The Drover

Travelling from Cumbria to South Wales today, I found myself passing through the small village of Newbridge-on-Wye in Powys, which is located roughly in the middle of Wales. I saw this intriguing statue on the village green, and stopped the car. 

It depicts a drover, a man who used to move livestock to market over long distances, while the farmer who employed him stayed back on the farm to look after his remaining livestock. The reason it's here is because this village was historically an ideal place for drovers to stop and rest as the river could be forded safely at this point. A settlement formed which included a large number of public houses.

According to Wikipedia, by the end of the 18th century around 100,000 cattle and 750,000 sheep arrived each year at London's Smithfield market from the surrounding countryside. Turkeys and geese were also  driven in droves of 300 to 1,000 birds. 

I believe it is geese which are depicted here.