ONE of the Amman Valley’s most famous daughters has made an emotional return to her roots.

In the first of a new series of Coming Home, Siân Phillips embarks on a journey into her past which brings her face to face with the troubling tale of an ancestor.

Siân, the stage and screen actress who was married to Peter O’Toole, headed for the bright lights of London as a teenager but has never forgotten her deep Carmarthenshire roots on both sides of the family.

In the village of Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen, where generations of her family lived, Siân visits Carmel chapel, one of the places where she first performed as a child.

It’s where she meets genealogist Michael Churchill-Jones for a reading of her family tree. There’s one family photograph that she always keeps close, of an elderly woman clutching a Welsh Bible and it will be the starting point for the search.

It’s during this that the screen icon famous actress discovers the troubling tale of her great, great, great grandfather Tom Jones – a man who survived the Battle of Waterloo but died a pauper.

Little is known of Tom, but what is has deeply affected the actress, currently starring in The Importance of Being Ernest, who spent two days filming in the area for the series.

“My family, and my mother especially, have always spoken our roots so I was surprised to learn of Tom and his sad story,” Siân tells the Guardian.

“It’s such a romantic mystery and yet deeply sad. Here is a man who left the Amman Valley to become a mounted swordsman in the Irish Regimental Calvary for 15 years.

“He must have been an accomplished solider and horseman and survived Waterloo, but his life beyond that is a mystery.

“When I discovered he died a pauper it moved me greatly. What happened when he returned home, how did he die a pauper and why do we know hardly anything about him?”

Tom has been often in Siân’s thoughts during the past few months since she returned to Carmarthenshire for two days of filing in the summer.

“I often think of Tom, I am haunted by his plight and intended to return and dig deeper into his life. A few months ago some medals belonging to him were auctioned and it has made me even more determined to find him and his life story.”

Siân says she still feels deeply connected to her birthplace and was delighted to visit the former home of her great, great grandmother Sally and ts reiew the now restored property near Carreg Cennen Castle.

And she says she was touched she got a chance to share her return with her daughter and granddaughter.

“They came with me and it was just magic to see them standing at place where Sally lived and to see that connection with my past,” she says.

Coming Home with Siân Phillips is on Friday, November 27, on BBC One Wales, 8.30pm.