Welsh Journals

specialist: it makes the general reader far more likely to trust some of the assertions made elsewhere in the book. This book makes a valuable contribution to local studies in Breconshire. It provides a much-needed modern interpretation of place-names (such as that of Builth Wells) and backs it up with meticulous research. It should dramatically increase the understanding of the general reader in this area, and with good production values and a reasonable price it deserves to do very well indeed. The authors are to be warmly congratulated on such a fine piece of work. GORDON REID AN UPROOTED COMMUNITY: A HISTORY OF EPYNT, Herbert Hughes, Gomer, 1998 This is a well-produced, generously illustrated and reasonably priced book on a subject that should appeal to many readers of Brycheiniog. In 1940 the Government requisitioned land on Epynt for an artillery range; this resulted in the eviction of over 200 people from fifty-four farms. The guns are still there but the people never returned to Epynt. The author uses this dramatic and emotive event as an opportunity to look back on the history of this close-knit, largely Welsh-speaking, rural area. In the Introduction Hughes explains his intention as being to 'convey some of the flavours and colours of a community that was lost'. A useful first chapter explains the location, boundaries and geology as well as some of the pre-history of the area covered in the book. Subsequent chapters examine the parts played by church and chapel, home and school in the lives of the population. Details of daily life beween 1880 and 1940 provide many insights into the attitudes of the inhabitants and they underline how rapid change has been in the period since 1940. In the era before the motorcar became ubiquitous in upland Breconshire, people had to rely on their own knowledge and expertise in matters ranging from farming to household management and entertainment. There are chapters on the drovers whose routes crossed the Epynt and on some of the characters from the community, including John Penry the radical puritan whose intransigence led to his execution in 1593. The last two chapters examine the process of requisitioning, the opposition it provoked and the final days of the community. The penultimate section of the book examines in some detail the responses of local people and pressure groups to the threat posed in 1940. The careful line that Gwynfor Evans trod-protecting Welsh interests but not wishing to appear anti- English when the German threat was at its height-makes fascinating reading.