FOTHERINGHAY, a parish in the hundred of
WILLYBROOK, county of NORTHAMPTON, 3 miles
(N. N. E.) from Oundle, containing 309 inhabitants.
The living is a perpetual curacy, in the archdeaconry of
Northampton, and diocese of Peterborough. Thomas
Belsey, Esq. was patron in 1814. The church, dedicated
to St. Mary and All Saints, is a handsome edifice
in the later English style: it has an ancient stone pulpit,
and the font is a very fine one; several distinguished
members of the Plantagenet family are interred in it.
It was formerly collegiate, and at one period the conventual
church of a nunnery, the inmates of which were
translated to De la Pre", near Northampton. Edmund of
Langley, son to Edward III., procured a license to erect
a college, but his death prevented the execution of the
design. He left two sons, Edward and Richard, the former
of whom founded and endowed the college, which was
confirmed by Henry V., who also bestowed upon it certain
lands that belonged to Alien priories. Edward IV. made
the college of his own foundation, and enlarged the buildings.
At the dissolution its revenue amounted to about
£419 per annum. On the north side of the church is a
free school, endowed with £20 per annum, for a master,
payable out of the exchequer by the receiver for the county.
The village, in which a fair for horses is held on the third
Monday after July, was anciently a considerable town:
the adjoining country is much esteemed for its
excellent pasture and corn land. It is pleasantly situated
on the river Nen, over which is a bridge of freestone,
erected in 1722 by the Marquis of Halifax, in
lieu of a wooden one built in 1573 by Queen Elizabeth.
Fotheringhay castle was a strong and handsome
structure, with double ditches, keep, &c. In the reign
of Henry III., when the many strong holds encouraged
the nobility to rebel, it was surprised by William, Earl
of Albeniarle, who laid waste the surrounding country.
It was the birthplace of Richard III., the scene of the
trial of Mary Queen of Scots, and the place of her execution.
James I., Mary's son, on his accession to the
throne, demolished the castle; its site may however still
be traced: some remains of the college walls are also
visible, and part of the cloisters.