"I have a suggestion for Tregaron, which could improve tourism in the area.

To commemorate the important social and commercial history of Tregaron, how about a monument to the man who helped build Tregaron....."The Drover" or "Y Porthmon" , in Welsh ?

I envisage this monument, in bronze, as a drover, stick raised, driving a horned Welsh Black cow ,with sheep-dog at foot. From the time of Elizabeth 1st until the late 1800s, the square at Tregaron was an important gathering point for the drovers.

Cattle were brought to Tregaron from many points in West Wales. They were then driven over the Drovers Road through the Cambrian Mountains to Abergwesyn, via the Irfon Valley to Llanwrtyd Wells, then Llanafan Fawr and onto Painscastle [Powys] ,where there were several inns for drovers to stay.

They then took the cattle and sheep onto the fattening grounds and markets of England, to places like Hereford, London and even as far as Kent. They did so at a rate of about 2 miles per hour, or 15 miles a day, allowing the iron-shoed cattle to graze as they went along.

Can you imagine the sheer effort involved in walking hundreds of cattle to London, from Tregaron and further west, even? Many people won't even walk one mile these days!

It is said that around 30,000 cattle per year were gathered in Mid and West Wales, and driven across the Drovers Roads of the Cambrian Mountains to England, to feed the burgeoning cities with good "English Roast Beef".

Even though there were rogues amongst them, who may not have paid properly for cattle,at times , the Drovers were an immensely important element of the economy of rural Wales,and Tregaron, especially.

Without them, cattle could not have been taken up to 250 miles to English markets and much needed revenue could not have been returned to farmers all over Wales. Would it not be fitting for the Welsh Drover to be commemorated in one of the most important Drovers towns in Wales?

It could become quite a tourism feature, with the Drovers Route across the Cambrian Mountains highlighted and featured on maps etc. Maybe a fund could be set up to pay for a memorial, assisted by tourism funding, perhaps?

Would the many ex-patriates of Tregaron and their descendants contribute to such a memorial to a figure who was CRUCIAL to the economy and life of Wales for many centuries? What do you think?

If the memorial to the Drover is built on Tregaron Square (or another suitable spot) and the Drovers Road to Abergwesyn and Llanwrtyd Wells highlighted, how about this as an ancillary sporting event to draw crowds of tourists?

How about a "Drovers Run" as an athletics cross country event from Tregaron to Llanwrtyd Wells? For the best athletes, it could even be run both ways, ending in Tregaron. That would be a real tester, via Abergwesyn, twice. It would be a marvellous tourism draw on a Saturday in summer, especially around June, with the long evenings.

There is terrific scenery in the Cambrian Mountains. Ideal for a televised event and the TV coverage would promote tourism. It could draw athletes from all over Europe and further afield."

Article by Lyn Jenkins