Dragon sculpture, Bank Square, Ebbw Vale
The public space known as Bank Square was created in 2014 as part of the town’s regeneration. Its centerpiece is a dragon, made of stainless steel and standing four metres high.
The sculpture refers to the iconic dragon on the Welsh flag and to Ebbw Vale’s history as a centre of steelmaking. It was made by Phoenix Forge blacksmiths of Carmarthen.
Bank Square is named after the building on its north side. This was home to the local branch of the Midland Bank and later of HSBC (which took over the Midland in 1992).
The kink in Bethcar Street at this point reflects two phases in the street’s development. In the mid-19th century, the street north of here was defined by rows of buildings each side of Bethcar Chapel and opposite. It wasn’t possible to build along the street further south because the road was flanked by a steelworks reservoir on the east side and a tramway embankment on the west.
By the late 1890s, the north-west corner of the reservoir had been filled in. This allowed several new buildings, including the bank, to be squeezed in. Space was so limited that the new buildings’ fronts protruded beyond the street’s earlier buildings, creating the street’s kink.
In the early 20th century, the reservoir was reduced to a narrow strip and the tramway embankment erased. Buildings soon lined both sides of the street but again space was constrained, so the street is narrower south of Bank Square than north of it.
The 1944 aerial view, courtesy of the Welsh Government, shows the reservoir as a dark strip in the centre, with the bank building beside its north end. In the bottom right corner is the recreation ground, known as the Drill Ground, which was the main site of the 1958 National Eisteddfod. This area later became part of the steelworks, and the Eisteddfod’s Gorsedd stone circle was moved to its present site.
Postcode: NP23 6HW View Location Map