FOTHERINGAY CASTLE, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE.
THE masonry of this castle has been entirely removed, but the original moated mound and earth-banks remain, and the lines of the masonry may be traced by the trenches dug when the foundations were grubbed up. The mound stands on the left bank of the river Nene, and of the buildings the principal, disposed nearly east and west, was very evidently the great hall in which Mary of Scotland was tried and executed.
There is in “Ellis’s Letters” (First Series, Vol. II.) a draught plan, in Burghley’s hand, of the hall as it was ordered to be prepared for the trial.
The “great chamber” was 23 yards long with the window, and 7 yards broad. The length without the window was 21 yards. The window, therefore, was probably a bay or oriel, of 6 feet projection within. The draught plan was sent down with the figures blank to be filled in by special measurement.
At the upper, probably the eastern, end, and in front of the window, was a chair for the Queen of England. Against the wall on her left, a bench for thirteen barons; on her right, leaving space for passage between it and the wall, was a bench for twelve earls. Across the hall, 13 yards from the upper (east) end, and 8 yards from the lower end, was a bar, extending on the barons’ side nearly to the wall, but on the earls’ leaving space for passage. Within, close to the bar and opposite Elizabeth’s seat, was a chair for Mary.
The points of the compass are not marked upon the plan, but it is clear, from the disposition of the passage, that the door was on that or the north side, and most probably near to its west end. The door of a castle-hall would never have opened towards the defences of the place, but into the inner court.
The block for the execution was placed at the upper end of the hall; probably, therefore, where Elizabeth’s chair had stood during the trial.
The fireplace in which, after the execution, the block and bloody drapery were burned, probably was placed in the centre of the south wall.
Possibly, during a season of drought, some local antiquary may succeed in establishing the actual position of the door, the bay window, and the fireplace.