‍ ‍Castell Einion Sais

The Brecknock Society is pleased to announce it has been awarded a grant of £1,950 from Bannau Brycheiniog’s Sustainable Development Fund for a community archaeology project to explore a site on the Penpont Estate known as ‘Castell Einion Sais’.

‍ The ‘castle’ is said to have belonged to Welsh landowner Einion ap Hywel who lived in the mid to late 1200s. He was nicknamed ‘Sais’ because he had served in the army of the English King, but was probably a descendant of the last Welsh ruler of Brycheiniog as well as an ancestor of Dafydd Gam and the Games family.

‍ ‍In 1805, historian Theophilus Jones described the former building as a ‘castellated mansion’ but the ruins had already been removed during re-landscaping by the Penpont estate in the 1790s. Only the faintest traces are visible on the ground today, but new LiDAR images hint that it may once have been a moated site.

‍ ‍The project will take place on Wednesday 5 and Thursday 6 August and will use non-invasive geophysical techniques to try to confirm the presence of a moat, and look for other structures within or around it. The work will be undertaken by community volunteers and led by archaeologist Jennifer Muller. The public will be able to come and see the work in progress and view displays about the project.

‍ We hope that the project will help to shed light on a turbulent but little understood time in the history of Breconshire, in particular on the role of ‘native’ Welsh gentry in a marcher lordship notionally run by Anglo-Normans. It may also help further our understanding of moated sites in the county, of which there is a cluster in the Llynfi basin but no others known west of Brecon. It also aims to give volunteers hands-on experience of archaeology, and to promote interest in the history of Breconshire more widely.

‍ ‍Bannau Brycheiniog’s Sustainable Development Fund supports projects that help improve quality of life in communities – protecting and enhancing the local environment, helping people to live healthy and fulfilled lives now and in the future. For more information, see: Sustainable Development Fund | Brecon Beacons National Park Authority  https://beacons-npa.gov.uk/communities/substainable-development-fund/

The project will be run with the support of the Penpont Estate https://www.penpont.com and the Action for Conservation charity https://www.actionforconservation.org