Get the biggest stories sent straight to your inbox Sign up for regular updates and breaking news from WalesOnline Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

It was owned by a Tudor knight and rose to prominence in the late 15th century when Welsh King Henry VII is said to have sheltered amidst the splendour of its stained glass windows and walled garden before seeing off Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field.

Now the historic contents of the Grade II listed Derwydd mansion are to be auctioned off.

The move follows the death of the former owner of the West Wales property Joy Stepney Gulston, in Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire, last June aged 87.

Valued at up to £6,000, the priciest of the items in the collection to go under the hammer at Anthemion Auctions in Cardiff on March 19 is a 17th century drop leaf dining table.

An earlier sale of the property’s contents was held by Sotheby’s, and marketed as the most historic house sale to be held in Wales since the Second World War.

The ground in front of the house was reputedly used as a tilting yard for jousting, and King John is said to have visited in 1210.

Legend has it that the room where he slept is haunted by a ghost appearing only to unmarried men.

The earlier sale was held after the death of Mrs Stepney Gulston’s husband Ralph in March 1998.

Derwydd itself was sold when Mr Stepney Gulston died as the couple had no children to inherit the house.

Later Mrs Stepney Gulston left the family’s historic home and moved on from Derwydd into the centre of Llandeilo.

The property’s links to Henry Tudor go back to 1485 when he landed at Milford Haven to claim the crown from Richard III and end the Wars of the Roses.

He was entertained at Derwydd and supplied with 5,000 Welsh soldiers who marched with him to victory at the Battle of Bosworth Field.

The connection is commemorated in a sculpture of a shield in the King’s room at Derwydd.

The sculpture shows a Tudor rose surrounded by ravens depicted in the family’s coat of arms.

First owned by Tudor Knight Sir Rhys ap Thomas the house had been in the family since 1742, when it was inherited by Sir Thomas Stepney, the seventh Baronet of Llanelli.

Other items in the sale include a silver tea set, sifting spoons, a toast rack, watercolours of family members, a bowl dating from 1760, a silver and enamel pill box, a walnut chest and a British Military Cross issued to a family member.

The collection, which altogether runs to around 200 items, is valued at up £50,000.

Principal auctioneer Ryan Beach said: “Derwydd was one of the last great collections in South Wales, and as well as the unique beauty of many of the pieces, they carry with them a powerful sense of Welsh history, the importance of which is crucial to our cultural heritage.”