Known as Wales’s first tycoon, the industrialist and Liberal politician David Davies was born in 1818 in a hillside tenement in the village of Llandinam, Powys. Davies, the son of a farmer and sawyer, went on to amass a fortune through bridge-building, railways, coal-mining and dock development, while also serving as an MP for Cardigan.
The teetotal Calvinistic Methodist, probably best remembered for founding Barry Docks in the 1880s, was known for his philanthropic deeds, although he did have one obvious indulgence. In counterpoint to his hill-darkened boyhood home, where he cared for several younger siblings, in the 1860s he constructed a light-filled family property that he named Broneirion – designed so that it would receive sunlight all year round.
Although not far from the spot where he grew up, this grand Victorian Italianate mansion, designed for him by Montgomeryshire architects Poundley and Walker, had breathtaking valley views, 20 bedrooms, a dog-leg oak staircase, ornate plasterwork and a billiard room embellished with stained glass.
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