Fotheringhay Northamptonshire
Fotheringhay in Northamptonshire is a small village on the River Nene whose castle, now reduced to a single grassy motte and a fragment of masonry, was the site of two of the most significant events in English history: the birth of Richard III in 1452 and the execution of Mary Queen of Scots in February 1587. The combination of these historical associations and the peaceful rural character of the village and its Norman church creates one of the most poignant heritage sites in the English Midlands.
The execution of Mary Queen of Scots at Fotheringhay was one of the most dramatic and most consequential events of the Elizabethan period. Mary was imprisoned in various English castles for nineteen years before Elizabeth finally agreed to her execution following her implication in the Babington Plot of 1586. The execution took place in the great hall of the castle on 8 February 1587 and Mary's courage in the face of death, combined with the botched nature of the execution itself, created an immediate legend that has sustained popular interest in the event for four centuries.
The village church of St Mary and All Saints, a magnificent Perpendicular Gothic church of the fifteenth century that was originally the collegiate church of the castle, preserves the tombs of Edmund of Langley and his wife in the chancel and provides a tangible connection to the medieval and Tudor history of this remarkable place. The riverside walk between the church and the castle motte provides the most direct encounter with the landscape that witnessed these events.