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- -- - Chapter 11 Chapter 11 -- Development under the Vaughan family
Chapter 11 Chapter 11 --

In early times the castle was held by the Picard (Pychard) family who gained extensive lands in
Herefordshire for assisting William the Conqueror. Members of the family were Sheriffs of Hereford and
married into several great landed families.

About 1450 the property was given to Sir Roger Vaughan by Sir William Herbert, the Earl of
Pembroke and his half-brother. Sir William Herbert, who was the previous owner of the Court and Tretower
Castle and the manor. The property was to remain in the hands of successive generations of Vaughan's for
all of its heyday.

Sir Roger Vaughan was to become the richest Commoner in Wales at the height of his career, and
he immediately set about refurbishing and developing Tritower Court into one befitting a prosperous man
and leaving us the building that broadly speaking we see today.
He modernized the north range, inserting a floor above the hall, turning the block into a two story
building. The lower story seems to have served as storerooms, with a kitchen at its west end. He also added
a new west range, immediately doubling the accommodation available, building a brand new hall, solar and
upper rooms.

Sir Roger Vaughan was on the York list side in the Wars of the Roses in the mid 15th century,
fighting at the Battle of Mortimer's Cross in 1461, and leading Owain Tudor to his execution at Hereford
following the battle. He quelled a rising in Carmarthenshire in
1465 and was soon after, knighted. In 1471 he pursued Jasper Tudor following the Battle of
Tewkesbury but Tudor captured him instead and he was beheaded at Chepstow Castle.

Sir Roger Vaughan's son and heir, Sir Thomas Vaughan, continued to develop the Court further
during the last quarter of the 15th Century with the addition of the battlemented wall, wall walks and
gatehouse, thus enclosing the courtyard.
Subsequent improvements were added in 1630 under Charles Vaughan, a sheriff of Brecknock in
1622 and 1636, adding cellars, a new stair, and an alternative entrance.

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