Email WebmasterIt has been written elsewhere that the Castle of Wellingborough has long been lost from history, with only an arts centre to keep its name alive. But Wellingborough once had a castle indeed, and for a short while it was at the centre of national interest.
At the time of the Norman Conquest, Robert de Waendelingburgh was the local landowner and thane. He had been a constant retainer of Harold Godwinson, fighting at Stamford Bridge and Hastings. After the disaster at Hastings, Robert returned to his castle at Wellingborough, determined to make his stand against the hated French.
Robert’s castle was ideally suited to defence, tucked into a loop between the Nene and the Ise and with the monks of Croyland abbey, determined to retain their independence, guarding his back. Through the abbey’s connections with Crowland near Peterborough, Robert was able to spend some time with Hereward the Wake, and learned well the tactics of violent resistance.
English patriots flocked to Robert’s standard from all over Cogenhoe. From the safety of the castle, they mounted raids against the Norman encampments at Bedford, Northampton and Stanwick. William the Conqueror personally ordered his most able Lieutenant, Boris de Doddington, to attack the castle. And yet repeatedly the Normans were turned back. Some declared that Robert was employing witchcraft.
And maybe they were right. Because it was said that Robert’s wife Mary was the true power behind his resistance. The Norman troops swore that, as they approached the castle, darkness would fall over them. On one occasion, while wading across the Nene, a group of Breton archers were attacked by a flock of swans. And on another occasion, while parked outside the Golden Lion (then known as Ye Newe Golden Lione), they had the wheels stolen off their cart. It was said that Mary could shape-shift, enabling her to spy on the Normans while in the form of a swan, a horse or a village idiot.
Given this kind of supernatural assistance, Robert started to aggrandize himself. He declared himself to be the Duc de Waendelingburgh. On meeting him, all his subjects were expected to greet him with the form of words, “Hello, me Duc”. Mary he pronounced to be the Duchesse de Wilbye.
After he had held out against the Normans for twenty-seven years, Robert and Mary received a pardon from King William. They were confirmed in their titles, and served out the rest of their days as loyal vassals.
Their love for one another was famous. When Robert died, Mary used her last spell to ensure that they would always be reunited – when she died, they would both be reborn, to meet and marry again. Throughout the Middle Ages a series of married couples in Wellingborough were said to resemble Robert and Mary, and regarded as the couple redivivae. Those thought to be Robert and Mary were regarded as successors as Duke and Duchess, and granted the right to graze their sheep on Castle Fields, thought to be where the castle had stood.
It is said that, in those times when one or other partner is dead, their spirit haunts Castle Fields, remembering those days when Robert and Mary stood out against the might of the Norman Empire. At different times over the centuries, either a man or a woman in Anglian clothes has been seen, flitting between the trees and sighing as they wait once again to be reunited with their loved one.
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