THE story of Cefnllys is one of war, struggle and defiance during the turbulent Middle Ages. The village, near Llandrindod Wells, witnessed the destruction of its nearby castle - not once but twice - and would eventually become a ghost town. The poet Lewys Glyn Cothi wrote: A white castle above a full moat, An eight-sided fortress above a loop of the Ieithon, A Greek fortress with twelve girdles, The name of the place is Cefn llys, The name of that fortress is to be found In the great Brut of the Mortimers. The village was founded at the same time as the first stone castle was built on top of the nearby hill in the 1240s and had grown to gain borough status by 1304.