At the beginning of the Second World War, the War Office urgently needed extra land and facilities for training purposes. Mynydd Epynt was chosen, but with no consultation with local people. The people living on the land were asked to leave by 30 June 1940. Landowners received payments amounting to the value of their property and compensation for items such as fencing. If you had no property you received no compensation. Some of the people of Epynt found accommodation nearby. Others had to move further away.

The Training Area encompasses a wide range of sites of different periods, in varying conditions, and its continued existence has preserved an historic landscape as it was pre-1939, unchanged by modern farming methods. It contains three Sites of Special Scientific Interest. 173 types of trees and plants have been recorded. There are at least ninety species of birds, and over fifty types of fungi, including the wax-cap mushroom, and red squirrels and wild mink have been seen. A conservation centre has been opened at Disgwylfa.

Photo taken 2007