David Davies Llandinam

Image: © Penny Mayes Taken: 3 Jul 2009

Born in Llandinam in 1818, Davies was the son of a tenant farmer. He left school at 11 and worked with his father both on the farm and as a sawyer. He made enough money to buy himself a farm and then another. Farms in the Severn valley are prone to flooding and Davies's flood prevention work impressed the then County Surveyor of Montgomeryshire Thomas Penson, and he was asked to take on the work of building the foundations, road and embankment for a new iron bridge across the Severn. As his civil engineering skills developed he turned his attention to the building of railways and was responsible for the Llanidloes to Newtown line (now dismantled, the Llandinam station was at the western end of the nearby bridge Image) and later the Mid Wales Railway from Llanidloes to Llandovery and the Cambrian Railway. His interests then turned to coal and, with a group of investors, he started mining in the upper Rhondda Valley. Another of his lasting achievements was the building of Barry Docks which he needed to secure a stable overseas market for his Rhondda coal. This is the twin of the statue of Davies outside the Barry Dock Office http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/270728. He is shown holding the plans for Barry Docks.

Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0