Fotheringhay: St Mary the Virgin & All Saints

Name:
Fotheringhay: St Mary the Virgin & All Saints
Record Type:
Major Parish Church
Church code:
628306
Diocese:
Peterborough
Archdeaconry:
Oakham
Parish:
Fotheringhay

Statutory Designation Information

Listed Building?
This is a Grade I Listed Building
View more information about this Listed Building on the National Heritage List for England web site
Scheduled Monument?
There is no Scheduled Monument within the curtilage or precinct

National Park

The church is not in a National Park

Conservation Area

The church is in the following Conservation Area: Fotheringhay

Heritage At Risk Status

On Heritage At Risk Register?
This church is not on the Heritage at Risk Register
 

Approximate Date

Approximate Date:
Medieval

Exterior Image

Exterior image of 628306 Fotheringhay St Mary the Virgin and All Saints
Caption:
Exterior image of 628306 Fotheringhay St Mary the Virgin and All Saints
Description:
Photograph of the south-west façade of St Mary & All Saints church, Fotheringhay in the Diocese of Peterborough (628306) taken 2 October 2008
Year / Date:
2008
Copyright:
Diocese of Peterborough
Originator:
Unknown

Summary Description

A Royal church with yet further royal associations: a very significant victim of the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The village Manor, and church had been royal property since the Conquest when it was granted to William I‘s niece. By a circuitous route it descended in 1337 to Edmund, Duke of York, fifth son of Edward III. From then it developed into the religious headquarters of the Yorkist faction – with a collegiate church founded here in 1415 which in turn became the principal burial site of the family – Edmund’s son who died at Agincourt, Edmund, 2nd Duke of York and his nephew Richard, 3rd Duke. The great nave of this Yorkist church survives with its beautiful well-proportioned fenestration and flying buttresses. Internally this allows for soaring Gothic arches and beneath its tower a space for the beautiful early 16th century vaulting perhaps commissioned by Katherine of Aragon. Shortly afterwards with the Dissolution the church lost its choir and in doing so the medieval tombs. This was somewhat rectified when Elizabeth I visited in 1566 and new tombs adjacent to the present alter were commissioned by her. The polychrome wooden pulpit in the nave tough does survive from the earlier period. Whilst Mary Queen of Scots is not buried here (her eventual tomb is adjacent to that of Elizabeth I in Westminster Abbey) she will always be associated with Fotheringhay being executed in its former castle.

Visiting and Facilities

The church is open for worship.
Open to visitors in spring and summer 9am – 5pm: autumn and winter 9am – 4pm Toilets available
 

Church Website

Church Website:
http://www.warmingtonbenefice.org.uk

Sources and Further Information

Unknown (2008) Exterior image of 628306 Fotheringhay St Mary the Virgin and All Saints [Digital Archive/Graphic material]
Exterior image of 628306 Fotheringhay St Mary the Virgin and All Saints
Unknown (2015) Interior image of 628306 Fotheringhay St Mary the Virgin and All Saints [Digital Archive/Graphic material]
Interior image of 628306 Fotheringhay St Mary the Virgin and All Saints
Church of England (2021) A Church Near You https://www.achurchnearyou.com/church/16663/ [Digital Archive/Index]
View information on worship and access at this church
Church Buildings Council (2019) Church Bells 7 Bells [Archive/Index]
7 Bells