Owain Tudor had married Catherine de Valois, the widow of Henry V, and they had four children, Edmund, Jasper, Owain, who became a monk, and a daughter, Margaret, who died very young.

Edmund Tudor married Margaret Beaufort heiress, daughter of John of Gaunt and his one time mistress Catherine Swynford.

Margaret Beaufort was also the great great grand-daughter of Edward III, and her son Henry Tudor, who was born after her husband Edmund Tudor died, was destined to become Henry VII, King of England, the first of the Tudor Dynasty.

Hugh Fychan who had come to Carmarthenshire in 1485, just after the Battle of Bosworth, claimed he was descended from Bleddyn ap Cynfyn, Prince of Powys who had been killed in the Kingdom of Deheubarth in 1075 during the Battle of Ystrad Tywi.

Hugh Fychan married Jane the daughter of Morris ap Owain, grandson of the powerful and influential Gruffydd ap Nicholas, and the family home was Cwrt Bryn y Beirdd, a very large and ancient mansion near Carreg Cennen Castle. Jane’s father Morris ap Owen had been a staunch supporter of Henry Tudor during his struggle to seize the English throne from Richard III.

Soon after the Battle of Bosworth, in 1485, when Richard III was beheaded and Henry Tudor was crowned Henry VII, King of England, Morris ab Owen was appointed Steward of the Lordship of Kidwelly and Receiver of the two Commotes of Iscennen and Carnwyllion.

As a wealthy and influential landowner, Morris ap Owain was in an excellent position to promote his son-in-law’s career, and during 1485 Hugh Fychan was appointed Forester of Kidwelly.

In May 1492 it is said that Hugh Vaughan, Esq., of Kidwelly, Gentleman Usher to Henry VII, took part in a great tournament held by the King at Richmond in Surrey. Vaughan fought a duel with the knight, Sir James Parker, concerning a disagreement over the arms to him and for which he had the King’s permission to use. According to an account published in 1631, the unfortunate Sir James was accidentally killed at the first encounter and described thus:

‘A combate was holden, and done betwixt Sir James Parker, knight and Hugh Vaughan, Gentleman-Usher upon controversie for the Armes that Garter gave to the said Hugh Vaughan; but he was there allowed by the King to beare them, and Sir James Parker was slaine at the first course. The cause of his death was thought to be long of a false helmet, which by force of the Cronacle, fayled and so he was stricken into the mouth, that his tongue was borne into the hinder part of the head and he died incontinently.’

An entry in a book of the Household Expenses of Henry VII, ‘Item to Hugh Vaughan for ij harpers xiijs., 10d., 2d Jan, 1497,’ shows that Hugh Vaughan was living and in the King’s service in 1497.

In 1532 Hugh Fychan gained more promotions, through his father-in-law’s influence when he was appointed Groom of the Chamber at Court. He was also appointed Keeper and Receiver of lands in Kidwelly, which had been confiscated by Henry VIII, from Rhys ap Gruffydd of Dinefwr as a penalty for acts of treason. Rhys ap Gruffydd was Jane’s relative.

With the help of his father-in-law, Hugh became exceedingly influential and wealthy, and with his wife Jane they founded the powerful and influential Fychan or Vaughan family, who were later to settle at Golden Grove.

Hugh and Jane had one son John Vaughan (d. 1574) and eight daughters.

Carmarthenshire Notice Volume I, 1889, Edited by Arthur Mee, (Reprinted with additions from the South Wales Press).

The Vaughans of Golden Grove by Alun Williams