'The Girl' Memorial Statue

Cadw's description

Location

Set back slightly from the NE side of the A544 at the centre of Llansannan. The memorial is set diagonally to Crown House, at the end of a row of terraced cottages; and is opposite the Red Lion public house.

History

Late C19 memorial statue; designed by Sir William Goscombe John RA and unveiled by Thomas Ellis, Liberal MP for Merioneth (who first proposed its commission) in 1899. The statue is a monument to five Welsh writers who were born in the parish; Tudor Aled (1480-1526), William Salesbury (c1520-c1584), Henry Rees (1797-1867), Gwilym Hiraethiog (William Rees, 1802-1883) and Iorwerth Glan Aled (Edward Roberts, 1819-1867). The earliest commemorated is the bard and poet, Tudor Aled; just contemporary with the next commemorated, patriotic writer, classical scholar and linguist William Salesbury. Assisting Richard Davies, Bishop of St Davids, Salesbury was the first to translate the Prayer Book and most of the New Testament into Welsh. Henry and William Rees were brothers born in the parish; Henry was one of the great Calvinistic leaders of his day and William became a minister of the Independent church and founded the first successful Welsh newspaper. Edward Roberts (Iorwerth Glan Aled) is the last commemorated and was honoured as a poet, writer and preacher. The monument's form remains an enigma, and there are a number of conflicting ideas as to the identity of the young girl; either she is a local village girl, or the daughter of a local wealthy family, or she represents 'Wales mourning past glories'.

Exterior

Bronze statue of a young girl in traditional dress, holding a garland of flowers; the girl is seated with her legs crossed at the ankles on a stepped plinth, and in front of an inscribed obelisk. The obelisk is rectangular in profile, with tapering sides to a shallow, segmental head, and is inscribed in Celtic Art Nouveau style, with the names of 5 Welsh writers born in the parish. The obelisk, and the statue of the girl, are sitting on a deep square block, which in turn sits on a slightly wider shallow block, with bevelled top, of similarly coloured pale limestone; this is above a wider step of yellow limestone, which in turn is on a deeper step of pale pink sandstone. The base of the plinth is a square block of dark yellow limestone, with bevelled top and rough-faced panels. The memorial is within a triangular enclosure, the front with shallow wrought iron railings over a bevelled limestone plinth; the railings are widely spaced, with fleur-de-lys finials and floriate brackets.

Reason for designation

Listed as an excellent example of late C19 memorial sculpture, of particular historic interest as celebrating the achievements of nationally renowned writers of local origin.