Fotheringhay

"FOTHERINGHAY, a parish in the hundred of Willybrook, county Northampton, 4 miles N.E. of Oundle, its post town, and 10 S. of Stamford. It is situated on the river Nen, and was formerly a market town. The historical interest of this place is chiefly derived from the castle, which was built shortly after the Norman Conquest, and was restored at a later date. In it some of the Plantagenets held their court, and it was the birth-place of Richard, Duke of Gloucester, afterwards Richard III. After having been rebuilt by Edmond Langley, Duke of York, it passed to Mary de Valence and Queen Catherine in succession, and was subsequently the scene of the imprisonment, trial, and execution of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots. It was afterwards razed to the ground by order of James I., and there are now but few remains of this once formidable stronghold. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Peterborough, value £200. The church, which is an edifice of great architectural beauty, is dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin and All Saints. It contains several monuments of the Plantagenets, now going to decay; also a font and pulpit of stone, finely carved. The parochial endowments, including £20 to Queen Elizabeth's free grammar school, produce a little over £50 per annum. Lord Overstone is lord of the manor. A fair is held on the third Monday in July."[From The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868). Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]