Samuel Homfray Senior, Bedwellty House

“It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.”
Mahatma Gandhi
Another visit to Ebbw Vale, to the Works Museum, to return the research information to R, good choice as it was his birthday and they’d laid on a buffet lunch for him (so I was invited too).
I was toying with a return visit to Nantybwch and headed over to Tredegar to Bedwellty House. Too close to resist a lemonade and unfortunately they were out of cakes – except for custard slices (so I took one to share with K1 back home). As I sat in the shade my attention was drawn to the metal ‘sculpture’ in the park, one of the ‘Silver Statues’ around Tredegar commemorating its history and heritage. It was framed beautifully by backlit foliage and positively ‘glowing’ so I had to get a shot, although the results don’t really do it justice. It’s a statue of Samuel Homfray Senior, Ironmaster at Merthyr’s Penydarren Ironworks and later Tredegar Ironworks. Apparently he also won a bet with Richard Crawshay as to who could build a steam locomotive for their works – he employed Richard Trevithick and won the bet.