This sculpture depicts King Tewdrig, the fifth century saint and king of Glamorgan, just before his death. It was designed by John Evan Thomas in 1848, modelled by his brother, William Meredyth Thomas, and cast in bronze by electrolysis at Elkington & Co., Birmingham, in 1856.

The work was made in response to a competition at the 1848 Abergavenny Eisteddfod. The organisers - including Thomas Price ('Carhuanawc') and Lady Llanover - had patriotic intentions and wished to encourage the production of Welsh visual art.