Dafydd Goch

Who is Dafydd Goch?

Dafydd Penmachno Goch or Dafydd ap Dafydd ap Gruffudd is said in some genealogical sources to be the illegitimate and only surviving son of Dafydd III the last free Welsh Prince of Wales.

Dafydd ap Gruffudd was married to Elizabeth Ferrers and is known to have had two legitimate sons and one legitimate daughter, Gwladys. The two sons died imprisoned at Bristol Castle while Gwladys spent her days as a prisoner in all but name at Sixhills Convent in Lincolnshire. Dafydd is also reported to have had seven illegitimate daughters whose fates are unknown.

Little is known of the life of Dafydd Goch. It could be presumed from his epithet Goch – meaning "red" in Welsh – that he was either born with red hair or that his life was associated with blood or violence. His mother is in genealogical sources said to be Tangwystl ferch Owain Fflam, an unknown Welsh woman. He took a wife called Angharad ferch Heilyn.

His son, Gruffudd ap Dafydd Goch, who died c. 1365, is buried at the church of Betws-y-Coed where there is a stone effigy in his honour that details his genealogy. He also had a daughter, Gwenllian, who married Gruffudd ap Iorwerth, hereditary baron of Edeirnion and an ancestor of the Hughes of Gwerclas family.