The windswept plateau in central Wales, near the village of Sennybridge in Powys, was once home to a thriving Welsh-speaking farming society whose roots stretched back generations. During World War 2, this community was evicted to make way for what is now the third largest military training area in the United Kingdom. The disappearance of Mynydd Epynt remains one of the most controversial episodes in modern Welsh history.
For many Welsh people, Epynt stands alongside the flooding of Capel Celyn as a symbol of a community sacrificed in the name of a greater national cause. The slogan “Cofiwch Epynt” (“Remember Epynt”) continues to appear on walls and roadside signs across Wales, ensuring that the story is not forgotten.
The 'Cofiwch Fynydd Epynt' (Remember Epynt Mountain) mural, in Llanrug. Credit: Daily Post
Mynydd Epynt lies in a vast upland region at an altitude of 409 meters between the Brecon Beacons and the Cambrian Mountains. For centuries the area supported a network of farms, chapels, schools, inns, and scattered homesteads connected by ancient drovers' roads. The inns and chapels were part of an active Welsh-speaking community, where cultural events such as Eisteddfodau and Gymanfa Ganu were held regularly.
In late 1939 and early 1940, letters began arriving at farmhouses across the mountain. The notices informed residents that their homes and land were required for military purposes and that they would have to leave. The government promised compensation and stressed that the acquisition was necessary for the war effort. The residents were given up to April 1940 to evacuate the village. When the villagers appealed to the Army that the end of April was in the middle of the lambing season, they were given another month to sell their animals and find somewhere to move.
A similar story of wartime evacuation: Imber And Tyneham
Opposition was voiced by local politicians and residents, but wartime conditions made resistance difficult. There was no great protest, just disbelief.
A total of fifty-four farms and a public house were affected, and more than 200 residents were ordered to leave. The Army ultimately took possession of roughly 30,000 acres of land.
At that time, many residents believed the move would be temporary. They assumed that once the war ended, they would return to their farms. Some reportedly left keys in their doors, returning to keep the homes in a habitable condition and even continuing to plough the fields. One resident, Thomas Morgan, returned to his house everyday to light a fire in the hearth. Morgan was repeatedly warned to stop returning, but he continued to come to his house. One day, he reached the village to find that the house where he had grown up in had been reduced to a pile of stone and rubble. A military officer approached him and said ‘We’ve blown up the farmhouse. You won’t need to come here anymore’.
Old farm houses in Mynydd Epynt.
The human tragedy of Epynt was captured by Welsh folklorist and museum curator Iorwerth Peate, who visited the area during the final days of the clearance. He later recalled meeting an elderly woman sitting outside her home, a house where she, her father, and her grandfather had all been born. When Peate told her he was from Cardiff, she replied in Welsh: “Go back there as soon as you can. It's the end of the world here.”
Peate met another younger lady at another property who asked “Do you think I could take the front door with me, to remember the old place?”
By June 1940 the clearances were complete. The military transformed the area into what became the Sennybridge Training Area, now the largest military training range in Wales, and the third largest in the United Kingdom. Troops trained there throughout the war and continued to do so after peace returned.
Over the decades many of the original buildings disappeared. Chapels, houses, and farm structures were damaged or destroyed during military exercises. Roads were closed and ancient rights of way vanished behind security fences. In 1988 the Army even constructed a mock village for urban warfare training.
Historians have argued that the Epynt Clearance dealt a severe blow to Welsh culture in eastern Wales. The area had been a stronghold of the Welsh language, and dispersing its inhabitants accelerated the decline of Welsh-speaking communities in the region. Some commentators have described the event as “the death blow” to Welsh-speaking Breconshire.
Today visitors driving around the perimeter of the training area encounter memorials, information boards, and occasional reminders painted on walls: “Cofiwch Epynt”—Remember Epynt.
The slogan reflects a determination to keep alive the memory of a community that vanished in wartime.
References:
# Review: Mynydd Epynt a’r Troad Allan yn 1940 by Herbert Hughes. Nation.Cymru
# ‘It’s the end of the world’: Why we should remember the clearing of Epynt 80 years on. Nation.Cymru
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