DNA testing has shown how genes linking a Llangwm man to the village’s 12th century founders travelled all the way from Egypt to Pembrokeshire via northern Italy and Belgium.

According to an international DNA expert, the genetic variants, first identified in southern Egypt, were spread by Roman traders or troops who moved across Europe to Roman-occupied Belgium and thence to Pembrokeshire with Flemish invaders.

The extraordinary link came to light when seven Llangwm men were tested as part of the Heritage Llangwm project and the results were shown on S4C’s DNA Cymru series.

The project, which has received grants from organisations including the Heritage Lottery Fund, was attempting to find a genetic link between today’s Llangwm men and the village’s Flemish founders.

In fact the results showed that the DNA of one man, retired headmaster Norman Roach, was an exact match with men named Roach or Roche in Ireland.

And they’re the descendants of the two sons of the Llangwm’s Flemish patriarch Godebert who invaded Ireland in the 1100s, adopting the surname de la Roche.

Peter Roche, a university academic based in Australia, and part of the wider Roche family himself, told Heritage Llangwm’s latest podcast that the results had shown a definite link between Norman Roach and Godebert.

The genetic variants found in Norman were very rare, he said, which had made it easier to trace their journey.

“It probably goes back to about two thousand years ago when Egypt was a Roman province.

“The area provided most of the grain for the empire and there were also a few Roman legions based there, so probably what’s happened is that one of the local individuals travelled to Europe maybe as part of one of the legions.

“Using a DNA database we can see if there are any related people in Europe, and the closest linkage is a few individuals in northern Italy about 1500 years ago - so that was the entry point into Europe.

“The Roman empire extended right up into Belgium and Flanders so it’s easy to see how you could get a migration from Italy”.

Peter said the Roche family really flourished once its members moved to Ireland.

“There’s a well-established history of quite a wide Roche dynasty in Ireland; they became very powerful in Cork and Wexford and we still have members there with that genetic variant”.

The interview with Peter Roche can be heard in Episode Two of the Heritage Llangwm podcast, available on the Heritage Llangwm website (www.heritagellangwm.org.uk) or on YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tO7toRAAoqo