Fotheringhay Castle: A Norman Motte-and-Bailey Castle and Yorkist Residence
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.4
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Primary era
- Medieval
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- English, Norman
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page14 sections
History
Fotheringhay Castle is a High Medieval Norman motte-and-bailey castle in Fotheringhay, United Kingdom, beside the northern bank of the River Nene. Probably founded around 1100 by Simon de Senlis, Earl of Northampton and later Earl of Huntingdon, it became a Scottish princely possession, an English royal castle, and later a principal residence of the York family.
Norman foundation and Scottish possession
William the Conqueror granted the area to Judith of Lens, the wife of Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria. Their daughter Maud inherited Fotheringhay and married Simon de Senlis around 1090. Simon probably founded the castle around 1100.
After Simon’s death, King Henry I arranged Maud’s marriage to Prince David of Scotland in 1113. Through this marriage, David acquired Fotheringhay, and the castle remained with the Scottish princes until the early thirteenth century.
Conflict and royal control
In 1212, King John of England used David, Earl of Huntingdon and Prince of Scotland’s son, as a hostage to secure Fotheringhay Castle. John returned it to its former owners in 1215, but after David’s rebellion his estates were granted to William Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke. Marshal retained Fotheringhay despite an order to restore David’s estates and transferred it to the English king on 3 December 1219.
By 1220, Ranulf de Blondeville, 6th Earl of Chester, controlled the castle. In January 1221, William II de Forz, 3rd Earl of Albemarle, briefly captured it during his rebellion against Henry III. He abandoned Fotheringhay when a royal army approached, allowing Henry III to take control. The castle remained a royal possession until the reign of Edward II.
During the Second Barons’ War, a conflict between rebellious barons and Henry III, Robert de Ferrers, 6th Earl of Derby, held Fotheringhay and Chester Castle from 1264 to 1265. Edward II later granted Fotheringhay to John of Brittany, Earl of Richmond. After John’s death in 1334, his niece Marie de St Pol, the widowed Countess of Pembroke, inherited it. Following her death in 1377, Edward III granted the property to his son Edmund Langley.
The Yorkist residence
Edmund Langley became Duke of York in 1385 and made Fotheringhay his principal seat. He is reported to have spent heavily on the castle. After his death in 1402, it passed to his eldest son Edward. When Edward died without children in 1415, the property went to his nephew Richard, Duke of York.
Richard made Fotheringhay a favoured residence of the York family. With Cecily Neville, he was the father of the future kings Edward IV and Richard III, and Richard III was born at the castle in 1452. On 27 March 1454, during Henry VI’s mental illness, Richard was appointed protector and defender of the realm. He held that position until 9 February 1455.
Fotheringhay remained important to the York family after Richard’s death at the Battle of Wakefield in 1460. Cecily Neville often entertained guests there, while Elizabeth Woodville, queen of Edward IV, lived at the castle in 1469. On 11 June 1482, Alexander Stewart, Duke of Albany, concluded a treaty at Fotheringhay with Edward IV as part of an attempt to replace his brother on the Scottish throne.
Royal visits and Mary, Queen of Scots
Elizabeth of York kept horses at Fotheringhay. Her household accounts record that a man was paid one shilling to mark her colts in December 1502. The castle and nearby Collyweston Palace were repaired in 1566, and Elizabeth I visited Fotheringhay on 22 July that year.
Fotheringhay became the final prison of Mary, Queen of Scots, following much of her eighteen-year captivity at Sheffield Castle and Sheffield Manor. She was tried for treason in the castle’s Great Hall on 5 and 6 October 1586, convicted, and executed by beheading on a scaffold in the Great Hall on 8 February 1587. She spent her final night praying in the castle chapel.
Ruination and protection
By 1635, Fotheringhay was ruinous. It was dismantled soon afterwards, and most of its masonry and royal furnishings were removed. The site is now a Scheduled Monument, a legally protected archaeological or historic site of national importance, as well as a nationally important historic building and archaeological site.
Remains
Fotheringhay survives principally as earthworks, with some masonry and foundation remains. The castle followed the motte-and-bailey plan, combining a raised mound carrying the keep with enclosed baileys containing buildings and defended spaces. A substantial water-filled moat surrounded the motte, while the broader castle included ramparts, ditches, curtain walls, a gatehouse, and a bridge across a lake.
Motte and inner bailey
Stone keep and motte
The large motte measures about 70 metres across at its base and about 30 metres across its flat summit. The summit rises approximately 7 metres above the surrounding ground and once carried a polygonal stone keep. The moat formed a substantial water-filled defensive boundary around the mound.
Inner bailey
The broadly rectangular inner bailey measured approximately 50 by 65 metres. Ramparts and a ditch protected this enclosed area, which contained the Great Hall and other domestic buildings.
Outer defences and principal buildings
Outer bailey
The outer bailey was enclosed by curtain walls and included a gatehouse. A bridge crossed a lake to provide access. During Edmund Langley’s ownership in the fourteenth century, he is thought to have built the outer bailey and partly filled the eastern section of the ditch around the motte.
Great Hall
The Great Hall was the setting for Mary, Queen of Scots’ trial in 1586 and execution in 1587. Its association with those events forms the central surviving historical context for the castle’s principal ceremonial building.
Chapel
The castle also contained a small chapel. Mary, Queen of Scots, spent her final night there in prayer before her execution.
