Glyntawe is a hamlet and parish on the upper reaches of the River Tawe in Powys, Wales, in the community of Tawe-Uchaf. It has always been sparsely populated. Today it attracts tourists for outdoor activities in the Brecon Beacons National Park and for caving. Location A Topographical Dictionary of Wales (1849) describes Glyntawe as, "a chapelry, attached to the parish of Devynock, in the hundred of Devynock, union and county of Brecknock, South Wales, 15 miles (W. S. W.) from Brecknock. It is situated at the south-western extremity of the extensive parish of Devynock, in a vale between elevated and dreary mountains, not far from the source of the river Tawe." Theophilus Jones in 1809 wrote of Devynock parish that, Prehistory A prehistoric site at Waun Fignen Felen, Glyntawe, has been carefully studied by paleo-ecologists and archaeologists. During the Mesolithic the area contained a small open lake that was gradually choked by weeds. At first it was surrounded by open country, but later this gradually changed to woodland. Stone tools and debris from knapping from the early and late Mesolithic were found in different locations around the lake. They seem to have been occupied only for short periods, and perhaps were hunting camps. Tools at the site are made of stones from some distance away, perhaps acquired by trade. The Ogof yr Esgyrn cave at the source of the Afon Llynfell, part of a very large system of solution caves under the Cribarth plateau to the west of the upper Tawe, was discovered in 1922 and excavated between 1923 and 1950. Finds date from the post-glacial period through the Roman era to historic times. The cave was used for habitation and for burial. The strata from different eras were mixed together, and included a bronze rapier, bronze razor, bronze awl, gold bead, bone awl and weaving comb, as well as pottery sherds from the Bronze Age. History In the Tudor period the Lord of Brecon owned several corn mills, including one in Glyntawe, called Melin Gaeth in Welsh, the villain's mill, where the villeins had to grind their corn. When Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, was convicted of treason they became the property of the crown. Queen Elizabeth I of England granted the mills to one of the Herberts of Crickadarn for sixty years. In 1633 a decree of court established the right to compel tenants of the manor