English Vaughan Lore

A Little Vaughan Lore
Submitted by Alana Vaughan

Kington

(Author Unknown)

High, rounded hills encircle the ancient market town of

Kington, giving it a backdrop of great beauty whichever

way you look. From their summits the hills survey

glorious scenes. Kingswood common, two miles south

of the town, looks down to the Wye, meandering gently

to and fro across a wide, fertile valley, with wooded slopes

beyond it. Smooth, small hills lie to the east, but in the

south of the town, Bradnor hill rises sharply. A strenuous

2 mile walk form Kington Church climbs the hill to a

magnificent 1,282 ft viewpoint which scans line upon line

of hills as far as the majestic peaks of the Brecon Beacons.

Just to the north are well-preserved sections of Offa's Dyke.

From Kington Church a lane climbs west up the shoulder

of Hergest Ridge, to a Lofty turf track that marches for 2

miles along the crest at almost 1,400 ft - a heady, open

walk between patches of gorse and bracken. All this

territory was once in the possession of the Vaughan family,

the great land owners of the region.

Their house, Hergest Court, lies on the south side of the

ridge. The most notorious of its residents were Thomas

Vaughan, known as Black Vaughan, and his wife Ellin,

who for some unknown reason was known as Gethin the

Terrible.

This vengeful lady dressed as a man to attend and archery
contest where one of the competitors was a relative who
had killed her brother. When her turn came, she shot her
arrow at the assassin and killed him, escaping in the
resulting confusion.

Thomas was killed in the Wars of the Roses, but his ghost
haunted the lanes until 12 parsons armed with 12 candles
lured the ghost into a silver snuff-box and cast it into
Hergest Pool. Effigies of the wicked couple lie with
deceptively placid faces on the tomb in Kington Church.

Kington is 14 miles west of Leominster along the A44.

The War of the Roses 1455-1485

Any questions, suggestions, corrections, and/or additional

informantion, contact me, Linda CONAWAY Welden at:

Linda_Welden@Vaughan-Vaughn.org

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