A CALL for potential descendants of Flemish invaders received such an enthusiastic response the team behind the project has agreed a deal with a leading DNA testing organisation.

The Heritage Llangwm Team, supported by organisations including the Heritage Lottery Fund, is working to uncover Llangwm’s Flemish roots by testing the DNA of men who’ve already managed to trace their ancestry back over 200 years or more in the area. Ideal candidates have the surname Brock, Stevens, Roche or Cousins – all of which denote a high chance of Flemish ancestry.

Heritage Llangwm’s research officer, Elizabeth Rawlings, says the plan is to see if the saliva samples of volunteers match those held by geneticists in Flanders.

“We had planned to test six people whose history looked promising, and we managed to stretch our funds to increase this to seven,” Elizabeth explained. “But after an article appeared in the Western Telegraph more people contacted us, and we managed to agree a deal with DNACymru, which means if volunteers are happy to pay they can have their DNA tested for £166 rather than the usual £250.”

Graham Stephens, who has traced his Llangwm ancestors back to 1763, provided his sample last week.

“The logic is because people didn’t move around too much pre-1800, if I can trace my male line that far, maybe it goes back several hundred years before that,” said Graham. “It’ll be really interesting and quite exciting if I can go back to the 1200s.”

The Flemings came to Britain with William the Conqueror in 1066 and were sent to Pembrokeshire by William’s son Henry I, in part to curb ‘the troublesome Welsh’.

The project also includes renovations to Llangwm’s medieval church, allowing archaeologists to check for graves under the floor. An archaeological dig at a nearby manor house is also planned.

Heritage Llangwm can be contacted via email at heritagellangwm@yahoo.co.uk or leave a message on 07597 152903.