Fotheringhay

Fotheringhay, a village of Northamptonshire, England, picturesquely situated on the left bank of the river Nene, 1½ m. from Elton station on the Peterborough branch of the London & North-Western railway. The castle, of which nothing but the earthworks and foundations remain, is famous as the scene of the imprisonment of Mary queen of Scots from September 1586 to her trial and execution on the 8th of February 1587. The earthworks, commanding a ford of the river, are apparently of very early date, and probably bore a castle from Norman times. It became an important stronghold of the Plantagenets from the time of Edward III., and was the birthplace of Richard III. in 1452. The church of St Mary and All Saints, originally collegiate, is Perpendicular, and only the nave with aisles, and the tower surmounted by an octagon, remain; but the building is in the best style of its period. Edward, second duke of York, who was killed at the battle of Agincourt in 1415, Richard, the third duke, and his duchess, Cicely (d. 1495), also his son the earl of Rutland, who with Richard himself, fell at the battle of Wakefield in 1460, are buried in the church. Their monuments were erected by Queen Elizabeth, who found the choir and tombs in ruins.

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