W.R. H. Powell memorial in churchyard and iron railings

Cadw's description

Location

Situated in the churchyard in Llanboidy village, to the E of the parish church.

History

Memorial to W.R.H. Powell of Maesgwynne, 1891, by William Goscombe John. White marble statue in 'New Sculpture' vein. This, according to Goscombe John, was his first commission of any importance. The figure he said represents 'Truth', though at the time it was said to represent 'Grief'. John used a nude variant on the statue for the Arthur Sullivan memorial of 1903 on Victoria Embankment, London, and another version on the 1923 memorial to his own wife. The sculpture is becoming eroded from weathering and would benefit from protection.
W. R. H. Powell (1819-89) was a prominent local figure, MP for East Carmarthenshire 1880-5 and 1886-9, High Sheriff 1849, JP, notable for his hunting and horse-racing, responsible for the virtual rebuilding of Llanboidy village. He laid out a racecourse SW of the village.

Exterior

Memorial sculpture of a near life-size lightly draped white marble female figure leaning in an attitude of grief against a tall marble vertical slab with raised cross in shallow relief. The base on which the figure stands is also marble, flat under the figure and then a shallow slope forward with inset lead letters: Walter Rice Howell Powell MP born April 4th 1819 and died June 25th 1889. To his Beloved Memory'.. The whole stands in a square railed enclosure of spearhead rails with urn-capped stanchions on low stone coping.

Reason for designation

Graded II* as an important early work by the leading Welsh sculptor of the early C20.