Sandal Castle Sussex and Reigate in Surrey, Castle Acre Castle in Norfolk and Conisbrough in Yorkshire. In 1347, Edward III granted Sandal to his fifth son Edmund of Langley who was six years old at the time. His elder brother John of Gaunt held Pontefract and Knaresborough Castles, Edmund was granted Wark Castle near Coldstream in the Scottish Borders, and in 1377 Fotheringhay Castle in Northamptonshire which was to become his home, and for the next 75 years the family seems to have spent little time at Sandal, leaving it to the management of constables or stewards. In 1385 Edmund was made
Fotheringhay annual fair beginning on the eve of the feast of St Michael (later moving to the Sunday after Relic Sunday in July and still celebrated in the nineteenth century). 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. The present population is 125 (2006 est.). The village was formerly home to a renowned grammar school, believed to have been formed