Fotheringhay Castle

]] William the Conqueror granted the area to Judith of Lens, wife of Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria. Their eldest daughter, Maud, inherited the lordship of Fotheringhay. Around 1090, she married Simon de Senlis who was made Earl of Huntingdon, and about 1100 he founded Fotheringhay Castle, on the northern side of the River Nene. Through this marriage, David, who later became King of Scotland, acquired Fotheringhay Castle, as well as other properties in Huntingdonshire. Possession of the castle descended through the Scottish princes until the 13th century. Shortly after King John was excommunicated, he demanded his barons send him hostages to ensure their loyalty. In 1212, he used this as…

Fotheringhay was a large motte-and-bailey castle. A large motte, which was surrounded by a large water-filled moat, was topped with a polygonal stone keep. The inner enclosure, or bailey, was protected by ramparts and a ditch, and its structures included a great hall and other domestic buildings. The outer bailey had curtain walls and a gatehouse; a lake was crossed by way of a bridge. Little is known about the structural history of the castle while Langley was the owner in the 14th century; however, it is thought that he was responsible for building the outer bailey and partially filling the eastern part of the ditch surrounding the motte. The motte is 70 m in diameter at the base and 30 m…

by Francesco Hayez, 1832. Mary, Queen of Scots is informed of the death sentence at Fotheringhay.]] In Gaetano Donizetti's 1835 opera Maria Stuarda, Fotheringhay Castle is the setting of three of the opera's scenes. "Fotheringay" was the title of a song written about the imprisonment of Mary, Queen of Scots, by Sandy Denny. It appeared in 1969 on What We Did on Our Holidays, her first album with the British folk rock band Fairport Convention. Denny's band after leaving Fairport Convention was named Fotheringay. That band released one self-titled album in 1970 before disbanding, with a second album being stitched together by surviving members from old and new recordings in 2008.