Just 90 minutes from Gloucestershire lies a haunting reminder of a community erased by war. The village of Epynt in mid-Wales was once home to over 200 residents, whose families had cultivated farms and nurtured this close-knit community for generations. However, in the early months of World War II, this tranquility was shattered forever.
In September 1939, following the outbreak of war, an Army officer arrived to assess this remote area. By Christmas, the Ministry of Defence issued eviction orders to every farm across the 30,000-acre expanse. Residents, many of whom spoke only Welsh and whose farm names baffled the officer, were given until April 1940 to abandon their homes. The land was urgently required to create a vast military training facility known today as the Sennybridge Training Area.
Despite heartfelt appeals and hopes that the displacement would be temporary, the community’s fate was sealed. Families were forced to relocate, often far from their ancestral farms, with little choice about where to go. Believing they might return after the war, many clung to their homes. Thomas Morgan famously made daily visits to light a fire and protect his farmhouse walls from decay, only to be told by soldiers that his home had been destroyed.
READ MORE: Beckhams Seek Approval to Illuminate Controversial Cotswolds Pond Without Disturbing Bats
READ MORE: ‘Dangerous’ Roads Criticized as Potholes Twice Damage Private Hire Driver’s Car in Months
Today, nearly all original buildings have vanished, with only the Drovers Arms Inn and the old chapel’s graveyard remaining as silent witnesses to the past. The graves preserve the legacy of the families who once thrived there, while nearby country lanes and walking trails trace the footprints of a lost community.
The story of Epynt is a poignant chapter in Welsh history, overshadowed by other wartime sacrifices but no less significant. The site is now a military training ground where the echoes of gunfire intermingle with the flight of red kites and the roaming of sheep. Visitors to the Epynt Way can explore this area, mindful of its past and the resilience of the people who were forced to say goodbye to their homes — a sacrifice made in the shadow of global conflict but remembered in the weathered stones of a forgotten village.