Former LED ZEPPELIN Frontman Attends OWAIN GLYNDR Statue Unveiling

ic Wales is reporting that former LED ZEPPELIN frontman Robert Plant has helped fund a statue of his hero, Owain Glyndr.

Plant attended the unveiling of the bronze statue at Pennal, near Machynlleth, an area where he owns a farmhouse and where the 1970s band were believed to have written their classic song, "Stairway to Heaven".

The sculpture is the centrepiece of a £35,000 medieval garden which was the brainchild of the Rev Geraint ap Iorwerth, rector of St Peter ad Vincula Church in Pennal.

Hollywood actress Julia Ormond, whose grandmother was from Pennal, and Wales rugby hero Ray Gravell also made donations towards the costs together with many people from the local community.

The opening of the garden is part of Pennal Festival, celebrating the 600th anniversary of Owain Glyndr's coronation in Machynlleth and the holding of his first parliament.

Sculptor David Haynes, 48, from Bethesda, who created and donated the statue said, "Robert Plant has been interested in Owain Glyndr since he was a boy and he has many connections with Mid Wales.

"I had the idea to make the sculpture back in 1999 because I wanted to create something dramatic to mark the millennium.

"It was made out of plaster and cast in bronze at Castle Fine Arts in Llanrhaeadr- ym-Mochnant, Powys, which coincidentally is a only a few miles from Glyndr's home at Sycharth.

"He has a sword and a shield and below the four foot figure, I have carved battle scenes and emblems to show how Welsh history is intertwined with English history along the border.

"I didn't want it to be about separatism but more about how our two nations are stuck together, like it or not." Read more.