Editing Fotheringhay (section)

== History ==

The first written mention of a settlement here was in 1060, and the [[Domesday Book]] of 1086 lists the site as 'Fodringeia'. [[John Leland (antiquary)|John Leland]] wrote this as 'Foderingeye' or "Fodering inclosure", referring to the section of the forest that is segregated for the purpose of producing hay.<ref name=bonney/> During the medieval period the village was variously mentioned as Foderingey, Foderinghay, Forderinghay, and Fotheringhaye.

Access to the village was formerly via a [[ford (crossing)|ford]] of the Nene adjacent to the former castle site. The first bridge built was ordered by [[Elizabeth I of England|Elizabeth I]] in 1573. The present bridge was built by [[George Portwood]] of [[Stamford, Lincolnshire|Stamford]] in 1722 under the orders of the [[Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham|Earl of Nottingham]], then proprietor of the estate.<ref name=bonney/>

In medieval times, it hosted a weekly market, held between at least the start of the fourteenth century and around the mid-fifteenth century, and was also the site of an annual fair beginning on the eve of [[Michaelmas|the feast of St Michael]] (later moving to the Sunday after [[Relic Sunday]] in July and still celebrated in the nineteenth century).<ref name=bonney/>

Sixteenth-century Fotheringhay, as observed by Leland, consisted a single street of around 40 houses and a population of around 300. In the 17th century the population dropped sharply when the castle was destroyed. By 1811 it had risen to a peak of around 310 but has fallen steadily since.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/data_cube_chart_page.jsp?data_theme=T_POP&data_cube=N_TPop&u_id=10274606&c_id=10001043&add=N|
title=Fotheringhay AP/CP: Total population|publisher=visionofbritain.org}}</ref> The present population is 125 (2006 est.).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.east-northamptonshire.gov.uk/pp/service/detail.asp?id=2541|title=East Northamptonshire Population Figures|publisher=East Northamptonshire District Council|year=2006|access-date=27 January 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070425113746/http://www.east-northamptonshire.gov.uk/pp/service/detail.asp?id=2541|archive-date=25 April 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The village was formerly home to a renowned grammar school, believed to have been formed as the continuation of the collegiate church and probably founded by [[Edward VI of England|Edward VI]].

Notable former residents include Walter de Foderingey, the first principal of [[Balliol College, Oxford]] in 1282.

The lordship of the town and the castle passed through many hands through the years. From the [[Earl of Newport]], the lordship passed to [[George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax]], and thence to his son, [[William Savile, 2nd Marquess of Halifax|William Savile]], the second Marquis, who died without issue. The manor and castle were then sold by his father-in-law, [[Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham]], to Hewer Edgeley Hewer (heir to [[William Hewer]], [[Samuel Pepys]]' onetime servant and later protégé in the Admiralty). Hewer himself died without issue on 6 November 1728, when it passed to Hewer's heirs, the Blackborne family.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/historicnotices01bonngoog/page/n45 <!-- pg=32 --> ''Historic Notices in reference to Fotheringhay''], [[Henry Kaye Bonney]], 1821.</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Pn4OAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA13 Thoroton v. Blackbourne, William Kelynge's Reports in Chancery, Great Britain Court of King's Bench, 1764]</ref> In 1797 Samuel Pepys's great-great-nephew [[Samuel Pepys Cockerell]] sold the estate of Rev. Abraham Blackborne in Fotheringhay.<ref>[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/A2A/records.aspx?cat=109-aa_1-1_2&cid=-1&Gsm=2008-06-18 Archbishop of Canterbury Archives, Lambeth Palace Library, The National Archives, nationalarchives.gov.uk]</ref>

Eventually the lordship of the manor and castle came to the Belsey family.