Tourist history project showcases wartime evacuation plans for MI5

Should Britain have been invaded by Germany during the Second World War, double agents working for MI5 would have been evacuated to North Wales and hidden in hotels.

This is the revelation being showcased as part of a tourist history project designed to bring the past to life in parts of Britain outside the major cities.

Using QR codes put in place on buildings by the HistoryPoints project, visitors will be able to use their smartphones to bring up websites detailing the past life of a particular location.

The Evans Hotel in Llandudno, the Eagles Hotel in Llanrwst and the Swallow Falls Hotel in Betws-y-Coed are sure to be particularly interesting, as it has been revealed these would have become the evacuation sites for security service personnel and their families.

Under the plan, codenamed Mr Mills' Circus, the MI5 agents would be smuggled away from London and into Wales in the event of a Nazi invasion to prevent them being captured and passing information to the enemy.

MI5's Captain Finney was tasked with making the arrangement for "the animals, their young, and their keepers" and successfully did so - but the plans were never required and eventually scrapped once the threat of invasion abated in 1943.

Rhodri Clark, editor of HistoryPoints.org, said: "We hope our coverage ... helps today's residents and visitors to appreciate the role Wales played as a shelter for so many people, objects and establishments."