Research Notes:

Einion the second son of Rhys ap Hywel, whose attainder has been noticed, embraced a military life and served our third Edward in the memorable battles of Cressy and Poictiers; after a long residence in England he returned to his native country with considerable opulence and married the rich heiress of Howel, lord of Miscin in Glamorganshire; he became possessed by purchase of nearly the whole of what is now called the hundred of Devynnock, from Llywel on the borders of Carmarthenshire to the river Tarell near Brecon. He built a castellated mansion for his residence in the parish of Llandspyddid, lately called the castle field, now the property of Penry Williams of Penpont, esquire: it is described to have been situated on the fall of a small brook into the Usk, near Bettws or Penpont chapel: there is still an unevenness in the surface of the ground, though there are not now the smallest vestiges of buildings remaining; Hugh Thomas, who wrote in 1698, recollects to have seen the ruins, and there are others living who remember the rubbish being removed and the soil cleared of the stones and materials of the walls: it was called from the owner, Castell Einion Sais, or Einion the Englishman's castle, an appellation by which the Welsh to this day sometimes distinguish not only the English settlers among them, but also their own countrymen who have been brought up and educated in England. ³