Llys a Chastell Tre-tŵr / Tretower Court and Castle

The initial construction of Tretower Court dates from the early years of the 14th century, when the castle site was also still in use. The earliest part of Tretower Court is the north range. The masonry of the walls, the internal fireplaces, the windows and the projecting latrine tower all indicate a date maybe as early as 1300. The 14th-century building consisted of a central ground floor hall open to its high roof, a solar or private bedchamber and a private living room. The hall probably served as a local court for paying fines and tithes. The west range was also 14th century.

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 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 Vaughans 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 Tretower Court into one befitting a prosperous man and leaving us the building that broadly speaking we see today.