When families attempted to go back, they were informed, ‘It’s gone, you won’t need to come here anymore’. Share Article Share Article Facebook X LinkedIn Reddit Bluesky Email Copy Link Link copied Bookmark Comments
Once a locale encompassing several farms, a tavern, graveyard and over 200 denizens whose ancestors had cultivated the soil for countless years, Epynt was brought to near total quiet in just a few months. Its long-standing society disappeared entirely, leaving behind empty dwellings and missing animals. A majority of the homes were soon destroyed.
In September of 1939, following the start of the Second World War, an Army officer arrived to inspect this far-flung area of mid Wales. By the time Christmas arrived, each farm (whose titles the officer struggled to articulate) was issued orders, advising the shocked residents that they had until April 1940 to leave their age-old homesteads.
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The Ministry of Defence had designated the locale’s 30,000 acres as a zone for practice. The inhabitants were told that their forfeiture was vital to the war effort, and that they would be compensated for the trouble brought about.
With bombs now deployed, the War Office critically needed more terrain and facilities. For just a short while in 1940, the mostly Welsh-speaking community thought they had gotten the MoD to reconsider its strategy. However, with Hitler’s Nazis moving across Europe, London refused the troubled community’s appeals, ordering them to find new residences elsewhere in order to raise their families and care for their animals, Wales Online has said.
Sadly, the 54 farming families who were made to move possessed few local possibilities and many had no choice but to depart from the region. Many believed that this moving would be short-term and that they would go back once the war was over.
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But, the MoD continues to this day to possess the 30,000 acres of Mynydd Epynt, today known as the Sennybridge Training Area, which continues to be utilised for drills and live ammunition usage by British soldiers.
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Almost every original structure, including the farmhouses, has been destroyed — but The Drovers Arms Inn pub still stands, together with the headstones in the graveyard. These are nearly the only remnants of the families who lived there 80 years prior in what was more of a community than a village with clear borders. Although satellite shots on Google Maps reveal a small grid of streets in the locale, many are unavailable on Street View.
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‘We’ve blown up the farmhouse — you won’t need to come here anymore’
In 1940, families still expected to, sooner or later, remain – or at least return. As recently as March of that year, St David’s Day festivities occurred at the chapel, known as Capel y Babell. One man, Thomas Morgan, was known to often head back to start a fire in his hearth, protecting the stone from weather until his family’s awaited arrival. He continued this daily habit until two soldiers brought him sad news: his home had been taken down. They said: “We’ve blown up the farmhouse. You won’t need to come here anymore.”
Bethan Price, a descendant from one of Epynt’s families, shared that her great-grandmother had left a key in her front door lock, never giving up on hoping to return. Conversely, others noticed the permanent nature of their leaving. One woman even demanded to take her front door with her when she left the village. For numerous residents it signified the end of a chapter, with their known world disappearing forever.
In June of 1940 the school and chapel closed their doors, the Army started taking apart hedges, and on July 1st 1940, intense artillery shelling began. According to NFU Cymru, Elwyn Davies, who was 10 at the time, recalled his grandmother’s mandated move, ultimately going to Carmarthenshire: “It was a very grim time. It was war time, and there weren’t a lot of choices near to where she lived. Just a week after she left, they flattened her house. They flattened everything.”
Iowerth Paete, who formerly worked as curator at St Fagans National Museum of History, was asked to document the moment with his camera. He recalled seeing horses dragging carts packed with personal items along the road leading away from the village, and an old woman crying as she sat in a chair outside the home that she was being required to give up.
Current MP Ben Lake, whose grandmother Beryl Lake was the last child delivered at Epynt, mentioned to NFU Cymru: “The seizing of Epynt 80 years ago is a major but often forgotten part of the story of Wales. A full community was moved, and families had to leave farms that had been worked by their family for ages.”
However, irrespective of the anger felt at the time, speaking out against it was perceived as hurting the war attempt and the Allied fight against Hitler. As a result, the mandatory departure from Epynt never reached the same importance as, as an example, Capel Celyn in Tryweryn Valley, which was deliberately flooded in 1965 to give drinking water to Liverpool households.
Indeed, eight decades following, Epynt’s legacy has lessened – similarly to the words of its prior people engraved into the worn headstones at its 19th century chapel.
Can you visit Epynt today?
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Visitors are able to explore the Epynt Way by means of different walking paths of differing lengths in which “sheep wander without worries on artillery grounds and red kites climb high above troops doing drills” but “the sound of the wind is interrupted by booming mortars”. The Epynt Way visitor hub, found within a standard farmhouse, gives instruction to visitors: “If you come across any military materials, there’s no need to be anxious, you are secure but make certain to not pick things up. You could encounter soldiers in training but you are more apt to see red kites, hares and other animals.”