Mynydd Epynt
Mynydd Epynt is a large, open moorland plateau situated in the county of Powys, in the heart of mid-Wales. Rising to around 475 metres at its highest points, it forms a broad, rounded upland mass that stretches across roughly 40 square miles of mid-Welsh terrain. The name Epynt derives from the Welsh, most commonly interpreted as meaning "horse track" or "horse path," a reflection of the area's long association with hardy upland ponies that once grazed its open grazing grounds. It is notable today not only for its dramatic and austere natural beauty but also for its complex and often poignant human history, shaped profoundly by military occupation that has defined the character of the landscape for nearly a century.
The most significant event in the modern history of Mynydd Epynt occurred in 1940, when the British War Office compulsorily purchased approximately 40,000 acres of this upland landscape to create the Sennybridge Training Area, known in Welsh as Maes Tanio Epynt. This decision resulted in the forced eviction of around 54 farming families — approximately 400 people — who had lived and worked on the moor for generations, many of them Welsh-speaking. The displacement was carried out with very little warning and almost no compensation, and it represented a devastating blow to one of the most intact Welsh-speaking rural communities in Powys. The community that was lost included farms, chapels, a school, and a pub, The Drover's Arms at Bailea, all of which were swept away. The event remains a deeply emotive moment in Welsh cultural memory, representing not just the loss of livelihoods but the erasure of a living Welsh-speaking culture. Plaques and memorials now stand on the moor acknowledging this history, and the eviction is sometimes referred to in Welsh as "Trychinad Epynt," the Tragedy of Epynt.
Before the twentieth century, Mynydd Epynt had been inhabited and used for thousands of years. The landscape is scattered with prehistoric remains, including Bronze Age burial mounds and cairns, standing stones, and earthworks, pointing to human activity stretching back more than three millennia. Drovers once used the ancient tracks across the plateau to move cattle and sheep from the farms of west Wales eastward toward the English markets, and these droving routes gave the moor much of its historical character as a thoroughfare of Welsh rural life. The ponies associated with the area — a distinct semi-feral type of Welsh Mountain Pony — were historically rounded up in annual gatherings that were important social occasions for local communities.
In person, Mynydd Epynt is a place of austere, wind-scoured beauty. The plateau is largely open, covered with rough grasses, heather, bilberry, and bog cotton, with the occasional dark stand of conifer plantation breaking the skyline. The land is wide and exposed, and the sky tends to dominate — on clear days, the views extend south toward the Brecon Beacons, north toward the hills of mid-Wales, and west into the heartland of Ceredigion. The light here changes rapidly, with cloud shadows racing across the tawny moorland, and the wind is almost always present in some form, bending the grasses and carrying the occasional call of a curlew or a skylark. There is a quality of solitude and remoteness here that is rare even in Wales, partly a function of the military presence that has limited casual access for generations.
The surrounding area is rich in interest. To the south lies the Brecon Beacons National Park, and the market town of Brecon is only a short drive away, offering accommodation, shops, and cultural amenities. To the north-west, the town of Llanwrtyd Wells — often cited as the smallest town in Britain — sits in the valley of the River Irfon and acts as a hub for walking, cycling, and the famous Man versus Horse Marathon. The River Usk and the Usk Valley lie to the south, while the valleys of the Irfon and the Camddwr drain the northern flanks of the plateau. The A470, one of Wales's main north-south arteries, and the A483 both pass within reasonable distance, making Epynt accessible despite its feeling of remoteness.
Access to Mynydd Epynt requires awareness of its military status. The Sennybridge Training Area is an active military firing range, and much of the central portion of the moor is closed to the public at all times. However, the Ministry of Defence has permitted a waymarked route known as the Epynt Way — a circular trail of approximately 55 miles — to run around the perimeter of the military land, offering walkers access to the open character of the plateau without entering the restricted zone. Red flags and red lights are displayed when the range is active, and the military timetable can be checked in advance. The nearest town with significant facilities is Brecon to the south, and Builth Wells lies to the north. There is no public transport serving the heart of the moor directly, so a car is essentially necessary. The best times to visit are late spring through early autumn, when the weather is most forgiving, though even summer can bring sudden mist and cold winds at this elevation. Winter visits are possible but the tracks can become very boggy and the weather harsh.
One of the more haunting details of Epynt is that several of the old farmsteads evacuated in 1940 still exist as ruins within the military zone, slowly being reclaimed by the moorland vegetation. Occasionally, when access permits or on organized heritage events, visitors have been able to walk among these ghostly remains. A small chapel, Capel y Babell, survived in some form for decades after the evictions and became a focus of annual remembrance services held by descendants of the displaced families, a tradition that continued well into the late twentieth century and into the twenty-first. The moor also supports notable wildlife, including red kite, peregrine falcon, and populations of upland wading birds. The Epynt Way itself has won admirers among long-distance walkers for the way it captures the elemental quality of this overlooked corner of Wales — a landscape that carries both the deep time of its prehistoric past and the very recent wound of its twentieth-century dispossession in the same wide, windswept breath.