David Davies – My Part In Preserving His Heritage
David Davies – My Part In Preserving His Heritage
The previous three editions of What’s On have contained articles by Ann Jones and Stephen K Jones about David Davies, Top Sawyer and Entrepreneur of Llandinam, Montgomeryshire.
It is now my turn to add personal recollections about this great man and his many achievements.
My story goes back to the late 1970s when I was employed by the then Penarth based consulting engineers Wallace Evans and Partners. This firm undertook many commissions for highway improvements and by-passes throughout mid and west Wales. These included a cluster of three projects in and around Llandinam that were being undertaken contemporaneously. I was posted to Llandinam to be the Resident Engineer to oversee the construction of these.
We learned from Ann’s article in What’s On that when David Davies initially moved on from farm and timber sawing his first project, in 1846, as a contractor was to construct the abutments for a new cast iron bridge spanning the River Severn at Llandinam. Included in that contract was the construction of a revetment wall some 3 or 4 metres high between the river and the road above. Whilst the work that David Davies did was perfectly adequate for the time, that road became the main trunk road between south and north Wales, ie the A470.
Increasingly heavy traffic was taking its toll on the integrity of the revetment, to the extent that the possibility of its imminent collapse forced the need to construct a new mass concrete retaining wall which was faced on the river side with the original revetment masonry.
Our reconstruction project became the subject of a national tabloid inspired controversy. The original contract envisaged that the retaining wall would be topped with a substantial metal parapet which was reported as being a motorway style crash barrier and totally unsuited for a rural village setting. Before our works commenced, there had been a low wall upon which local lads would sit to woo and canoodle with their lasses. Shock horror that such an amenity would be no more. The Sun newspaper mounted a campaign demanding that the erstwhile “Love Wall” be reinstated. After some while and deliberation by the then Welsh Office, it duly was!
The second project was a junction improvement in the village which required the construction of a tall reinforced concrete retaining wall to support the graveyard of St Llonio’s church. It is in this graveyard that David Davies is buried and it would have been embarrassing for him to have come crashing down into works being undertaken by latterday jonnies.
The third job was the removal of “Black Bridge” and a realignment of the A470 trunk road near Llandinam. The bridge carried the road somewhat dangerously with two double bends over the line of the then closed Llanidloes to Newtown railway. That railway was yet another David Davies contract constructed in 1855. As well as removing the bridge, the opportunity was taken to widen and improve the alignment of the A470. To achieve this land adjacent old road which was owned by the Davies family had to be acquired. This brought us into contact with the current Lord Davies who at that time lived in Plas Dinam. He is a Chartered Engineer, who as well as running a local construction company was also, and still is, heavily involved in many national enterprises such as the promotion of the Wales Millenium Centre, the Welsh National Opera and many development projects in mid Wales.
Plas Dinam had been bought by David Davies in 1884 but now the present Davies family have “down sized” and they manage the building as a Country House Hotel and Wedding Venue. Interestingly, for a short period during the war Gordonstoun School was relocated from Scotland to Plas Dinam to ensure the safety of the schoolboys. The house also housed an Agricultural College for a period after the war.
To close, a few words about Broneirion. This 20 bedroom Italianate Grade II listed building, which stands on the west bank of the River Severn in Llandinam, was built for David Davies in 1864. In 1946 Broneirion became the Welsh Training Centre for the Girlguiding Association and between 1992 and 1995 Girlguiding Cymru purchased the properties and grounds at a very advantageous price and have used them since as the HQ for Girlguiding in Wales. Sadly, in 2023, the Guides could no longer afford the upkeep of the property and therefore it was put up for sale. It could be yours, with lots of land and ancillary buildings, for a cool two and a quarter million (which has recently been reduced from three million pounds).
Tony Hodge