 Councillor Gwen Griffith (far left) led the fight to stop the Cochwillan Estate (part of the Penrhyn Estate) lowering the level of the dam by 2.5 metres, which would have effectively removed the lake itself and just left huge amounts of silt at the bottom of the lake. Next to her is Mary Griffiths, now 93 and oldest surviving original resident in the village, who proclaimed "The lake has been there since before I was born. They mustn't destroy it."